Some Lessons From Tony Fadell's "Build"

Finished re-reading Tony Fadell’s book ‘Build’ again, and want to share some of the lessons that can help anyone in a startup. There’s really a handful of really good business startups for me, including Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Paul Graham’s Hackers & Painters. Here’s some of the things I picked up in Tony’s book:1) Dealing with assholes - Fadell writes that it’s really important to understand the person you’re working with. You can then make a judgement on the type of person they are and how to respond and whether your relationship can or can’t work!

For example, there are people that prefer to work in silo’s or remotely, while others maybe crave attention. You will encounter all of these different personality types and will likely need them if you’re to be successful.

2) Sometimes there’s no data or roadmap - The original iPhone keyboard was a product feature that went against the thinking of the day. Everyone loved their Blackberry keyboards!

Steve Jobs and others pushed ahead with touchscreen keyboards, even when the data and naysayers suggested otherwise. It’s a well known fact that the original iPhone keyboard was pretty clunky however it was revolutionary and really set the stage for modern computing as we know it today.

3) Work is about teams - The purpose of work to most people is to earn money and support their family. And yet there’s an overlooked opportunity to build something special together with people. This especially is what you’ll remember, and take with you, going forward.

The below photo is the PayPal mafia, perhaps the most successful team ever assembled in Silicon Valley. There’s Peter Thiel co-founder of Paypal, first investor in Facebook and co-founder of Palintir. Then there’s Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn fame, Max Levchin, Keith Rabois, David Sacks etc who’re all successful in their own right.

Not pictured if PayPal co-founder Elon Musk who well, we all know!

4) Have a goal - When starting a business, think about a problem or opportunity that is personal and means something to you. Whatever you do, it will be hard work and hard to stick with m, so better pick something meaningful.

A goal is like a North Star for everyone to aim for, from entry level employees through mid level to execs. Some of the most inspiring companies today also have the most audacious goals, like the aforementioned Musk and his goal of making humans interplanetary species at SpaceX via his plans to send rockets to Mars.

5) Start small but think big - While thinking big is great, start small and don’t over budget or overthink. That’s even more important today when the tools and services available make it easier to start and scale a technology startup, particularly if it’s software.

The promise of ChatGPT and other AI tools is the ability to achieve far more with less resources. This makes audacious goals even more attenable however it’s important not to lose sight of the fact they might be hard!

These and more are in Tony’s book which for me as I mentioned, is one of the handful of really good business startup books. Pick up the book , Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making, here.