eBook, 416 pages
English language
Published March 24, 2022 by Transworld Publishers Limited.
An unorthodox guide to making things worth making, from 'the father of the iPod and iPhone' and the creator of Nest.
Everyone deserves a mentor.
For every career crisis, every fork in the road, you need someone to talk to. Someone who's been there before, who knows exactly how wobbly and conflicted you feel, who can give it to you straight:
Here's how to think about choosing a job. Here's how to be a better manager. Here's how to approach design. Here's how to start a company. Here's how to run it.
Tony Fadell learned all these lessons the hard way. He spent the first 10 years of his career in Silicon Valley failing spectacularly, and the next 20 building some of the most impactful devices in history - the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Learning Thermostat. He has enough stories and advice about leadership, design, startups, mentorship, decision making, devastating …
An unorthodox guide to making things worth making, from 'the father of the iPod and iPhone' and the creator of Nest.
Everyone deserves a mentor.
For every career crisis, every fork in the road, you need someone to talk to. Someone who's been there before, who knows exactly how wobbly and conflicted you feel, who can give it to you straight:
Here's how to think about choosing a job. Here's how to be a better manager. Here's how to approach design. Here's how to start a company. Here's how to run it.
Tony Fadell learned all these lessons the hard way. He spent the first 10 years of his career in Silicon Valley failing spectacularly, and the next 20 building some of the most impactful devices in history - the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Learning Thermostat. He has enough stories and advice about leadership, design, startups, mentorship, decision making, devastating screwups, and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
So that's what this book is. An advice encyclopedia. A mentor in a box.
But Tony's doesn't follow the standard Silicon Valley credo that you have to radically reinvent everything you do. His advice is unorthodox because it's old school. Because it's based on human nature, not gimmicks.
Tony keeps things simple: he just tells you what works. He gives you exactly what you need to make things worth making.
PRAISE FOR BUILD 'This is the most fun - and the most fascinating - memoir of curiosity and invention that I've ever read.' Malcolm Gladwell, Host of the Revisionist History podcast. Author of Outliers and Talking to Strangers.
'Whether you're looking to build a great product, a creative team, a strong culture, or a meaningful career, Tony's guidance will get you thinking and rethinking.' Adam Grant, Author of Think Again & Host of the TED podcast WorkLife
I love the products that Tony helped design. I really didn't love this book.
It tries to be a practical guide on how to build products, but it ends up being an experiment on how many feathers Tony can stick up his own butthole.
I guess the book is useful as a guide if you happen to walk the same career path as Tony did, which is of course not possible. So yeah, go read a different book.
