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Building Hardware and Taking on the Phone Giants with Carl Pei

People often say that building a hardware company is like “playing on hard mode”. Building a hardware company during a global pandemic, with the unpredictability of supply chains and markets, is harder than hard. Trying to penetrate the phone market in particular – where only a few players own almost all the market share – is REALLY hard. In today’s episode we chat with Carl Pei, founder of Nothing. Between Nothing and previously co-founding OnePlus, Carl has twice managed to do what many others have failed to do. Nothing has sold over 1m units and built a team of over 400. In this episode, Carl chats with us about why he’s at it again, what it takes to successfully build hardware, and how he thinks about making technology fun again. Topics Covered: 00:00 - Introduction 02:30- The hardware market 03:12 - Breaking into the phone market 05:42 - Securing factories and stakeholders 08:08 - Differentiating products 11:14 - Hardware design 12:37 - Strengthening software proposition 17:04 - Table stakes 19:01 - Marketing and Youtube 20:51 - Underestimating the value chain 23:15 - Manufacturing 24:56 - Supply chain 27:24 - Remote work 29:19 - The future of hardware 32:39 - Breakthrough hardware 34:42 - Making tech fun again Resources: * Nothing website: https://us.nothing.tech/ * Nothing’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NothingTechnology * Find Carl on Twitter: https://twitter.com/getpeid * Find Nothing on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nothing * Nothing’s recently launched Ear (2): https://us.nothing.tech/products/ear-2 Stay Updated: * Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z * Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z * Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ * Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Carl PeiguestSteph Smithhost

Apr 6, 202339mWatch on YouTube ↗

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EPISODE INFO

Released: April 6, 2023
Duration: 39m
Channel: a16z
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

People often say that building a hardware company is like “playing on hard mode”. Building a hardware company during a global pandemic, with the unpredictability of supply chains and markets, is harder than hard. Trying to penetrate the phone market in particular – where only a few players own almost all the market share – is REALLY hard. In today’s episode we chat with Carl Pei, founder of Nothing. Between Nothing and previously co-founding OnePlus, Carl has twice managed to do what many others have failed to do. Nothing has sold over 1m units and built a team of over 400. In this episode, Carl chats with us about why he’s at it again, what it takes to successfully build hardware, and how he thinks about making technology fun again. Topics Covered: 00:00 - Introduction 02:30- The hardware market 03:12 - Breaking into the phone market 05:42 - Securing factories and stakeholders 08:08 - Differentiating products 11:14 - Hardware design 12:37 - Strengthening software proposition 17:04 - Table stakes 19:01 - Marketing and Youtube 20:51 - Underestimating the value chain 23:15 - Manufacturing 24:56 - Supply chain 27:24 - Remote work 29:19 - The future of hardware 32:39 - Breakthrough hardware 34:42 - Making tech fun again Resources:
Nothing website: https://us.nothing.tech/
Nothing’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NothingTechnology
Find Carl on Twitter: https://twitter.com/getpeid
Find Nothing on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nothing
Nothing’s recently launched Ear (2): https://us.nothing.tech/products/ear-2
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z
Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

SPEAKERS

Carl Pei
guest
Co-founder and CEO of Nothing, previously a key early leader at OnePlus.
Steph Smith
host
Host at a16z who interviews founders and builders on technology and startups.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of a16z, featuring Carl Pei and Steph Smith, Building Hardware and Taking on the Phone Giants with Carl Pei explores carl Pei on Building Nothing and Challenging Phone Giants Carl Pei says the phone market is dominated by a few incumbents, startups have repeatedly failed there, and Nothing decided to attempt it because he believes nobody else will.

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