Best Of: Tony Fadell’s Guide to Building Products, Startups and Careers

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Education, Science

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Thermostat. In his book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making, he shares everything he’s learned about building great companies and game-changing products. (This episode first aired in September 2022.) The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. Follow Rufus on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠, subscribe to our ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠. The best way to support the show is by becoming a Next Big Idea Club member. Learn more at ⁠⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠, and use code PODCAST for a super secret discount (spoiler: it’s 20% off). Sponsored By: Fabric — Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family at ⁠⁠meetfabric.com/nbi⁠⁠ Factor — Head to ⁠⁠⁠factormeals.com/idea50off⁠⁠⁠ and use code idea50off to get 50% off your first box Granola — Get three months free at ⁠⁠granola.ai/idea⁠⁠ Shopify — Start your $1/month trial at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shopify.com/nbi⁠⁠⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	The other day, Caleb and I sat down with David Pogue.
0:03.9	The tech guy. You may have read his New York Times column back in the day or seen him on CBS Sunday morning.
0:09.7	He's got a new book out called Apple, the first 50 years.
0:13.4	It's a meticulously reported and lavishly illustrated chronicle of, let's face it, the greatest company ever.
0:21.0	Here's a little taste.
0:22.4	I don't know how the next big idea thinks about four-letter words, but...
0:27.1	Have that.
0:27.8	When they come from Steve Jobs, we feel good about them.
0:31.5	He called me that night, and his secretary comes on, assistant, says, like, I have Steve on the line.
0:37.2	Can you take the call? Sure. He goes, like, I have Steve on the line. Can you take the call?
0:38.3	Sure.
0:39.1	He goes, you don't have any idea what the fuck we do here at Apple, do you?
0:45.6	We're going to be posting that episode on Monday.
0:48.6	But in the meantime, to get you in the mood, we thought we'd reshare one of our personal favorites, our conversation
0:55.8	with the legendary entrepreneur, Tony Fidel. Tony led the teams that created the iPod, the iPhone,
1:04.1	and we had him on the show to discuss his book, Build, an unorthodox guide to making things
1:09.5	worth making. As a serial entrepreneur myself, I've read a lot of business how-to books.
1:15.6	This is the best I've ever come across.
1:19.6	It also tells the inside story of the development of the products that have transformed our world.
1:25.6	Whether you're an intern or a CEO, I think you're likely to find
1:30.5	this pretty interesting.
1:38.3	Today's episode of The Next Big Idea is sponsored by Fabric, Factor, Granola, and Shopify.
	...

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