Build (Tony Fadell)

The designer behind the iPod and the Nest thermostat wrote an advice book structured as a career arc — being an individual contributor, then building a product, then a team, then a company, then being a CEO — with the hardware-specific chapters that most management books skip: how long a physical product’s development cycle actually runs, why the second generation matters more than the first, and what it was like to work for Steve Jobs.

Why it’s on the list: In the required section of Fil Arons’s list. Short, blunt, and written by someone who shipped atoms rather than only bits.

Where I saw it: @FilArons’s November 16, 2025 recommended-reading list, in the section he marks as required.

Connections

• Apple — where Fadell built the iPod, and half the book’s material.
• Steve Jobs — the boss the book spends a lot of its pages reckoning with.
• Product Management — the craft the middle of the book is about.
• Company Building — the later chapters, once the product exists.