Name: Kevin Wammer's review of Build by Tony Fadell
Item: Build
Rating: 4
Author: Kevin Wammer

Tony Fadell

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.

An unorthodox guide to making things worth making.

Build

Guillaume Gelin

If you're passionate about something—something that could be solving a huge problem one day—then stick with it.

So when you're looking at the array of potential careers before you, the correct place to start is this: "What do I want to learn?"

Anton Stallbörger

From the moment you're born until you move out of your parents house, almost all your choices are made, shaped, or influenced by your parents.

"The only failure in your twenties is inaction. The rest is trial and error"

Kevin Wammer

Not as unorthodox as the title makes it sound. A healthy mix of how-to build and run a company and insights into Fadell's life and previous endeavours. Sometimes a bit too American for my liking, but overall a good read.

A captivating fusion of autobiography, startup savvy, and professional insights. It's a guide to crafting ideas, nurturing teams, and building customer-driven products and successful organizations.

Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in 30+ years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia. So that's what this book is. An advice encyclopedia. A mentor in a box. Written for anyone who wants to grow at work--from young grads navigating their first jobs to CEOs deciding whether to sell their company--Build is full of personal stories, practical advice and fascinating insights into some of the most impactful products and people of the 20th century. Each quick 5-20 page entry builds on the previous one, charting Tony's personal journey from a product designer to a leader, from a startup founder to an executive to a mentor. Tony uses examples that are instantly captivating, like the process of building the very first iPod and iPhone. Every chapter is designed to help readers with a problem they're facing right now--how to get funding for their startup, whether to quit their job or not, or just how to deal with the jerk in the next cubicle. Tony forged his path to success alongside mentors like Steve Jobs and Bill Campbell, icons of Silicon Valley who succeeded time and time again. But Tony doesn't follow the Silicon Valley credo that you have to reinvent everything from scratch to make something great. His advice is unorthodox because it's old school. Because Tony's learned that human nature doesn't change. You don't have to reinvent how you lead and manage--just what you make. And Tony's ready to help everyone make things worth making.

An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

Very practical! A non-fiction book that has more than one good idea to tell you — that's so rare

Evan Gusev

The entreprenuerial life story of the author, Tony Fadell (of iPod, Nest fame) , as put by himself. On one hand an interesting and inspiring story with a lot of anecdotes about building products. Totally resonates! On the other hand, it is yet another one of those book where a dude (it is always a dude) got ”success” (as in money) and then decides that whatever he thinks must be the reason for that success, and hence should go in a book.

Take the parts that resonates with you and do something with it! See the rest as a fun story. Just because it is in the book does not mean it is the only, or even ”right”, way to do something.

Overall entertaining! Recommended for aspiring enterpreneurs.

Stefan Pettersson

The entreprenuerial life story of the author, Tony Fadell (of iPod, Nest fame) , as put by himself. On one hand an interesting and inspiring story with a lot of anecdotes about building products. Totally resonates! On the other hand, it is yet another one of those book where a dude (it is always a dude) got ”success” (as in money) and then decides that whatever he thinks must be the reason for that success, and hence should go in a book.

Take the parts that resonates with you and do something with it! See the rest as a fun story. Just because it is in the book does not mean it is the only, or even ”right”, way to do something.

Overall entertaining! Recommended for aspiring enterpreneurs.

Sarah Schumacher

So much good advice; I took a ridiculous amount of notes and probably should have just bought this one. Highly recommended for anyone building a company, especially a product company. Also covers his personal history beginning at General Magic through Google’s acquisition of Nest, which I’ve always wanted more detail on.

I’ve been fortunate to have had a moderately interesting 30 year tech career. I worked for the largest ISP in the world during the dotcom boom, then a decade ago, got to work for a B2B tech company that had a good exit. Along the way I did lots of different roles, starting as an engineer and ending up running a business unit. “Build” helped me understand so much of that journey, giving clarity to bits that were gut feelings at the time, and often flew in the face of “norms”. If you aspire to build anything - be it a product, a team or even a company, Fadell’s experience will help you. If nothing else, the book will cause you to challenge what you know, and what others may be telling you. Read it, you won’t regret the time well spent. 

Mark Phillips

mandatory read for anyone in product development / design obviously. no surprise that the company responsible for the abomination that was realplayer in the 90’s conflicted with fadell. idiots vs visionary

Adam Goehrig-Bawany

As the author described as an intention for writing this book, feels like I can just flip pages in this book when I have a concern about building a product or about the career as a maker. 

Seungmee Lee

Okan Davut

This is the best book I have ever read in my entire life. If you are working in a company that has product or if you are willing to work on company like this you will absolutely like and learn a lot. I strongly suggest this book 👌

Fadell’s writing style is straightforward and not overly technical, which made this a really easy read. His story is interested but, rather than make this an auto-biography, he takes his own life lessons and provides a lot of really solid advice. I was not this books target audience, which was tech founder or future tech CEO, but I still got a lot out of the book. 

Nathan Davis

Cristian Garcia

Outstanding book about how to assemble effective and cohesive teams (that build things people actually want) written by no other than then man behind building the iPod, the first 3 iPhones and the Nest ecosystem.
As I read the book, I felt fortunate to connect the dots on what Fadell was explaining, the way he narrates the story is compelling and very natural, the flow captures the attention of the reader from chapter 1.
When I knew 'what he has done' I was very curious to know how he would give a glimpse into (1) Steve Jobs ruthless leadership style and (2) why he left Next after being acquired. I got great answers to both and in all honesty I was surprise on what the real Google looks like once you're in.
Some interesting bits through the book were 
	- The attention to details and how each touch point will deliver a unique experience to the customer
	- The communications matrix 
	- The Nest screwdriver as a marketing tool
	- For non-designers, why is it important to look at this discipline with the respect it should have. A good (or bad) design will have a massive impact on your product
	- It is really interesting to see how someone as brilliant as the author thinks and how he approaches the creative process but most importantly - to me - how he delivers

Keven Wang

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

Oz Lubling

One of the best books about what it really takes to build successful hardware and software products. Fadell has an incredible amount of useful insights but his advice never feels prescriptive. Most Product Management books focus on frameworks and methodologies. These books fail to inspire you to go out there and build. Not this book. Fadell does a great job at inspiring the reader.

People and Product lifecycle from all perspective, honestly explained with all the reasons behind the actions, motivations couldn’t be clearer. One always wish to read this book much before the time they read. Thanks Fadell.

Suat Karakusoglu

Every founder or to-be founder should read it. Tony wrote a book for people who don’t have access to a great mentor or coach. 

Fatih Arslan

Good and easy to read. Good insights about the history of the iPhone and Nest, the culture at Apple, Nest and Google. Less actionable things you could reuse for daily work, more attitudinal from an entrepreneurial viewpoint. 

Patrick Sauerwein

Joban Saran

Pieces of Wisdom

This book encapsulates the failures, successes, and complete journey of building products worth making. A complete guide on navigating your first, second, and third versions of a product. 

This book suffered a bit from covering a lot of ground you can read in hundreds of other startup books. I wanted more on his time at Apple and General Magic and a little less applied management. 

That said, he is super candid about the Google acquisition, which I loved hearing about, and there is some management stuff that felt new to me at least. The idea of your company’s heart beat is something I am going to take with me to future projects I am sure.

Daniel Bower

This book suffered a bit from covering a lot of ground you can read in hundreds of other startup books. I wanted more on his time at Apple and General Magic and a little less applied management. 

That said, he is super candid about the Google acquisition, which I loved hearing about, and there is some management stuff that felt new to me at least. The idea of your company’s heart beat is something I am going to take with me to future projects I am sure.

Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in 30+ years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia. So that’s what this book is. An advice encyclopedia. A mentor in a box. Written for anyone who wants to grow at work—from young grads navigating their first jobs to CEOs deciding whether to sell their company—Build is full of personal stories, practical advice and fascinating insights into some of the most impactful products and people of the 20th century. Each quick 5-20 page entry builds on the previous one, charting Tony’s personal journey from a product designer to a leader, from a startup founder to an executive to a mentor. Tony uses examples that are instantly captivating, like the process of building the very first iPod and iPhone. Every chapter is designed to help readers with a problem they’re facing right now—how to get funding for their startup, whether to quit their job or not, or just how to deal with the jerk in the next cubicle. Tony forged his path to success alongside mentors like Steve Jobs and Bill Campbell, icons of Silicon Valley who succeeded time and time again. But Tony doesn’t follow the Silicon Valley credo that you have to reinvent everything from scratch to make something great. His advice is unorthodox because it’s old school. Because Tony’s learned that human nature doesn’t change. You don’t have to reinvent how you lead and manage—just what you make. And Tony’s ready to help everyone make things worth making.

Tony was part of the team that build iPod and iPhone at Apple, founded Nest (sold to Google) and now is a VC. In this book he shares his story and all the lessons learned about building yourself, turning an idea into a company and growing that to a (multi-million) corporation (including all great and all not-so-great parts). Full of actionable guidance for entrepreneurs, focused on the bigger picture rather than going too deep down on individual aspects. I enjoyed reading it, for sure a book I’ll pick up again in the years to come. This time reading it, Build Yourself was the most relevant chapter to me, but in a few years things might have changed and I’ll need advice on how to get venture capital or sell a company :D In any case, this book's got me covered with lots of business advice for entrepreneurs at different points in their journey.

Anton Stallbörger &
Build by Tony Fadell

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