Quotes from Tony Fadell

When I was four or five years old, my grandfather showed me how to build things, paint, saw. Through years of fixing bikes, repairing lawn mowers, I learned how things work.

I look at the world and peer into products and think, 'What's wrong with these products?'

Studies have shown that children are less likely to wake up to a horn than the sound of a mother's voice.

I don't look backwards. I'm pleasantly surprised, and I feel really proud of the team and what we were able to accomplish together. But really, where I'm focused is the future and where Nest is going.

If you're not having doubt, you're not pushing the boundaries far enough.

Google has the business resources, global scale and platform reach to accelerate Nest growth across hardware, software and services for the home globally.

I started designing the greenest the most connected home before the iPhone and the iPad.

Learning by doing is the only way I know how to learn.

Most thermostats are built by plumbing companies. But you really need to understand how to build a phone to make them better.

No amount of data will tell you if a feature should be in the product, because it doesn't exist. You need to have a very clear leader with a clear point of view... otherwise, you get a mishmash of features and stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense.

With most tech guys, it's the same outfit every day - they wear their company logo.

I used to work about 100 hours a week; now it's about 70. But 40 hours? Forget about it. Either you're all in, or your not.

I've been working with contractors designing and building a house on a nonstop basis since 2005. I learned about all these systems of audio, construction, electricity, energy, water systems.

If you don't have an emotionally engaging design for a device, no one will care about it.

At the end of the day, customer choice is essential. And we don't make products that compete with Apple, nor make products that compete with Google. Our customers come in both iOS and Android flavors, and I hope our customers can still buy the products they want to purchase wherever they want to purchase them.

It can't be that difficult to build a great thermostat. So I decided to figure out: What would the thermostat for the iPhone generation look like? I got this bug. It really infected my brain. I kept thinking about it. This could be a cool product that matters and a cool product that has a great business.

Having kids makes you think about the world differently.

Your television has changed, your phone has changed. Why don't these other things you need, that the government tells you you must have in your home, change?

We're thrilled to join Google. With their support, Nest will be even better placed to build simple, thoughtful devices that make life easier at home, and that have a positive impact on the world.

People buy products, and they want to understand what those things are and how they are applicable to their life.

To help you focus, to help you really understand what you're doing, you have to say no a lot. When you say yes to everything, you get distracted. When you say no, you have to get the one thing you're doing really right.

In Tahoe, you want to be able check on the temperature of the house or turn it on before you get there. Because it's really cold in the winter.

Every person I talk to has a story about how their smoke alarm went off or woke them up with a battery beeping. So you take it off the wall and you take the battery out and say 'screw this.' They hate the products.

You start with the right amount of rational and emotional experiences. You have to blend those in your product when you come out.