is at the Grove, a spectacularly beautiful country estate outside of London. The event is Founders Forum: the ultra­ exclusive invite-only tech conference. Prince William is in the house. The guest list is lousy with knights and lesser officers of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Marissa Mayer, the now ex-CEO of Yahoo, and Biz Stone, recently returned to Twitter, are min­ gling with the other hundred or so invitees. But this is really Fadell’s moment. It’s almost exactly 10 years since the iPhone was released, and the media buzz is inescapable. The press is having trouble coming up with superlatives to describe the 1 impact of a device that has sold more than a 0 8 billion units. A new book, The One Device, is lighting up the intertubes with fresh gossip about “the secret history of the iPhone.” And Fadell—both the source and the subject of that gossip—is getting his due as one of the guys most responsible for turning Steve Jobs’ one-device-to-rule-them-all vision into reality. The title of the afternoon session is “What to Build Next?” and Fadell is onstage with two other bona fide tech zillionaires—Niklas Zennström, the Skype guy; and Kevin Ryan, one of New York City’s most successful inter­ net entrepreneurs—as well as a couple of other founder-­investor types. Of the five people onstage, Fadell is the only one who helped build an object that every person in the audience has most likely used at one time or another. First Fadell helped build the iPod for Apple, then the iPhone, and then he ventured out on his own to build the Nest thermostat. Payback Fadell is the star of the show, and he knows it. His Time self-confidence is well earned but can come across as overweening—especially to those who suddenly find themselves in his shadow. “Any VC who tells you that

Tony Fadell you have to move to Silicon Valley,” Fadell says at one created the point, gesticulating wildly, “is being very lazy.” Two iPod and of the other people onstage are, in fact, from Silicon Nest, then lost control Valley venture capital firms, and their collars seem to of them. His squeeze a bit tighter. Fadell, in comparison, is supremely next project could be comfortable: relaxed and expansive in a pair of bright his most red sneakers—no socks—and a polo shirt. The moder­ ambitious yet: taking ator, wrapping things up, calls for a lightning round: on Silicon a rapid-fire series of questions—with only one-word Valley itself. answers allowed. What’s the biggest problem facing the world right now? “Climate,” Fadell says. Then he adds, “We’regoingto­ havetogonuclear …” before being hushed by the moder­ ator for busting the one-word rule. What’s the next big thing in tech? By Adam “Computational synthetic biology,” Fadell says, bend­ Fisher ing the rules a second time. What is the one word that people who know you would use to describe you? Nadav Kander “Troublemaker!” With that, the panel is over, and Fadell is mobbed as he tries to leave the Grove’s 18th-century manor. People want autographs, selfies, a word or two—but the Rewind to the early ’90s. Fadell, a computer engineering major Francisco’s Telegraph Hill neighborhood and hired So he put his own dreams in a box and went to work most persistent want money and advice. at the University of Michigan, has already tasted entrepreneurial about a dozen people. Then Apple called. This was just for Apple as the head of the iPod project. The first Like many of his contemporaries, Fadell success with a little education- company called Constructive after Jobs had returned to the company he founded iPod was not perfect, but it was still way better than makes personal investments as an angel, Instruments that he founded in his dorm room, but he wants more. and was struggling to save it from oblivion. Jobs was the competition—and as it was refined, it grew into a through a firm called Future Shape, with “I was getting very frustrated being a big fish in a little pond in Ann looking for a way out of a no-win battle with monster hit. Steve Wozniak, who watched it all happen one important difference: He says he has a Arbor,” Fadell says, “and my eyes were looking at the West going, and, like Fadell, had hit upon the idea of a portable MP3 from the inside, credits the iPod with turning the entire venture-size pool of money—a portfolio of Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley.” For a technologist like player. had just announced the launch of a small-­ company around. “It made our revenues double, our Future Shape investments worth more than Fadell, there was no other place. Then, when news broke that a handful format disk drive that would give the Apple MP3 player profits double, and our stock double,” he says. The half a billion dollars. Looking to make his of Apple alumni—including the hero-programmer behind the Mac, a crucial advantage over the competition. But Apple iPod was a hit, and Fadell was a hero inside Apple. escape, Fadell slips into the men’s room. One persistent —had escaped the mothership and needed someone who knew the When Jobs announced that he had cancer in 2004, Fadell was supplicant follows and, while Fadell is standing at the banded together to form a new company, General tech forward and backward to on every list of potential successors. He even reminded people of urinal, penis in hand, proceeds to make his pitch. It’s Magic, Fadell saw his future. build out a prototype. Execu­ the mercurial Apple founder, both in his ability to get things done a startup with a new design for a robotic arm. Fadell Not long after graduating in 1991, he showed up at tives asked him to come in to and in the way he operated. “Tony is a little bit like Steve Jobs in listens for less than a minute and, shaking off, says: “A General Magic’s offices in Mountain View, California, discuss something—they were the way he shaded the truth,” says Hertzfeld, who was close to new robot arm? China is going to copy that in a second! early one midweek morning, unannounced. And cagey about exactly what. both men. “It’s not exactly lying, but it’s expressing things in an What then? What’s your value proposition?” because he was there before the receptionist, he just Fadell assumed Apple needed advantageous way.” Faster, better, cheaper … blah blah blah. started wandering the halls, uncomfortable in his some help designing a next-gen The iPhone, which came out in 2007, was Fadell’s last chapter “Not good enough!” Fadell thinks, before offering jacket and tie, résumé in hand. He eventually found Newton and took the meeting. at Apple. As the guy who built the iPod, he had earned the right some bland words of encouragement and dashing off some people to pester—people who had clearly It was only after he signed the to shape the company’s next flagship product. The phone project to slip into the back seat of a black Mercedes-Benz been there all night, hacking away. Leave us alone, nondisclosure agreements that started in earnest at the end of 2004. By that time, Fadell and S-class emblazoned with the AMG performance badge. kid. “I was humbled in the first 10 minutes of being he discovered that the company “Tony his team had prototyped that could also make phone calls. started As we start to speed toward central London to catch there,” he says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is not wanted him to design a portable to adopt Fadell’s design used the iPod’s circular controller like a rotary dial. the afternoon Eurostar to Paris, he entertains the like Michigan, I have got to be here, these are the MP3 player—the future iPod. In Steve Jobs’ But there was another team inside Apple with a bigger idea—the chauffeur (and me) with the penis-pitch story. “I did like smartest people ever, I have got to be working here. effect, Apple was asking Fadell mannerisms all-touch screen. And the competition between the two teams at and his persistence, though,” Fadell says, “I respect that.” I have to be working here.’” for help in competing with him­ persona times escalated into full-on corporate warfare. Turning philosophical, Fadell puts on his shades The young Fadell had persistence, and it paid off: self. Yet if Fuse were to have any because Fadell lost the battle over the iPhone’s final design—but, because it was a against the bright sun streaming through the backseat By the end of 1991 he had a job offer from General chance of survival, Fadell had to pressure of his previous success, he was still expected to build the hardware, sunroof. “It’s kind of like being a film producer,” he says, Magic. “I wouldn’t have said, back then, ‘This guy’s take the consulting gig at Apple, cooker— a power-sharing situation that created all kinds of drama with Scott but also reflecting on his new role, post-Nest, as an investor. going to change the world,’ particularly,” Hertzfeld because Fuse needed another you emulate Forstall, Apple’s legendary software guru. “This is when Steve’s People pitch him, and if he likes their idea, it’s go time. says. “He was incredibly talented, very opinionated, infusion of cash. The tradi­ what works, leadership and management style started to permeate the company,” As if on cue, Fadell is forced to cut his reverie short obviously very bright, and physically very strong.” tional sources of funding had right? And remembers Andy Grignon, the manager responsible for the “phone” so everyone to take a call from a young journalist doing a story on At General Magic, Fadell joined a small team that shut down because the dotcom started part of the iPhone. “Tony started to adopt Steve’s mannerisms and “the new culture of celebrity in tech.” was trying to build something the company had crash was already under way. screaming persona because it was a pressure cooker—but also you emulate at each Did you ever think that tech would make you into labeled a personal communicator. “It had email. Fadell put Fuse on autopilot other.” what works, right? And so everyone started screaming at each other. a celebrity? It had downloadable apps. It had shopping. It had and designed the iPod pro­ It became just like the thing to do: Fly off the fucking handle.” And “Absolutely not!” Fadell says. “The tech business animations and graphics and games. It had telecom­ totype for Apple in six short by the time the iPhone was ready to launch, it seemed Fadell was in the ’80s was Revenge of the Nerds. It was geeks. munications—a phone, a built-in modem,” Fadell weeks. After he demonstrated no longer the golden boy. We were looked down upon, trodden upon …” Fadell says. “It was the iPhone 14 years too soon.” It never how the iPod could be built— Jobs appeared to confirm this fact in an exceptionally cruel way: is working himself into his trademark lather. “ ‘Who got off the ground, and Magic ran out of tricks and which components, which inter­ The message was signaled from the stage at the very event where are these crazy guys with pocket protectors and bro­ cash by the early 2000s, but the experience was faces, and at what price—Jobs the iPhone was unveiled, on January 9, 2007. When Jobs was demon­ ken glasses?’ ” he asks rhetorically. “So you never formative. “Hardware, software, services. That was put Fadell into a double bind. strating the iPhone’s contact list, he showed that he could delete a thought that you were going to become a rock star,” the first link that I ever saw like that,” Fadell says. He asked him to abandon the contact with one tap—and the contact he deleted was “Tony Fadell.” Fadell says, winding down, before quickly amending “That has influenced everything I’ve done since.” Fuse MP3 player designs and The public may not have thought twice about the gesture, but the the thought. “Not that I am,” he says, “but that’s what A few years after leaving General Magic, Fadell develop his idea inside Apple, Apple engineers in the audience understood exactly what was some people think.” had his own startup, Fuse Systems. It was a hard­ which would mean killing his going on. “People laughed about it, but everybody knew,” Grignon I don’t think Fadell is a rock star, but I’m ware company that was attempting to capitalize on the Napster-­ own company. It was agonizing for the young entre­ says. “Steve was in many ways diabolical, and Tony and quickly realizing that he is not your run-of- fueled rise of the MP3 music format. Yves Béhar, the noted product preneur. “I was just like, whoa!” says Fadell, who even Steve’s relationship had grown increasingly rocky.” the-mill Silicon Valley billionaire making designer, remembers working with the nascent company: The idea now gets worked up at the thought. “I am like, ‘Wait a Fadell insists that his relationship with Jobs remained an early retirement out of an investing was to make a full line of MP3-optimized music players—everything second, I have a company, and there are people over there solid, but he seems to have been pretty decisively out­

hobby either. For starters, he doesn’t even from a component stereo system to a small portable Walkman-type working on this other thing. How am I going to do this?’ maneuvered. “That demo script,” Fadell says, “was 1 1 live in the Valley anymore. He has moved device. “Tony was talking about a world where media, especially So I just got in my car, and I started driving through the created by Scott Forstall.” (A source closely involved 1 to Paris. Permanently. And the more I learn music, was going to be all digital,” Béhar says. “And he got so excited hills of Saratoga and Los Gatos. I go up to Skyline, I wind with the presentation says Jobs was ad-libbing.) Fadell about him, the more I begin to suspect and animated and passionate that he broke a chair—he was just very up those roads, and I’m just sitting there going, ‘What and his wife, Danielle Lambert, also an Apple employee, that Silicon Valley’s favorite son secretly physical, getting up and sitting down again—and that became a joke: am I going to do? What am I doing?’” eventually decided they’d had enough and were gone by hates the Valley. To hear Fadell tell it, he Tony’s a kind of excitable guy who breaks the furniture.” In the end, Fadell didn’t have much of a choice. The November 2008. Fadell says they left to spend more time

certainly has reason to. To get the idea off the ground, Fadell rented an office in San KARINE BELLY GROOMING BY odds of Fuse succeeding on its own were not good. with their kids. “Steve was wondering why we didn’t do it sooner,” Fadell says. “And then for a year, year and a Fadell has prime office space at Station F, a startup incubator in Paris. half, we kind of went around the world.” The city they liked best was Paris, so there they settled. They bought a big, beautiful apartment in the seventh arrondissement, started filling it with contemporary art, and enrolled their eldest son in the local school. world with a solid-state thermoelectric cooler—a chip, in essence. In Fadell’s mind, the ultimate triumph would be a break­ through battery: “If we have energy storage technologies that are very cheap and very “Fuck Apple!” efficient, then we’re going to see wars stop, Fadell is in full manic panic, and because no one is going to be fighting over those are the first words out of oil reserves anymore.” his mouth as I step into his garden We each take a bike and head into traffic, courtyard in the seventh. It’s early riding south on Boulevard Saint-Germain in the morning, the day after Found­ “If you’re and then merging into traffic to veer onto ers Forum in London, and I’m being launching Boulevard Raspail. Fadell has our destina­ a startup escorted onto the premises by Fadell’s today, tion—the Paris Expo center—dialed into PR person. Today she has scheduled don’t go his iPhone. It’s only 4 miles away, but we Fadell for a long sit-down interview to Silicon are going to have to sprint to get there in Valley if with me. But all of that has been for­ you’re not time. There’s only one problem: “My boost gotten, as Fadell has just been hit from there,” doesn’t work!” Fadell says. Fadell with some disturbing news. “Fucking tells a No matter, he just stands up on his pedals Apple,” he says. Fadell clams up after group of and grinds like a bike messenger who has students. this outburst, but I later hear there is “Don’t do it!” just guzzled a gallon of espresso. Keeping a dispute brewing between one of the up is not easy, even with my Superpedes­ Future Shape companies and Apple. trian-assisted superlegs, because Fadell is Fadell has invested in hundreds of blowing through red lights, splitting lanes, startup companies, and I have no idea squeezing through wormholes in moving which of them is butting heads with traffic. And doing it all one-handed so he Apple. However, I do glean enough can keep an eye on the map. to understand that there is nothing “Watch out for cops, OK?” he says as we unusual about the morning’s drama. blast through another busy intersection. Fadell is a drama king: The more “If they see me riding with my phone out, drama, the better. In fact, Fadell’s it’s an automatic ticket.” PR person is a specialist in what has We’re cranking, running with traffic on come to be called crisis PR, and she the Rue de Rennes, and then the second tells me that with Fadell, “every day technical fail strikes. is a new adventure.” “What the hell?!” Fadell grunts, glaring Indeed, the next thing I hear from at his screen while spinning his crankset Fadell is that “we’ve got to go now.” He has decided that, madly. “My phone is only at 50 percent charge. It was instead of sitting down for the interview this morning, full when we left this morning.” he has to make an appearance at VivaTech—the­ Tech­ “You need to be able to jack it into that battery in Crunch of Europe. He points to a pair of bikes waiting in the bike,” I say, offering an unsolicited design critique. the courtyard, outfitted with a device that gives them “You’re right!” he says, leaning into a chicane designed an electric boost. The devices are from a startup called to slow traffic. Superpedestrian, and Fadell is an investor. The bet A left, a right. The streets are getting wider: four 1 on e-bikes is emblematic of the types of investments lanes, then six. Traffic is moving faster and faster. Fadell 1 he’s looking for. He tends to like hardware startups. is starting to sweat. 2 He looks for industries that are very stable, where the “I need to reboot. There’s a bug in the phone. It’s basic designs, tools, or materials have barely changed sucking power,” he says. We glide to a stop at the edge for a long time. Consider Modern Meadow, a Future of a deserted plaza near a train station so Fadell can Shape portfolio company, which is trying to replace reboot his iPhone. The reboot doesn’t fix the bug. “Such cow leather with a lab-grown substitute. Then there’s is the life of a digital citizen,” he sighs. a heating and cooling company aiming to replace every I have an idea: I hand him my Android so he can con­ compressor in every industrial refrigerator in the tinue to navigate, and we are off again. It’s all downhill from here, and soon we are on a paved bike path. Fadell the average house—every lock, appliance, power outlet, be fired and suggested that he himself should replace ing an “entrepreneur in residence” deep inside the narrowly escapes a head-on collision with a helmeted and light switch—would be replaced by a fancy cloud-­ Fadell. When Duffy’s insubordinate power play got no Google death star, Ruth Porat was hired as Google’s new mountain biker while trying to get his bearings from connected gizmo. And what would connect this so-called response from Page, he quit Nest and, for good measure, CFO. Porat had deep roots in Silicon Valley—her brother, the unfamiliar phone. of things? Who would provide the operating says he told Fadell, “I think you’re running this company Marc, was Fadell’s boss at General Magic—but Porat We’ve got gravity at our back, trees to our left, and system to the houses and apartments we would all be like a tyrant bureaucrat!” before walking out. came from Wall Street. pedestrians to our right. We’re laying down a groove in living in? Well, Nest of course. There’s definitely a tyrannical streak in Fadell—in a She was hired to bring financial discipline to Goo­ a dedicated bike lane carved out of an impossibly wide Fadell moved back to Silicon Valley to build it with heated moment Fadell once asked his cofounder, Rogers, gle. And indeed, within five months, Google announced Parisian sidewalk. Matt Rogers, who had been Fadell’s colleague at Apple. to postpone his honeymoon to help the Nest team meet that it was no longer “Google” anymore. It was Alpha­ “It says we’re here! Do you see it? It’s just to our left The company was incorporated in June 2010 and was in some deadlines. (Rogers knew the storm would pass bet, a holding company that would contain at least a somewhere,” Fadell says, craning his neck, looking for stealth mode for more than a year. Google’s Sergey Brin and took his honeymoon as scheduled.) But Fadell’s real dozen divisions. There would be the core search-and-­ the Expo center. saw a prototype early in 2011 and immediately moved to problem wasn’t his so-called tyranny—it was the new advertising company called “Google” as well as what Then, crash! buy the company. Fadell said no. Steve Jobs heard about bureaucracy he suddenly found himself in. Alphabet called its “other bets.” Nest was one of the Fadell’s front wheel goes kerflooey against a half- the thermostat and wanted to see it too, but by the time The month after Duffy transferred out of Nest, becom­ other bets, and as a division Nest would have to meet inch granite curb delineating the edge Fadell felt it was perfect enough to show to the perfectionist, Jobs certain revenue goals, and its balance sheet would suddenly be sub­ of the bike lane, and he’s thrown to was on his deathbed. He never saw it. ject to large overhead and other indirect charges from Alphabet. the ground. The bicyclist behind us The Nest thermostat debuted at the end of 2011 and earned Nest a Fadell remembers the moment vividly. He thought he had a promise: swerves to avoid the crash and curses raft of plaudits and design awards, and all the attention was making five years in which to build Nest into the dominant connected-­home at Fadell while he’s down, splayed over Fadell nervous. “I have seen this before,” he says, “where you’re the Archangel platform. But everything changed when Google morphed into Alpha­ his crumpled bike: “Merde!” biggest fish in the smaller pond, and then all of a sudden the pond Investor bet. “They decided there was a new regime in town, and they said, My phone is yards away, having grows immensely because Google or Microsoft or Apple or Amazon ‘We’re going to have all new metrics,’ and I was like, ‘This is not what escaped Fadell’s grip when he went or Samsung gets into it, and now you’re a very tiny fish with these There are angel investors, and then we agreed to before,’ because this was not just about fiscal things—it flying. The screen is shattered. Fadell big, big, big whales.” there’s Tony Fadell. The engineer was about getting married. I had never thought about being bought. best known for inventing the iPod has dirt stains on the knees of his By the summer of 2013, the second product in the Nest family, a has spent the past eight years It was about getting married to build a beautiful child, right?” white jeans. smart smoke detector, was about to come out, and Fadell was looking quietly investing in—and consulting Fadell soldiered on under the new regime for four months, until “You’re not going to put this in the to raise more money through an investment round. “We had connected with—startups through his fund, at the end of 2015 he discovered that the new bottom-line-oriented Future Shape. In size, Future story, are you?” Fadell asks. products, but what we wanted to do was connect the whole thing Shape’s billion-dollar portfolio Alphabet was going to sell Nest. “At that point I knew it wasn’t going to together. That was the vision of Nest. So how much money was it rivals medium- and large-size VC work out, and that’s when I came home to my wife, after a lot of strug­ going to take?” Fadell asks. The answer: a ton of money—and time firms. But the investments come gles with the Alphabet thing. It wasn’t working, it was, OK, it’s over.” unencumbered by meddlesome too. Meanwhile, Google was still interested in buying the company limited partners or 10-year return Things went south after Fadell told Page that he wanted out in outright. Nest was starting to look like the key that could unlock a horizons. So Fadell can, as he puts December of 2015. The tech blogs started circling, and the famously The one problem with moving gazillion-dollar “connected home” market, and acquiring Fadell it, “go long.” Here’s where Future tight-lipped Google started leaking. Recode got ahold of a meme, Shape is placing its bets. to Paris was that Fadell had no real seemed to be a chance to inject Google with some of the design DNA —blanca myers created by someone inside the company, that showed a cartoon mob, network there. Then he met Xavier that had made Apple the most valuable company in the world. torches raised high, behind the words “sell nest.” The Information Niel—a man sometimes referred to Fadell was pressed hard against the same dilemma he’d faced at did a damning exposé, featuring Duffy’s version of Nest as a bloated, as “the French Steve Jobs.” He made Fuse a decade earlier. He could bet everything on himself and risk ineffectual organization. In a follow-up blog post, Duffy accused Nest’s his money as an internet entrepreneur losing—or he could try to pursue his vision inside the confines of leadership of “fetishizing only the most superfluous and negative traits and now, like Fadell, invests it. “I was a warm corporate cocoon. This time the double bind wasn’t so of their mentors”—in other words, Fadell had emulated Steve Jobs’ reading blogs and stuff, but I wanted to heartbreaking. Fadell wouldn’t have to kill his company, because Keyssa Phononic dark side but not his capacity for getting things done. Fadell, of course, (Campbell, CA) (Durham, NC) talk to other people in the business,” Nest would effectively live inside Google. Fadell could keep control Develops high- Develops solid- rejected the charges: In his view, Duffy was acting out of line, while speed wireless state heating and Fadell tells me. while drawing on all the Google infrastructure he needed to build connectors. cooling systems. Nest was racking up accomplishments at Google—a regular drumbeat “At the time, Paris wasn’t a big tech Nest into a connected-home platform. “All kinds of promises were of significant hardware redesigns and new software services. Fadell city,” says Niel, who recalls meeting made,” Fadell says. Including, according to a source who saw the felt blindsided by Duffy and hamstrung by legal agreements restricting Fadell early one afternoon in his office in 2009. It was contract, a five-year “runway”—a period of time in which what he could say publicly: “I was disappointed Google a blind date bromance, and they talked for almost 10 Nest could spend and innovate freely with the goal of did not step up to the line when these personal attacks hours straight. “Oh my God, we just bonded instantly,” capturing the entire connected-­home ecosystem that were made on me and Nest,” he says. Furthermore, Google Turvo Karius DX Dice Fadell says. “We had similar backgrounds, just in different everyone knew was coming. (Sunnyvale, CA) (Redwood City, CA) (London) threatened Fadell with legal action if Fadell went ahead Offers a cloud-based Diagnoses Suggests live music countries. He had an Apple II, I had an Apple II.” In January 2014, Google acquired Nest for $3.2 billion. logistics platform for infectious diseases performances and defended himself in the press—this tidbit according “We spoke a lot about electronics …” Niel says. Five months later, Google bought Dropcam, a smart shippers, brokers, using genomic and offers mobile to the same source who saw the five-year runway clause and carriers. technologies. ticketing on an app. 1 Fadell had an idea about a company of his own and was home-security-camera company. The plan was to do in the original purchase agreement between Google and 1 looking for collaborators. “Nest was burning inside me to some modifications, rebrand the system, and add the Nest. Alphabet, which politely declined to comment on 5 be created,” he says. Niel was an early investor. “new” Nest Cam into Fadell’s product line. That’s what what exactly went wrong at Nest, whether Fadell quit or The Nest elevator pitch: home thermostat meets the happened, but not before the former Dropcam CEO, Greg was fired, or even if there was any runway agreement in iPhone. Nest was never simply about making a smarter, Duffy, attempted a coup d’état early in 2015. According the first place, vehemently denies threatening Fadell with Impossible Rohinni CashShield more beautiful thermostat, any more than the iPhone to an article on the news site The Information, Duffy sent Foods (Coeur d’Alene, ID) (Singapore) legal action. Whatever really happened behind closed was about making a smarter, more beautiful phone. The an email to Google CEO Larry Page complaining about (Redwood City, CA) Develops Helps enterprises doors, we do know for certain that by June 2016, Fadell Makes a meat LED lighting detect and prevent business pitch was that, someday soon, every device in Fadell, his boss at Nest. He also recommended that Fadell substitute from plants. products. online fraud. had returned to Paris for good. Given that Fadell has tangled financial lightning struck him twice: Both he and his wife got a bundle Alphabet. And by one very important mea­ produced very few high tech companies of with major Silicon Valley companies of Apple stock options back when AAPL was dirt cheap, and then he sure, Fadell succeeded stupendously, thanks note. But who knows? It might just work. and lost twice, it’s hardly surprising sold Nest to Google for $3.2 billion. “It’s all covered,” Fadell says, to Silicon Valley: He walked away from both Station F is not some government-­hatched COLOPHON that he decided to relocate to Paris. referring to his finances. “I don’t have to worry about it.” So the point companies with huge piles of money. Maybe “development” plan but rather the private The surprising thing is that he may of Future Shape, for Fadell, is finding those magic products—like the for mere mortals, money would be enough. gamble of a self-made tech billionaire, and DOPPELGÄNGERS THAT have found something better. At least iPhone or the Nest thermostat—that need long runways but might But it wasn’t for Jobs, who famously plot­ Niel’s stated goal is to have it pump out a HELPED GET THIS ISSUE OUT: that’s the case Xavier Niel makes. Sili­ change everything. ted and finally succeeded in winning back thousand additional startups a year into con Valley, Niel says, is for suckers. He “All of these incumbents with these big businesses that have been the control that Apple’s early financiers what is one of Europe’s biggest startup cit­ Twin shadowcats Walnut and Willow; all those passingly familiar faces on BART; ticks off the downsides: the sky-high around for 100 or 200 years can be unseated,” Fadell says, “because took from him. Hardware is tough: Putting ies. “It’s the ambition of all the people here, Netflix’sOzark (it’s basically Breaking Bad); Marjorie (the 70-year-old woman who lives salaries needed to attract engineers, the technology is the unseating element, the levelizer.” When Fadell talks millions of things in the hands of millions including Tony, as well as our new president inside me) and Monique (the 15-year-old atrocious traffic, the relative dearth of about “technology” he means something a bit different than the usual of people requires large amounts of capital. Macron”—the young French president has girl who lives inside me); my great-grand- father, who had the same haircut as me; cultural institutions, the isolation from definition. He waves off things like email and spreadsheets as mere And when someone gives you large amounts met with both Fadell and Niel—“to help this Dougie Jones, he born of the gold seed, who made it home to Sonny Jim; my belief the great cities of Europe … bolt-ons to existing business models. His thesis is that almost every of capital, it often means you lose control. ecosystem become huge.” that Brendan Fraser and Billy Zane are the same person masquerading as two differ- I am, to say the least, dubious: France industry is up for grabs when and if someone like him redesigns the Elon Musk, who is two years younger than As for Fadell’s Future Shape, it already ent actors; eating two of the same cup- is known for being unfavorable ground essential hardware with software and services baked in. It’s the formula Fadell, is the first Silicon Valley hardware includes chunks of some of the more cakes at a wired farewell; Meeko, the dog that stares at his reflection all day; when for businesses of all kinds—especially Fadell learned at General Magic and then applied at Apple and Nest. titan in generations to retain control of his promising non–Silicon Valley companies Ilana Glazer’s Broad City character fell in love with her lookalike; those pictures of startups. It has high taxes, rigid labor Everywhere he looks, he sees industries ripe for his particular brand inventions. Fadell seems to yearn to oversee going—Superpedestrian in Cambridge, me that my mom just “came across” at the laws, and a culture that is averse to the of disruption: logistics and trucking, urban transportation, farming. his own dominion. This idea that he had to Massachusetts; Modern Meadow in Nut­ start of my career. free market. But I have to concede that It’s an exceedingly familiar rap. Every venture fund claims that sell his babies is, I sense, what drives him. ley, New Jersey; Convargo in Paris; DICE in wired is a registered trademark of Advance Maga­zine Publishers Inc. Niel, a billionaire eight times over, is disruptive opportunity is everywhere—it’s the very premise of that Fadell is almost pathologically compelled London; CashShield in Singapore—and to a Copyright ©2017 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Volume 25, putting his money where his mouth is. type of investing—and lots of them claim, for one reason or another, to say what’s on his mind, and never in the person their CEOs have described Fadell’s No. 11. wired (ISSN 1059–1028) is pub- lished monthly by Condé Nast, which is a He’s making the case against Silicon that they don’t push their startups for exits. week I spent shadowing him did he say behind-the-scenes help as invaluable. Judg­ ­division of Advance Magazine Publishers Valley in the middle of Station F, a mas­ Fadell indulges in one heresy, however: an insistence that you no anything that smacked of self-pity. But by ing by the idolization that Fadell gets from Inc. Edi­torial office: 520 Third Street, Ste. 305, San ­Francisco, CA 94107-1815. Princi- sive complex on the outskirts of Paris longer need to throw yourself at the feet of the Silicon Valley masters, the end of the week, it was clear what this young French coders, Future Shape will pal office: Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Cen- ter, New York, NY 10007. S. I. Newhouse, devoted exclusively to the care and as he did 25 years ago. “If you’re launching a startup today, don’t third act of his career is about. He’s trying undoubtedly get early access to the start­ Jr., Chairman Emeritus; Robert A. Sauer- berg, Jr., President and Chief Executive feeding of startups. The building that go to Silicon Valley if you’re not from there,” Fadell tells a group of to challenge a Silicon Valley–­centric sys­ ups that will emerge from Station F and Officer; David E. Geithner, Chief Finan- awestruck students at a coding school that cial Officer; James M. Norton, Chief Busi- houses it all is a former railroad terminal almost as long as tem that separated him from elsewhere. His rock-star status ness Officer and President of Revenue. the Eiffel Tower is tall and filled with a sea of desks—more feeds its graduates into Station F. “Don’t do his creations. is probably his main advantage Periodi­cals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Can- than 3,000 in all. Basically, it’s a gargantuan coworking it! You’re at an incredible disadvantage.” It In France, Fadell has a mini-­ as an investor. Will it be enough ada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. ­Canadian Goods and Ser- space, one that comes with all the amenities you’d find is clear that he’s also talking about himself. replica of Silicon Valley outside to beat Valley VCs at their own vices Tax Regis­tration No. 123242885 in a big Silicon Valley company campus—foosball tables, In fact, whatever the audience, whether the Future Shape door. It’s a game? We’ll see. RT0001. private conference rooms, fancy food courts, a chill zone, it’s coding kids or the founders of Founders place where he can pick out But in another sense, Fadell’s POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS (see DMM 707.4.12.5); NONPOSTAL AND MILI- beanbag chairs. All of it is owned and operated by Niel. Forum, Fadell never misses a chance to younger versions of himself, big bet on Paris has already paid TARY FACILITIES: Send address correc- tions to wired, PO Box 37706, Boone, IA He operates as its landlord. Young entrepreneurs with pooh-pooh the Valley. Fadell made a for­ give them money, and—in a off. Spiritually, he’s back home— 50037-0662. For subscriptions, address changes, adjust­ments, or back issue inqui- an idea have to apply to get in, and if they do, they pay tune in Silicon Valley and now has left it for sense—watch all the possible to that Midwestern place where ries: Please write to wired, PO Box 37706, a nominal fee for a desk and plug-and-play access to In Paris, good. He’s putting down roots in Paris. He versions of his own life story he was before he was sucked Boone, IA 50037-0662, call (800) he can 769 4733, or email ­subscriptions@wired. the entire French entrepreneurial ecosystem. Looking pick out studies with a French tutor every day and unfold again and again. “My into Silicon Valley’s vortex. com. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. down from all sides are offices of the permanent tenants: younger is getting fluent. His two kids are enrolled job is to come here and bring He calls his own shots. He’s a First copy of new subscription will be versions mailed within eight weeks after receipt of angel networks, VC firms, incubator and accelerator of himself, in the local école, and the headquarters Silicon Valley here,” he says. big fish in a small pond. He’s in order. Address all editorial, business, and programs, outposts of large firms like Facebook and give them of Future Shape—the new business—are “It’s that cultural element that control. And this time around, production correspondence to wired money, Maga­zine, 1 World Trade Center, New York, Microsoft looking to hire and acquire. Those tenants inside Station F. 1 people are trying to replicate Silicon Valley comes to him. NY 10007. For permissions and reprint and watch 1 requests, please call (212) 630 5656 or fax pay top dollar for the advantage of being in the same all the You don’t need Freud to figure out why. 7 around the world, of taking risks “Tony meets more American requests to (212) 630 5883. Visit us online possible at www.wired.com. To subscribe to other building with all the young guns. Look past the big wallet and the big ego and and believing in yourself and tech people in Paris than in the Condé Nast maga­zines on the web, visit versions www.­condenet.com. Occasionally, we One of the nicest of the permanent offices belongs to of his life you see a guy who has been grievously hurt changing the world, and there’s US,” Niel says. “Because if you make our subscriber list available to care- Fadell. Future Shape, his fund, is now worth, he estimates, story by the Silicon Valley system—exploited and no reason it can only be done in are a big US tech manager, you fully screened com­panies that offer prod- unfold ucts and services that we believe would between $500 million and $1 billion. That’s equivalent again and then betrayed, twice. First by Steve Jobs, Silicon Valley.” Fadell is the vec­ come to Paris at least one or two interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, to a medium- or even large-size venture fund. But the again. who squeezed Fadell for all the juice he had tor, the human tissue culture in times a year—and when they do, please advise us at PO Box 37706, Boone, IA 50037-0662, or call (800) 769 4733. difference is that, unlike a VC fund, Fadell doesn’t have and then publicly tossed him aside. The a grand cloning experiment—as they all call Tony!” wired is not responsible for the return a bunch of limited partners second time it was the same shit, different well as the experimenter, tweak­ By all means, when you come or loss of, or for damage or any other injury backing him, tracking returns company—Fadell was again sucker-punched ing the rules. to Paris, you should definitely to, unsolicited manuscripts, unsolicited art­work (includ­ing, but not limited to, draw- ADAM FISHER over (typically) a 10-year mat­ on the way out. The wave of bad publicity What I see is a guy trying to look Fadell up. He’s a wild man, a ings, photo­graphs, and trans­parencies), (@AdamcFisher) or any other unsolicited ­materials. Those is the author of uration period. Future Shape while he was at Nest—the Recode memes, prove to Silicon Valley that maverick, a bull in a china shop, sub­mit­ting manu­scripts, photo­graphs, Valley of Genius, artwork, or other materials for consid­ a history of Silicon is all Fadell’s money, so there’s the Information exposé—came after Fadell his way was the right way all and a lot of fun. But take one bit eration should not send originals, unless Valley. It will be specifically requested to do so by wired none of the usual VC pressure to told Page he wanted to leave Google. along—with the irony that he’s of advice from me: Whatever in writing. Manu­scripts, photo­graphs, art- published IPO or be acquired. His personal Sure, he might have failed altogether if trying to make that case in a you do, don’t let him borrow work, and other materials submitted must in spring 2018 by be accom­panied by a self-addressed, Hachette. balance sheet is not public, but it hadn’t been for the support of Apple and high-tax country that has, so far, your phone. � stamped envelope.

Superpedestrian (Cambridge, Massachussetts) Makes an attachment that turns any bicycle into an electric hybrid vehicle