It's possible that you're reading this on a descendant of the device Tony Fadell helped design. You see, Fadell was once Senior Vice President of Apple's iPod Division- his team created the first 18 generations of the iPod, as well as the first three generations of the iPhone. After he left the American multinational, he was the founder and CEO of Nest Lab, the company that pioneered the internet of things (IoT), and his career trajectory has seen him author more than 300 patents, with him known today for being an investor and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of expertise. Fadell is today the Principal at Build Collective, an investment and advisory firm coaching deep tech startups, which is currently coaching more than 200 startups innovating game-changing technologies.
So, it's fair to say that Fadell has gathered a lot of valuable insights from his entrepreneurial journey, and it is with one such observation that he kicks off a conversation with me, saying, "You can ponder stuff all the time, but you have to do it, and that's the only way you really learn. Do. Fail. Learn." He then doubles down on this premise, saying, "Most businesses are not successful because they came up with a good idea, and then executed it properly. They came up with an idea, found out where it didn't work, kept changing it, and adapted and persevered. They understand that 'perfect' is the enemy of 'great,' and you need to keep iterating to find success. It doesn't just happen the first time- maybe, sometimes, that happens. But, most of the time, it doesn't, and you have to be ready for that."
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