I worked there. It was literally the worst experience of my career - and I have worked at all of the hardest charging blue chips and two successful startups - so it is not about high expectations - but abuse. I still wake up with something like PTSD occasionally from getting yelled at and bullied by Tony Fadell almost literally every day while I was there.
I have a distance from it now -- and a way better job. It made me realize that the culture of a place is really what makes it and that "how" you get results really matter. I bought into the Apple pedigree of the place without understanding that the way Tony got there was through essentially wrecking other people's lives.
I have no idea why Google bought this. Tony literally stood up at an all-hands after the Alphabet thing and said "Fuck being Googley" (direct quote).
Frankly, if I could offer Larry Page once piece of advice it would be to take Tony out front of TGIF and fire him publicly -- all of this comes from Tony. Matt is just his hatchet man and fake cofounder.
There are a lot of great people at Nest and they deserve a better leader.
"I don’t know why I feel this way, but between working closely with Bill Campbell, working closely with Steve Jobs and watching a lot of my mentors pass on, unfortunately, I feel like I bear this responsibility now. There’s a few of us who are keepers of that knowledge. It’s almost our responsibility to be able to continue that way of thinking, that way of working. Expect excellence, respect excellence, drive hard, change things, don’t accept the status quo, push yourself, push the people on your team harder than they could ever imagine, and they will do more than they could have ever imagined."
You gotta love these incompetent execs, who have taken nothing away from Steve Jobs' legacy except "be an asshole". Tony, listen: Steve Jobs succeeded in spite of being a massive douche, because he was a genius who essentially invented new product categories, and made them work really really well. You, on the other hand, stuck networking interfaces in common household appliances, usually making them worse. Your psychopathic treatment of your employees gains you nothing in that case.
Working under a jerk for a very long time can also teach you to be a jerk. Being a jerk for a very long time is what makes you feel normal.
There is this multiplier vs. diminisher comparison. A lot of people originally start out as multipliers but having worked under diminishers makes them forget or never realize what gifts their original talents could bring about.
"There’s a few of us who are keepers of that knowledge. It’s almost our responsibility to be able to continue that way of thinking, that way of working."
Uhmmm ... the line of thinking that has your smoke detector talking to remote servers and dealing with a social layer (logins, smart apps, etc.) ?
That line of thinking is a cancer. It's a scourge on all of us that needs to be stamped out wherever we see it.
You really put that in the right perspective for me. I've always thought of Jobs as a sociopath, but I also thought it was because of his demeanor that his employees created such amazing things.
No. You are right - he succeeded despite being a douche.
>[Steve Jobs] was a genius who essentially invented new product categories
What product categories did Steve/Apple invent? All of their major breakthroughs (iPod, iPhone, iPad) were already existing product categories but Apple just made them right / what customers wanted. Correct me if I'm wrong.
For a company whose primary product is/was the Nest Thermostat, I've found they have been terrible at innovation and keeping up with competition. The product has been virtually unchanged for the last 3-4 years. What have they been up to?
I switched to an Ecobee3 system and found it was far superior in many ways. Alexa integration, remote sensors (for actual temperature measurements in rooms), easier install and compatibility if you don't have power going to thermostat, better wifi, touchscreen interface.
With Google Home coming I wonder what this means for Nest. Maybe it will be fully absorbed into Google?
I have been incredibly frustrated with how they acquired Dropcam and completely killed not only the soul of the company, but real features the existing devices already had.
The setup process for the Dropcam was absolutely magical. You plug a new one in, open the app and it would configure the camera via Bluetooth 4.0. You could then go back in and change WiFi settings by simply being near enough for the Bluetooth 4.0 connection.
Then Nest bought them, and completely removed that feature. They issued a firmware update that made it so now the camera that used to have this wonderful feature now requires me to plug it into my computer's USB and execute some janky app from a flash drive. Of course, if you buy one of their new devices, you a setup process somewhat similar to the original Dropcam. But existing customers are out of luck. In fact, the Dropcam Pro included a 1080P sensor but they did not enable it for various reasons. When Nest released their flavor of the camera, they enabled 1080P, but not for existing Dropcam Pro customers.
The DVR functionality is inferior too.
I wish I could get a refund. I personally feel like it is a bait and switch scenario. :(
This is interesting. I have had Nest thermostats for several years, and overall I think they're great, but I have definitely felt the need for remote sensors (our upstairs thermostat in particular is in a really bad spot). A couple of months ago I seriously considered getting an Ecobee, but I read a bunch of reviews that complained of stuff like unresponsive touchscreen, bad UI, etc. The main thing I love about the Nest is that the UX is very simple, and works well. Anyone in the house can use it without instructions, and it feels like a thermostat, not a slow Android device or something.
Did you find those to not be issues? Definitely most of the reviews were good, so maybe it's just isolated people having problems. But I couldn't tell if it was that, or more that people either aren't as picky about UX as I am, or they didn't have another point of comparison... I'm very open to re-considering them if someone can convince me this stuff is a non-issue, because the remote sensor would certainly make our system work better.
+1 For Ecobee. After wanting a "smart" thermostat for some time and researching and researching nothing really blew my socks off. But the Ecobee was the closest one to impressing me. So I finally pulled the trigger for downstairs. It's been doing great and I love the features. So now it's time to put one upstairs.
The problem with temperature sensors is where you put it... if you put it upstairs and run that temp down to say 78 in the summer.. the rest of your house (especially the basement) is an icebox.
That's the problem with so called 'lazy zoning'.
However that being said, if you want something like this and don't have an ecobee, SmartThings starter kit comes with multiple sensors that read temperature.
I guess, hardware is far more complex than writing the next Twitter. Plus, if you are bought by another company, expect product development to stall due to changes and people who don't like changes.
"We should all be disrupters!": I really don't like reading bullshit like this in the middle of a blog post. Anyway, I hope this announcement means that Nest employees will have a better work-life balance, it looked pretty terrible from the recent articles posted on HN.
I have been cringing every time I see/hear the word "disrupt" (in its various forms) for a couple years now. In pretty much all cases, the more often a given person uses that word, the more vapid I come to think they are.
Of all the industries/technologies that need to push people to their wits end, I just don't see how it applies to a thermostat company... I mean, all the technology for it is already easily available practically off the shelf (mobile phone technology). I can give a pass to the guys that were creating the IIe, the iPhone, rockets and electric cars... But seriously, what is the big challenge here. Why can't people execute this product in fairly short order working 8-5?
I love that he put "leaving the next" in quotes. He was leading that company down the drain and got fired, they just dont want to make it look that way. They have had so much bad press the past year, from nest employees complaining of a hostile work environment to customers complaining about products being intentionally bricked. This news is shocking only in that it took this long to happen
Yeah I was laughing at the "it's never a perfect time to transition" and was thinking, well, when everyone hates you and wants you to leave is probably pretty close to a perfect time to leave.
This is how it works at that level. You get paid to not make noise or give bad PR on the way out. (Too bad it doesn't trickle down to junior levels) In some cases the golden parachute is just ensure that people don't fight the change legally or otherwise. The good PR then allows them to get the next job.
I'm very surprised that word of Fadell's Jobs-in-training style didn't precede him. Was this behind his departure from Apple?
Boston Dynamics and Schaft are being sold off, and who knows if the rest of Rubin's robot companies are on the auction block.
And while carmakers, rideshare companies and Autonomous AI companies are all forming alliances in varying capacities, Alphabet's self driving car project dance card remains conspicuously empty.
> And while carmakers, rideshare companies and Autonomous AI companies are all forming alliances in varying capacities, Alphabet's self driving car project dance card remains conspicuously empty.
Except for the Ford partnership [1] and a strategic investment in Uber [2].
>And while carmakers, rideshare companies and Autonomous AI companies are all forming alliances in varying capacities, Alphabet's self driving car project dance card remains conspicuously empty.
That seems to be mostly because even though many researchers in the field think that door-to-door Level 4 autonomy is decades out, Google is apparently uninterested in any intermediate steps. Which pretty much rules out any partnerships with automakers etc. who are interested in things they can sell in interesting commercial horizons.
Wow. I honestly never thought this would happen. Hopefully this means that the change in culture at Nest is real, and we can expect better innovation going forward. As a heavy Nest customer (thermostat, 2 protects and 5 cameras), I've been sorely disappointed over the last 2 years, and hopefully this means that my investment in their technology isn't for naught.
That awkward balancing act they do between "I'm gone but don't be too scared I'm still here but really I'm gone" I mean this is like a sentence tennis match:
```Although this news may feel sudden to some, this transition has been in progress since late last year and while I won’t be present day to day at Nest, I’ll remain involved in my new capacity as an advisor to Alphabet and Larry Page. This will give me the time and flexibility to pursue new opportunities to create and disrupt other industries – and to support others who want to do the same – just as we’ve done at Nest. We should all be disrupters!
I will miss this company and my Nest family (although I’ll be around to provide advice and guidance and help the team with the transition), but I am excited about what’s coming next, both for Nest and for me.```
I couldn't find anything to confirm this, but as a Lebanese-American myself — I'd say from his name, looks, and speech I heard in a video on YouTube, he's probably Lebanese and possibly Syrian.
I believe there was a 2 year vesting on stock or bonuses at Next. They got acquired around early 2014 so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I expect a whole bunch of others may leave depending on how the new CEO is.
I was at work the other day when I got a push notification that there was smoke upstairs from Nest protect. I left work immediately and arrived home to the smell of burning, an incense plug had been left in and was melting.
Nest saved me, the ROI for me is priceless. Thanks Tony, good luck in your next venture - learn from your mistakes.
Tony and Elizabeth Holmes should team up to create a wifi-enabled device that regulates blood sugar for diabetics. It can be hidden in the collar of your turtleneck. And when it loses connectivity or misreads your glucose level, you get to meet Steve Jobs.
[+] [-] rdtsc|9 years ago|reply
---
outside1234 109 days ago
I worked there. It was literally the worst experience of my career - and I have worked at all of the hardest charging blue chips and two successful startups - so it is not about high expectations - but abuse. I still wake up with something like PTSD occasionally from getting yelled at and bullied by Tony Fadell almost literally every day while I was there.
I have a distance from it now -- and a way better job. It made me realize that the culture of a place is really what makes it and that "how" you get results really matter. I bought into the Apple pedigree of the place without understanding that the way Tony got there was through essentially wrecking other people's lives.
I have no idea why Google bought this. Tony literally stood up at an all-hands after the Alphabet thing and said "Fuck being Googley" (direct quote).
Frankly, if I could offer Larry Page once piece of advice it would be to take Tony out front of TGIF and fire him publicly -- all of this comes from Tony. Matt is just his hatchet man and fake cofounder.
There are a lot of great people at Nest and they deserve a better leader.
---
[+] [-] patmcguire|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] firebones|9 years ago|reply
>>> Frankly, if I could offer Larry Page once piece of advice it would be to take Tony out front of TGIF and fire him publicly
[+] [-] joering2|9 years ago|reply
I never got upvoted more on HN.
[+] [-] tlrobinson|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] outside1234|9 years ago|reply
Do no evil indeed.
[+] [-] Analemma_|9 years ago|reply
"I don’t know why I feel this way, but between working closely with Bill Campbell, working closely with Steve Jobs and watching a lot of my mentors pass on, unfortunately, I feel like I bear this responsibility now. There’s a few of us who are keepers of that knowledge. It’s almost our responsibility to be able to continue that way of thinking, that way of working. Expect excellence, respect excellence, drive hard, change things, don’t accept the status quo, push yourself, push the people on your team harder than they could ever imagine, and they will do more than they could have ever imagined."
You gotta love these incompetent execs, who have taken nothing away from Steve Jobs' legacy except "be an asshole". Tony, listen: Steve Jobs succeeded in spite of being a massive douche, because he was a genius who essentially invented new product categories, and made them work really really well. You, on the other hand, stuck networking interfaces in common household appliances, usually making them worse. Your psychopathic treatment of your employees gains you nothing in that case.
[+] [-] Fricken|9 years ago|reply
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/27/11799682/nest-tony-fadell-...
[+] [-] 762236|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nashashmi|9 years ago|reply
There is this multiplier vs. diminisher comparison. A lot of people originally start out as multipliers but having worked under diminishers makes them forget or never realize what gifts their original talents could bring about.
[+] [-] rsync|9 years ago|reply
Uhmmm ... the line of thinking that has your smoke detector talking to remote servers and dealing with a social layer (logins, smart apps, etc.) ?
That line of thinking is a cancer. It's a scourge on all of us that needs to be stamped out wherever we see it.
A pox on him and his house!
[+] [-] coroutines|9 years ago|reply
No. You are right - he succeeded despite being a douche.
[+] [-] DINKDINK|9 years ago|reply
What product categories did Steve/Apple invent? All of their major breakthroughs (iPod, iPhone, iPad) were already existing product categories but Apple just made them right / what customers wanted. Correct me if I'm wrong.
[+] [-] ajsharp|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] manav|9 years ago|reply
I switched to an Ecobee3 system and found it was far superior in many ways. Alexa integration, remote sensors (for actual temperature measurements in rooms), easier install and compatibility if you don't have power going to thermostat, better wifi, touchscreen interface.
With Google Home coming I wonder what this means for Nest. Maybe it will be fully absorbed into Google?
[+] [-] rwl4|9 years ago|reply
The setup process for the Dropcam was absolutely magical. You plug a new one in, open the app and it would configure the camera via Bluetooth 4.0. You could then go back in and change WiFi settings by simply being near enough for the Bluetooth 4.0 connection.
Then Nest bought them, and completely removed that feature. They issued a firmware update that made it so now the camera that used to have this wonderful feature now requires me to plug it into my computer's USB and execute some janky app from a flash drive. Of course, if you buy one of their new devices, you a setup process somewhat similar to the original Dropcam. But existing customers are out of luck. In fact, the Dropcam Pro included a 1080P sensor but they did not enable it for various reasons. When Nest released their flavor of the camera, they enabled 1080P, but not for existing Dropcam Pro customers.
The DVR functionality is inferior too.
I wish I could get a refund. I personally feel like it is a bait and switch scenario. :(
[+] [-] zippergz|9 years ago|reply
Did you find those to not be issues? Definitely most of the reviews were good, so maybe it's just isolated people having problems. But I couldn't tell if it was that, or more that people either aren't as picky about UX as I am, or they didn't have another point of comparison... I'm very open to re-considering them if someone can convince me this stuff is a non-issue, because the remote sensor would certainly make our system work better.
[+] [-] X86BSD|9 years ago|reply
If you are thinking of the Ecobee, do it! :)
[+] [-] supergeek133|9 years ago|reply
That's the problem with so called 'lazy zoning'.
However that being said, if you want something like this and don't have an ecobee, SmartThings starter kit comes with multiple sensors that read temperature.
[+] [-] einrealist|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ArmandGrillet|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jaawn|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] j2bax|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marme|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1_2__3|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mathattack|9 years ago|reply
I'm very surprised that word of Fadell's Jobs-in-training style didn't precede him. Was this behind his departure from Apple?
[+] [-] atom-morgan|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Fricken|9 years ago|reply
Verily, the life sciences arm has similar CEO problems: https://www.statnews.com/2016/03/28/google-life-sciences-exo...
Boston Dynamics and Schaft are being sold off, and who knows if the rest of Rubin's robot companies are on the auction block.
And while carmakers, rideshare companies and Autonomous AI companies are all forming alliances in varying capacities, Alphabet's self driving car project dance card remains conspicuously empty.
Things at Alphabet are not looking good.
[+] [-] beambot|9 years ago|reply
Except for the Ford partnership [1] and a strategic investment in Uber [2].
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/business/ford-and-google-t...
[2] http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-i...
[+] [-] ghaff|9 years ago|reply
That seems to be mostly because even though many researchers in the field think that door-to-door Level 4 autonomy is decades out, Google is apparently uninterested in any intermediate steps. Which pretty much rules out any partnerships with automakers etc. who are interested in things they can sell in interesting commercial horizons.
[+] [-] pfarnsworth|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RankingMember|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jusben1369|9 years ago|reply
```Although this news may feel sudden to some, this transition has been in progress since late last year and while I won’t be present day to day at Nest, I’ll remain involved in my new capacity as an advisor to Alphabet and Larry Page. This will give me the time and flexibility to pursue new opportunities to create and disrupt other industries – and to support others who want to do the same – just as we’ve done at Nest. We should all be disrupters!
I will miss this company and my Nest family (although I’ll be around to provide advice and guidance and help the team with the transition), but I am excited about what’s coming next, both for Nest and for me.```
[+] [-] pboutros|9 years ago|reply
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marwanfawaz
[+] [-] dguaraglia|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zefhous|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Geekette|9 years ago|reply
[1]http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-on-at-nest-2016-2
[2]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11105510
[+] [-] pkaye|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iqonik|9 years ago|reply
Nest saved me, the ROI for me is priceless. Thanks Tony, good luck in your next venture - learn from your mistakes.
[+] [-] c-slice|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paul|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aboodman|9 years ago|reply
I didn't realize until recently, but am not surprised to learn, that the people at Dropcam went on to found several interesting startups:
[+] [-] f_allwein|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dreamcompiler|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DonHopkins|9 years ago|reply
http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/
[+] [-] justinv|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dclowd9901|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shawndumas|9 years ago|reply