Making stuff is hard. Making stuff that counts is rare. Making beautiful products, with a user experience that’s intuitive for all, while rocking the world of business almost never happens. I know how hard this is, as combining design, engineering and entrepreneurship has been a common calling I’ve shared with Tony Fadell since our 20s. “A passionate, brilliant engineer” is what I remember people saying about Tony in Silicon Valley in the ’90s, but that is just scraping the surface.
Tony did all this, at least twice: with our music as the father of the iPod, which he led at Apple; and with the Nest Labs thermostat, the company he founded four years ago and recently sold to Google. And did I mention his central role in the development of the iPhone?
Some people spend their entire lives hoping for one breakthrough that counts, one that truly makes a difference in the human experience. At 45, Tony has two of these under his belt, or three — who’s counting? I can’t wait to live through what’s next.
Béhar is the founder of the award-winning design agency Fuseproject
