Build cover art

Build

An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

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Build

By: Tony Fadell
Narrated by: Roger Wayne
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in over 30 years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopaedia.

So that's what this book is. An advice encyclopaedia. 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 companies—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 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 listeners 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Tony Fadell (P)2022 Penguin Audio Business Development & Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship History & Culture Personal Development Self-Esteem Technology & Society Silicon Valley Business Technology Inspiring Success Management

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Critic reviews

"Tony Fadell has made more cool stuff than almost anyone else in the history of Silicon Valley, and in Build, he tells us how. 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)

"Tony Fadell is one of the world's great experts in starting companies and creating insanely great products. He's distilled his wisdom in this book, providing wildly useful mentorship in a delightfully readable set of stories." (Walter Isaacson, author and biographer of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Leonardo DaVinci)
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I never would have thought that I could come across a book that gives you so much insight about building consumer electronic products. Having a business and what it’s like being an entrepreneur, CEO, and managing different departments, and innovations. Tony Fadell experience with Steve jobs and his associations with big tech firms in Silicon Valley has really blow my mind. He really built revolutionary products but was also honest about his many failed attempts and mistakes. But eventually he turned it all around and made a global impact on people lives. Great book written by an amazing person!

Astonishing product book

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Really enjoyed listening to Tony’s perspective and insights from his incredible career. I also found it very inspirational

Great listen

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Awesome book. Really good advice for anyone working in a big org. Profound insights on cutting through the noise and complexity to get to the things that actually matter: what you’re building, and the people you’re building it with.

Reason its not a perfect 15/15: bit too long. Taken me a while to get through it. I’ll probably get the paperback as it does say in the intro its a toolkit of sorts to refer back to.

Common sense on steroids

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I found it really interesting to hear about all the experiencing and things learnt throughout the office time in various organisations. Thought provoking and educational.
Recommended for any business founder or entrepreneur.

Thought provoking and educational

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Loved it, easy listening and puts you into a founders shoes and then walks you trough to being a CEO.

Great book

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Lots of useful information and insights in this book! A must read/ listen for any engineer out there, even if you don’t think your goals are ‘build a business’ oriented.

Through examples, illustrations and humour, Tony tells his story in an incredibly digestible and entertaining way. Thank you Tony!

An Inspiring Journey

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I’ve read a lot of business books over the years and this one of the best.

Unlike a lot of business books, this books doesn’t endlessly reiterate common sense and waste your time. Build treats the world of building business (or anything really) like the multi faceted problem it is, there are no right answers and their are a thousand pit falls.

Hearing actionable knowledge from Tony Fadell who created Nest and worked with Apple on the iPhone and iPod is pretty amazing. (Check out the Tim ferris episode if you want more)

Added bonus the narrator was great, I much prefer authors narrating their own work but this is one of the better performances by far.

Business book of 2022

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A captivating book that has truly changed my thinking and pushed me to do more and push for greatness. Tony's valuable insights from his time at General Magic, Apple & Nest are not only fascinating, but invaluable lessons for anyone toying with the idea of starting a company.

Truly a mentor in a box

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This book was recommended by a friend who is also a product designer (real original product design, not software). He said it was a good book for product designers - it isn't.
This is a book about a guy who briefly was an Embedded Engineer and turned into a manager very quickly and it's his story, a very good story, about his journey and thoughts on how to manage engineering teams creating consumer products, at the end it's also how to start your own large company after having worked at other massive corporate companies.
If you enter into listening to this knowing that, it'll be a very good book.

This is for Engineering Managers or Entrepreneurs

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Loved every minute of this book. Really really informative. This should be an essential read for anyone who wants to have an impactful career or start a business.

Great book.

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