Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
Tags: #business #leadership #product development #design #innovation #technology #entrepreneurship #culture #startups
Authors: Tony Fadell
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Overview
I’ve spent my life building things, from the Apple iPod and iPhone to the Nest Learning Thermostat. Along the way, I’ve learned the hard way that building a great product is only the first step. You also have to build a team, build a culture, and build a business. This book contains much of the advice I give out daily to new grads and CEOs, to execs and interns, to everyone trying to claw their way through the business world and make something meaningful. I’ve learned these lessons from amazing mentors, incredible teams, countless mistakes, and the thousands of people who use the products we built.
This book is organized like a choose-your-own-adventure, with concrete, practical advice on how to navigate every stage of your career, from finding the right job to becoming CEO, to knowing when to step down. I’ve broken each chapter into easily digestible nuggets—so you can pick it up, find the advice that’s relevant to you, then put it down and get back to work. If you want to build something great—a product, a team, a company, a career—then this book is for you.
Book Outline
1. Adulthood
This part emphasizes that real learning begins after formal education ends. Young professionals should prioritize learning over immediate monetary gains or prestigious titles. Embrace the opportunity for continuous learning, productive struggle, and calculated risk-taking.
Key concept: “The only failure in your twenties is inaction. The rest is trial and error.”
This quote highlights the importance of taking risks and embracing failure as a learning opportunity, especially in your twenties when you have less to lose.
2. Get a Job
This chapter encourages readers to seek jobs at companies that solve real problems with innovative solutions, rather than chasing after fleeting trends or joining massive consulting firms. Prioritize learning from experienced individuals and contributing to a meaningful mission over chasing a big paycheck or impressive title.
Key concept: “If you make it, they will come” doesn’t always work… Customers need to see that your product solves a real problem they have today—not one that they may have in some distant future.
3. Heroes
This section advocates for seeking out mentors and learning from those who have made significant contributions. Surround yourself with people who have experience and a track record of success. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your heroes—they’re more approachable than you might think.
Key concept: There’s often an assumption that if you find the right job when you’re young, you can guarantee some level of success.
4. Don’t (Only) Look Down
Individual contributors should avoid getting too focused on the immediate tasks at hand. It’s crucial to “look up” and understand the bigger picture—the company’s mission and long-term goals—and “look around” to gain insights from other teams and their perspectives.
Key concept: Your job isn’t just doing your job. It’s also to think like your manager or CEO.
5. Just Managing
This chapter provides a framework for becoming an effective manager. It stresses the importance of understanding the role’s responsibilities, communicating effectively, and creating a culture of trust and learning. Most importantly, managers should prioritize their team’s success and avoid micromanaging.
Key concept: Becoming a manager is a discipline. Management is a learned skill, not a talent.
6. Data Versus Opinion
Decisions should be driven by a balanced combination of data and intuition. Data can inform and provide evidence, but it can’t replace the human element of gut instinct and vision, particularly when dealing with innovative products or services.
Key concept: If you don’t have enough data to make a decision, you’ll need insights to inform your opinion.
7. Assholes
This section provides a taxonomy of “assholes” one might encounter in the workplace and offers strategies for dealing with them. While some are driven by ego and self-preservation, others are simply passionate about their work and may be valuable assets if you can learn to navigate their personality.
Key concept: Mission-driven “assholes”: The people who are crazy passionate—and a little crazy.
8. I Quit
Quitting a job should be a last resort, but sometimes it’s necessary for your well-being and career growth. This chapter offers advice on when and how to quit, emphasizing the importance of leaving gracefully and finding a new opportunity that aligns with your passions and goals.
Key concept: “But when you’re at the end of your rope, truly at the end—not just impressed by a recruiter—then don’t be scared to walk away.”
9. Make the Intangible Tangible
When designing a product, remember to consider the entire customer journey—the entire user experience from the moment they first hear about your brand to the moment the product disappears from their life. Make the intangible tangible by prototyping each step of that journey.
Key concept: Your product isn’t only your product.
10. Why Storytelling
Every product should have a compelling narrative that explains why it exists and how it solves the customer’s problems. This chapter stresses the importance of storytelling for product development, marketing, and team building.
Key concept: Storytelling is how you get people to take a leap of faith to do something new.
11. Evolution Versus Disruption Versus Execution
This chapter explores the difference between evolution, disruption, and execution in product development. It encourages companies to aim for disruptive products that change something meaningful, while also remembering that execution is just as critical as a groundbreaking idea.
Key concept: Your version one (V1) product should be disruptive, not evolutionary.
12. Your First Adventure—and Your Second
This chapter offers a framework for launching both first-generation (V1) and second-generation (V2) products. V1 is about making opinion-driven decisions based on vision and customer insights. V2 is about refining those choices with data from actual users.
Key concept: The tools you need to make those decisions are below, organized by order of importance:
- Vision
- Customer insights
- Data
13. Three Generations
Companies and products typically go through three stages of profitability. V1 is about finding product/market fit. V2 is about achieving profitable unit economics. V3 is about building a sustainable and profitable business model. It takes time for both companies and customers to get there.
Key concept: Keep in mind there are three stages of profitability:
- Not remotely profitable
- Making unit economics or gross margins
- Making business economics or net margins
14. How to Spot a Great Idea
This chapter encourages entrepreneurs to seek out ideas that solve real problems people experience regularly. The best ideas are often born from personal frustrations—from something that annoys you so much that you can’t stop thinking about it and have to solve it.
Key concept: The best ideas are painkillers, not vitamins.
15. Are You Ready?
Founders should build a network of mentors and advisors who can offer guidance and support. Find a co-founder you trust implicitly and surround yourself with people who are talented and passionate about your mission. And don’t forget to hire seed crystals—those incredibly talented people who will attract other incredible people.
Key concept: Seed crystals are people who are so good and so well loved that they can almost single-handedly build large parts of your org.
16. Marrying for Money
This chapter offers a framework for choosing investors and navigating the often-fraught process of raising capital. Finding the right investor is like finding a life partner—it should be a long-term relationship built on trust, mutual respect, and shared goals.
Key concept: Every time you raise capital, you should think of it as a marriage.
17. You Can Only Have One Customer
Companies can have a variety of customers, but they can only truly serve one master. You can’t build a product or a service that simultaneously serves both consumers and businesses without compromising somewhere. And that compromise can be fatal.
Key concept: You can only have one customer.
18. Killing Yourself for Work
This chapter offers strategies for surviving the relentless pressure of starting and running a company, including the importance of creating a structured schedule, prioritizing tasks, finding time to exercise, taking breaks, and hiring an assistant to help manage the workload.
Key concept: Here’s my advice: do not vacation like Steve Jobs.
19. Crisis
This chapter outlines the steps for dealing with a crisis, whether it’s caused by an external event, an internal screwup, or just normal growing pains. The key is to remain focused on solving the problem, overcommunicate with your team and the outside world, and take responsibility for how the crisis has affected customers.
Key concept: In a crisis, everyone has their job:
20. Hiring
This chapter provides a framework for attracting and retaining the best talent. Recruiters should focus on finding passionate, mission-driven people who will grow with the company. Hiring should be a rigorous, multi-step process that prioritizes culture fit and evaluates candidates based on the work they’ll be doing, not just their resume or title.
Key concept: Seed crystals are people who are so good and so well loved that they can almost single-handedly build large parts of your org.
21. Breakpoints
This chapter explores the inevitable breakpoints that occur as teams and companies grow. While growth is almost always good, it also creates communication problems, cultural clashes, and the need for organizational restructuring. Be prepared to specialize and hand over the reins to new leaders.
Key concept: It’s either grow or die. Stasis is stagnation. Change is the only option.
22. Design for Everyone
This chapter encourages readers to apply design thinking to all aspects of their work and life. Design is not just for designers—it’s a process of understanding a problem, exploring all the possible solutions, and choosing the best option. Even small changes to seemingly mundane aspects of a product or process can have a significant impact on the user experience.
Key concept: Being a good designer is more a way of thinking than a way of drawing.
23. A Method to the Marketing
This chapter offers a framework for developing an effective marketing strategy. The key is to make marketing an integral part of product development from the very beginning and to use storytelling and empathy to connect with customers. And remember—the best marketing is just telling the truth.
Key concept: Marketing cannot just be figured out at the very end.
24. The Point of PMs
This chapter explores the often-misunderstood role of the product manager. It stresses the importance of combining product management and product marketing into a single, cohesive job, where the product manager is the voice of the customer and works closely with all parts of the business.
Key concept: Your messaging is your product.
25. Death of a Sales Culture
This chapter argues for ditching the traditional sales culture of individual commission and embracing a team-based approach centered on vested commissions. This fosters better customer relationships and a more unified company culture.
Key concept: Every sale should be a team sale.
26. Lawyer Up
This chapter offers advice on how to work effectively with lawyers and get the most out of them. Remember that even if you’re right, legal battles can be expensive and draining. So it’s critical to weigh legal advice against business needs and find ways to avoid unnecessary conflict.
Key concept: Your job is to make the decision.
27. Becoming CEO
This chapter explores the unique responsibilities of the CEO, contrasting different leadership styles and outlining the importance of caring about all aspects of the company and every team within it. A CEO sets the tone and ultimately their focus becomes the company’s focus.
Key concept: The job is to give a shit. To care. About everything.
28. The Board
This chapter offers a framework for building an effective board of directors, emphasizing the importance of choosing members who will act as mentors, advisors, and partners. It also explores the difference between public and private boards and the unique challenges of each.
Key concept: Seed crystals: Just as you need seed crystals to grow your team, you want someone on the board who knows everyone, has done it before, and can suggest other amazing people to add to the board or to your company.
29. Buying and Being Bought
This chapter offers advice on navigating the complexities of company mergers and acquisitions, stressing the importance of cultural alignment, and the careful consideration of what exactly is being bought and sold.
Key concept: Culture is incredibly sticky.
30. Fuck Massages
This chapter advises companies to be wary of offering too many perks, particularly free perks. While perks can be a way to surprise and delight employees, when they become an expectation, they can create a sense of entitlement, drag down morale, and hurt the company’s bottom line.
Key concept: Perks are frosting. High-fructose corn syrup. And nobody will begrudge you a little sugar—everyone likes sweets from time to time. But stuffing your face full of them from morning to night isn’t exactly a recipe for happiness.
31. Unbecoming CEO
This chapter explores the challenges and opportunities of being CEO, outlining when and how a leader should step down, emphasizing the importance of having a succession plan, and offering guidance on how to transition out of the role gracefully.
Key concept: This job can suck you dry if you let it. It can also be one of the most liberating experiences of your life.
Essential Questions
1. How does building yourself serve as the foundation for building a successful career, product, team, and business?
This question explores the core concept of “Building Yourself” as the foundation for all other building endeavors. The book emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning, productive struggle, embracing calculated risks, and prioritizing personal growth over titles or immediate financial gains. This foundation prepares individuals for future challenges and allows them to build their careers intentionally.
2. What does it mean to “design for everyone” in the context of product development and building a company?
This question delves into Fadell’s core philosophy of product design. The book emphasizes that a great product is not merely a physical object or software but rather the entire user experience. Designing for everyone means understanding the customer’s needs and pain points, making the intangible tangible through prototyping, and iterating based on feedback to ensure a seamless and delightful experience.
3. How does storytelling drive product development, marketing, and team building? Why is the “why” so important?
This question examines the importance of storytelling in building a compelling product and company. The book advocates for going beyond technical specifications and explaining the “why” behind a product. Storytelling connects with the audience’s emotions and logic, conveying the value proposition, and inspiring them to buy into the vision, whether they are customers, investors, or team members.
4. How do breakpoints impact a company’s growth, and what are the key considerations for navigating these transitions effectively?
This question focuses on the challenges of leadership as a company scales. The book highlights the importance of recognizing breakpoints, preparing for organizational restructuring, adapting communication styles, empowering new leaders, and preserving company culture amidst growth. Addressing these challenges effectively is crucial for preventing chaos and ensuring a smooth transition to the next stage of company development.
5. Why is a “death of a sales culture” necessary, and what are the key elements of building a relationship-driven sales organization?
This question delves into the author’s argument against a purely transactional sales culture. The book proposes that prioritizing long-term customer relationships through vested commissions fosters a more unified and customer-centric company culture. This approach not only leads to happier customers but also encourages collaboration and reduces harmful hyper-competition within the sales team.
Key Takeaways
1. Think beyond the “thing” and focus on the entire customer journey.
Fadell emphasizes that the product is not just the technology but the entire user journey. This includes how people discover, acquire, use, and even discard the product. This takeaway underscores the need to think holistically about the user experience in AI, encompassing everything from data acquisition and model training to user interface design and customer support.
Practical Application:
When developing an AI model, instead of solely focusing on optimizing accuracy, consider the user experience. How will users interact with the model? What are their pain points? Can you create a seamless and intuitive interface that simplifies the process for users?
2. The “why” is just as important as the “what” - always tell a compelling story.
Fadell learned from Steve Jobs that analogies and relatable narratives can make complex ideas instantly understandable. A compelling story helps potential investors, team members, and customers connect with the “why” behind your product. In AI, where concepts can be abstract, analogies and real-world examples bridge the gap and make the technology more accessible.
Practical Application:
When presenting a new AI technology, don’t just focus on its technical capabilities. Explain why it’s important, how it solves real-world problems, and the positive impact it can have on people’s lives. This will make the technology more relatable and compelling for your audience.
3. Embrace failure as a learning opportunity - “Do, Fail, Learn.”
Fadell emphasizes the importance of embracing failure as a learning opportunity. In a field like AI, where innovation is paramount, mistakes are inevitable. This takeaway encourages a culture of experimentation and continuous learning, allowing AI teams to iterate quickly and adapt to new challenges.
Practical Application:
Encourage your AI team to embrace a growth mindset and view mistakes as learning opportunities. When things go wrong, focus on analyzing the data, understanding the root cause, and implementing solutions to prevent similar issues from recurring. This iterative process of “Do, Fail, Learn” is crucial for building better AI products.
4. The best teams are multigenerational and diverse - bring a mix of experience and fresh perspectives.
Fadell emphasizes that the best teams are multigenerational and diverse, bringing a blend of experience and fresh perspectives. This applies directly to AI, where collaboration between individuals with diverse technical backgrounds, ethical considerations, and user-focused mindsets is crucial for building responsible and impactful solutions.
Practical Application:
When building an AI team, look for individuals with diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Encourage cross-functional collaboration between engineers, designers, product managers, and researchers. This will bring fresh ideas to the table and help you build more robust and user-centric AI products.
5. Focus on building a strong company culture centered around the mission and meaningful work - “Fuck Massages.”
Fadell argues that excessive perks can create a culture of entitlement and distract from the core mission. This is particularly relevant in the AI field, where talent is in high demand and companies often compete by offering lavish perks. This takeaway encourages building a strong company culture that values challenging work, continuous learning, and a shared sense of purpose.
Practical Application:
Avoid overwhelming your AI team with excessive perks. While offering competitive benefits and occasional treats is important, focus on building a culture that prioritizes the mission and values meaningful work over superficial rewards. This will attract and retain the best talent in the long run.
Suggested Deep Dive
Chapter: Chapter 3.1: Make the Intangible Tangible
Given that you are an AI product engineer, diving deeper into this chapter will provide you with a valuable framework for considering the entire user journey when designing AI products. It will help you to think beyond the algorithms and data models and focus on creating a holistic and user-centric experience that addresses not just the technical aspects but also the user’s needs, pain points, and overall journey.
Memorable Quotes
Chapter 1.1: Adulthood. 21
“The only failure in your twenties is inaction. The rest is trial and error.”
Chapter 1.2: Get a Job. 29
“If you’re not solving a real problem, you can’t start a revolution.”
Chapter 3.1: Make the Intangible Tangible. 98
“Your product isn’t only your product.”
Chapter 3.2: Why Storytelling. 113
“The best marketing is just telling the truth.” - Steve Jobs
Chapter 6.4: Fuck Massages. 323
“When people pay for something, they value it. If something is free, it is literally worthless.”
Comparative Analysis
“Build” stands out for its deeply personal and hands-on approach, making it feel like a conversation with a seasoned mentor rather than a dry textbook. Unlike more theoretical books on leadership and product development, “Build” focuses on the nitty-gritty details and hard-won lessons from Fadell’s own experience. This aligns with the practical advice found in books like “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz, which also emphasizes the messy realities of entrepreneurship. However, “Build” delves deeper into the human aspects of team building and decision making, drawing parallels with parenting and personal growth. It also offers a unique perspective on Silicon Valley culture, highlighting both its strengths and weaknesses. While “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore provides a classic framework for product adoption, “Build” expands on this by emphasizing the importance of continual disruption and the need to adapt to ever-changing market landscapes.
Reflection
“Build” provides a refreshingly practical perspective on leadership, product development, and company building. It’s filled with insightful anecdotes and hard-won lessons from Fadell’s career, making it a valuable resource for anyone looking to create something meaningful. However, some of his strong opinions, like “Fuck Massages,” while memorable, may not be universally applicable. Companies need to consider their specific context and culture when deciding on perks and benefits. Furthermore, his experiences at Apple, while insightful, may not translate directly to other companies or industries. The book’s strength lies in its emphasis on the human side of business. Fadell reminds us that behind every successful product is a team of passionate individuals facing challenges, setbacks, and triumphs. This focus on the importance of teamwork, mentorship, and culture building is a valuable contribution to the field of leadership and product development.
Flashcards
What are the three stages of profitability?
Companies and products typically go through three stages: 1. Not remotely profitable (finding product/market fit). 2. Making unit economics or gross margins (achieving profitable unit economics per product sold). 3. Making business economics or net margins (achieving overall company profitability).
What does “PM” mean and what are the abbreviations Tony uses to clarify the roles?
A PM can refer to a Product Manager (or Product Marketing Manager) or a Project Manager. Tony uses the abbreviations PdM, PjM, and PgM to avoid confusion.
What is a messaging architecture?
It is a visual representation of your product’s messaging, highlighting customer pain points, the solutions your product offers, and the emotional and rational drivers for customers to purchase your product.
What are the three elements of every great idea?
- It solves for “why” (the reason people will want the product). 2. It solves a problem that a lot of people have in their daily lives. 3. It follows you around (you can’t stop thinking about it even after researching its challenges).
What are the three elements of a good product story?
- It appeals to people’s rational and emotional sides. 2. It takes complicated concepts and makes them simple. 3. It reminds people of the problem being solved - it focuses on the “why”.
What is the best marketing according to Steve Jobs?
“The best marketing is just telling the truth.” - Steve Jobs
What does “Make the Intangible Tangible” mean in product design?
It involves understanding the entire user journey and prototyping each stage, from awareness and acquisition to usage, support, and loyalty. This helps identify and address potential friction points and ensures a smooth and delightful experience.
What are “seed crystals” in the context of building a team?
They are incredibly talented people who attract other incredibly talented people to your company.
How do you deal with a “passionate hurricane” in the workplace?
You should ask “Why” to understand their thought process and motivations, then point out potential issues or decide to jump on board.