Twenty-five years ago, more or less, I ran a start-up company. I wish books like this had existed back then to help me understand what start-ups need to do.

Fadell has perhaps the best pedigree imaginable, including being involved both in massive successes (the iPod, the iPhone, the Nest thermostat) and crashing failures (General Magic), and the best thing about this book is his willingness to share them, warts and all. He’s clearly come to a place in his life where he regards everything as a learning opportunity and a teaching opportunity, rather than needing to project a particular image of himself.

The business advice is fascinating, even for someone who doesn’t intend to start a company: there’s plenty to learn about organisation structures and politics. I suspect it’d be absolute gold for anyone thinking of making hardware devices for the modern software-dominated world, though. Fadell has a clear understanding of what’s needed to make a physical product succeed, and his emphases on story-telling and understanding the customer’s journey as a route to success are compelling.

There’s also a lot of insight into some of the major companies and personalities he’s met along the way. He’s positive about Apple, clear-eyed about Steve Jobs’ strengths and weaknesses – and clearly quite shell-shocked by his exposure to Google as not what he was expecting them to be.

5/5. Finished Saturday 3 August, 2024.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)