Cambridge Business Association
How to Build Things That Change the World: Advice from the Creator of the iPod
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How to Build Things That Change the World: Advice from the Creator of the iPod

Aspen Ideas
Aspen Institute, 2022
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9

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Recommendation

If you want to know how to create wildly successful products, taking advice from Tony Fadell is a good place to start. Fadell holds over 300 patents, he was on the team that brought you the iPod, and he’s the co-founder and former CEO of Nest. He’s now the principal at Future Shape, an investment and advisory firm for deep tech start-ups. In his talk at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Fadell encourages would-be inventors to push the boundaries and take risks if they want to develop truly transformative solutions.

Summary

To change the world, you’ve got to be attuned to the problems that nobody else sees.

Think about a product you use often. Can you remember the first time you used that product? Do you remember the frustrations and pain points associated with the process? If you do, you’ve managed to “stay beginner,” a quality that, according to Tony Fadell, is vital to changing the world. And Fadell should know, since he was instrumental in creating revolutionary products like the iPod, iPhone and Nest.

After a few repetitions, most people find that their frustration with a new product dulls, and then, after many repetitions, they no longer notice the pain points at all – the pain just becomes an expected part of the process. “Staying beginner” may be as important as having good ideas, or even as important as intelligence. ...

About the Speaker

Tony Fadell is an inventor, entrepreneur and investor, known best for his work on the iPod and Nest. He’s the author of Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding Entrepreneurs.

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