build.md

build.md

Introduction

• This book by Tony Fadell, is the advice that he gives to CEOs, executives, interns, etc., who are making their way through teh business world.

1.1: Build Yourself

• The only way to learn in the real world is to fail.
• If you want to start a career, the place to start would be "what do I want to learn?" Focus on learning early, take risks in the kinds of companies you join. Remember that many of the companies you start will fail.
• While joining, make sure you join a team of smart people who have build hard things before.
• If you're not feeling butterfiles regarding the things you're doing, you're not pushing yourself enough.
• It's important to do the management analysis before writing a line of code.

1.2: Get a job

• If you're going to throw all your energy in, work for a company that's revolutionalizing something; not incremental changes.
• It is important to "solve a real world problem / pain point", if you want your product to be used. People won't buy it just because it's cool. The product you build needs to be of it's time. (eg. google glass, magic leap, etc.)
• You need to know every step of the process to become truly valuable to the team at your company.

1.3: Heros

• Chase the humble rock stars of your field: they will lead you to the career you want. Focus on working with the best in your field.
• All you need to convince these kinds of people to hire you: "Spend a lot of time building things from the group up + reading a lot about everything happening in the industry; that will set you apart"
• It's possible to beome the most knowledgable for anyone, just read.
• Spend time finding the people who build things at revolutionary companies, and send them messages, share your thoughts / reports with them, etc. Keep sending them constant messages, even though they don't respond. They will recognize you at some point.
• If you're working at a big company, always focus on the getting the big picture; don't put all your energy into just building your slice of the banana.
• Heros have a lot of blind spots. You can get your knowledge in, help them understand their blind spots and build a good relationship.

1.4: don't (only) look down

• individual contributors generally focus on the things that need to be delivered soon. their responsiblity is to keep the details in check, so that the management can take higher level decisions.
• But if ICs do just this, they will run into a brick wall and have no learning.
• As an IC, you need to do two things:
  • Look up: beyond the immediate dealine, but the long term goals. ensure that the direction makes sense to you.
  • Look around: get out of your comfort zone of your team, go around talk to other teams and understand their concerns. helps you get more perspective on your project.
• You need to think like your manager. Make sure it feels right to you. It's the first step to making progress in that direction.
• The big picture helps you think more clearly about your specific role in the team.

2.1: Managing

• things to keep in mind for being a manager:
  • you don't have to be a manager to be successful
  • once you're manager, you'll stop doing the thing that made you successful
  • you'll need to spend time learning new skills
  • being demanding with great work is not micromanagement
  • any management style works: as long as you can comfortably share the hard truth with the team
  • don't worry that your team will outshine you
• try to understand why the marketing team is getting 2-3x budget than the engineering team
• trust your team, don't focus on getting things done your way. give them the task and make sure they meet it.
• get another guy who can replace you, and that will make your climb up the ladder easier.

2.2: data vs opinion

• sometimes, when there is not data, we will have to go by our opinion.
• when there's data, everyone agrees on what to do
• getting data takes time. you need to test more carefully, it takes time and effort. you need to make clear hypothesis.
• tell people all the data you considered to take this decision, tell them their thought process, hear out their opinions. if needed, course correct the plan.
• be clear: here are the points that make sense for our customers, here are the ones that don't. we have to keep moving, and in this instance, i believe this makes more sense. let's go.
• If convincing through data doesn't work, follow the path of story telling.

2.3: assholes

• two types: driven by selfishness, driven by the bigger goal.

2.4: quiting

• quit only when all other options fail including talking to higher management. give the team enough time so that they can transision and hire a new candidate.

3: build your product

3.1: make the intangible tangible

• Don't make a prototype of the product and consider it done; make it as much of the full customer experience as possible. You should consider all aspects of how the customer uses it.
• If a product (hardware) doesn't absolutely need to exist, then it should not exist.
• Don't think about the customer experience only at the end, continously keep thinking about it as you build things.
• Map out this whole journey with drawings so that you can clearly visualize how you want the customer experience to be like.

3.2: Storytelling

• Communicate the problems that customers currently face. Show that how frustrating it is. And then introduce your solution, on how it will solve these frutrations.
  • Steve always told you "why" before telling you what the product is.
  • He was so convincing because he's been telling variants of the same story for months and months, refining it over time. It doesn't come naturally to anyone.
  • If the story didn't work, steve changed the product itself.
• Make products that have convincing stories.
• "why doess this thing needs to exist?"
• When you're very invovled in build something, the why becomes obvious to you and you on focus on the what. But when trying to convince people, always focus on the why.
• Stories need to appeal to their emotions to be convincing, not just state facts.
• You don't have to explain how everything works to the customer, make it simple and easy to understand. Eg. nest's "rush hour rewards"

3.3: evolution vs execution vs disruption

• evolution: small incremental step to make something better, disruption: completely novel solution to an old problem, excution: doing what you promised well
• Your prototype (V1) should be disruptive, not evolutionary. Just disrupting the product might not be enough, you might have to disrupt marketing, manufacting, etc.
• V2: is an evolution of V1 based on customer feedback. continue to think about disruptions.
• The product needs to make investors think "Wow, tell me more."
• Don't disrupt more than necessary.
• Underpromise, over deliver.

3.4: your first adventure and second

• learn from the first time and make data driven decisions second time. first time, it's going to be opinon based decisions.
• create your mission by talking to a small set of people, not all by yourself.
• write a press release before you build the product, to see which parts of it are the best stories.

3.5: deadlines and delivery

• have a tight first deadline, and deliver no matter what. you can always refine later with the better design. if you try to perfect it, the model will never be out.
• do very rapid initial prototyping with a small set of people to see if things can actually work before expanding.
• any new product needs to be launched in 9-18 months, don't take longer.
• keep updating marketing continously, to make sure it all makes sense.
• 1 big launch, 3 smaller launches every year.

3.6: three generations

• It takes 6-10 years for a company to be successful; it needs atleast 3 generations to take over even if it's truly disruptive.
• marketing / sales
• V1 is never profitable: hardware or software. It needs many generations. Don't be disappointed.
• make product, fix product, then you have a business.

4: build your business

4.1: how to spot a great idea

• solves a "why", solves a problem, follows you around in your mind.
• build a detailed business plan, linger on the idea for long enough before ocmmiting to it.
• best ideas are pain killers, not vitamin pills.
• the idea follows you everywhere
• tell people "I have an idea", keep sharing your story; see people reaction and refine it over time. slowly switch to "I'm building a product" to get people's reaction.

4.2: are you ready?

• the only way you'll know is by trying it out
• reality: most successful entreprenuers are the ones who're successful in their 30s and 40s because; ones who have learned to fail in their 20s.
• if you want to learn to startup, start working at the startup whose founders know what they're doing. how do different departments connect together?
• see how companies operate, understand the dynamic. so that over time you'll be able to use them when you start on your own.
• if you don't have a list of names of 5 peopel you would hire once you start your company, you probably shouldn't start. build those connections before.
• you'll need a mentor who can help you course correct soon. without mentor, you cannot be successful.
• if you want to startup inside a big company, you'll need a CEO who's willing to have your back and get over the internal neurocracy. if you don't have that, better to startup on your own.

4.3: Marrying for money

• each time you're raising money, it's like a marriage. you need to find someone who's compatible and gives you the spcae without pressure.
• even if it's at a big VC firm, it's important to have a good relationship and compatibility with the person you're in contact with.
• if you don't need outside money, don't push it. if you going for the money, see what's the minimum amount needed
• make sure the VC treats you well

4.4: focus on the customer

4.5: work life balance

• write ideas on paper with pen. continously reevaluate those ideas, keep thinking about alternative ways to do certain tasks.
• take vacations to ensure other people are able to do your job.
• take solitude, design, think, on the paper. Keep reengineering continously. Take breaks.
• take the day off if things are hard. give you mind time to breathe.

4.6: crisis

xx not taking notes from here on xx