In general, the present embodiments are directed to designing an electronic system such as an IC, and more particularly to a design technique that can determine an optimal number and placement of ESD cells in a design for an IC. In embodiments, the technique includes determining an effective resistance criteria between a set of candidate ESD cells to the bumps/pads of the IC and finding a minimum set of ESD cells that covers all the bumps/pads. In embodiments, the technique is employed at the early stage of the design of the IC.