Who they are
Tony Fadell is the hardware product mind behind the iPod, iPhone, and Nest thermostat. He led the team that shipped 18 generations of iPod and the first three iPhones at Apple, then founded Nest — which Google acquired for $3.2B in 2014 and which defined the connected home category. A Detroit kid and University of Michigan engineer, he cut his teeth at General Magic, Philips, and his own startup Fuse Systems before Apple. Today he runs Build Collective (founder coaching) and Future Shape (deep tech VC), and wrote Build (book) — the rare founder memoir that reads like a tactical manual.
Core Ideas
- Press Release Method — write the press release before the code
- Superpower — products should make users feel newly capable
- Way Stations — shippable milestones between v1 and the vision
- Considered Purchase — designing for the buyer, not just the user
Related
- Paola Antonelli — interviewed him at MIT Morningside Academy for Design
- Nest — his second act
- Jony Ive — Apple design partner
- Jeff Robbin — co-built iPod software