Episode description
Tony Fadell is an amazing and successful engineer, entrepreneur, and investor. He is the father of the iPod, co-creator of the iPhone, founder and former CEO of Nest Thermostat, and the founder of Future Shape, a global investment and advisory company.
In 2014, Tony Fadell was one of the Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. He is also a NY Times bestselling author with his book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Work.
It’s a true pleasure to have Tony on our show and hear how he searched and found his excellence!
(00:24) Leaving the Silicon valley and inventing Nest Thermostat
- A trip around the world with his family
- Designing a new home on Lake Tahoe
- Realized there were no good thermostats to remotely control
- Nest Thermostat was born in Paris
- There is no need for Silicon Valley anymore, the game has changed
(05:35) Money as a motivation to start a company
- It was never about making money, it was about solving a problem
- Focus on the inventions that fix real problems
- Your success drastically changed the lives of your employees
(10:14) Steve Jobs and when is the time to quit
- Book mention: Tony Fadell, Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Work
- Working for Steve – one of the most important things in his life
- Rumors about Steve Jobs are just rumors
- Steve cared about customers and products, he demanded excellence, and he wasn’t going after people for no reason
- When is the time to quit? (When you don’t grow anymore, when you work for someone you don’t respect, and when you work in a team with serious flaws)
- If you’re working for an jerk, do you quit?
(18:32) The importance of Extreme Preparation
- What is Extreme Preparation for Tony?
- VC pitch meetings
- TED talks
(21:10) The importance of mentors in search of excellence
- Everyone needs a mentor (even Steve Jobs)
- The best mentors know human nature
- Coaches are something different
(24:25) Fill in the blank to Excellence
- When I started my career I wish I had known – more about understanding the customer
- The biggest lesson I learned in my life – when to say no and say it more often
- No. 1 professional goal – to help people and mentor them
- The greatest innovation in the next 50 years – Artificial Intelligence
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