Limor Fried

Current Company

Adafruit Industries — Founder & CEO

The Queen of the Maker Movement

Limor Fried founded Adafruit Industries in 2005 from her MIT dorm room, designing and selling open-source electronics kits for makers, hobbyists, and educators. An MIT electrical engineering graduate, Limor Fried saw that electronics had become inaccessible — hidden behind proprietary designs and industrial supply chains — and set out to make hardware hacking as accessible as writing code. She started by publishing free tutorials alongside the products, creating a learning-first model that built a fiercely loyal community.

Adafruit has since shipped millions of products worldwide and employs over 100 people in its New York City manufacturing facility. In 2012, Limor Fried became the first female engineer on the cover of WIRED magazine. She was also named Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur magazine. Unlike most hardware companies, Adafruit manufactures in the United States and open-sources its designs — a business model that many said couldn't work, but that Limor Fried has proven can sustain a growing, profitable company.

Education Through Hardware

Limor Fried's vision for Adafruit goes beyond selling circuit boards and sensors. The company produces hundreds of free learning guides, live-streamed shows, and tutorial videos that teach electronics, coding, and engineering skills to audiences ranging from elementary school students to professional engineers. Adafruit's educational content has been viewed hundreds of millions of times, making Limor Fried one of the most effective STEM educators working today.

As CEO, Limor Fried has maintained Adafruit's commitment to open-source hardware — publishing the schematics and design files for every product the company makes. It's a philosophy rooted in her belief that openness accelerates innovation and that the best way to build a durable hardware business is to empower your customers to learn, modify, and build on your work. In an industry dominated by closed ecosystems, Limor Fried has built a thriving company on the opposite principle.