Father of the iPod and iPhone on building taste, judgment, and creativity in the AI era | Tony Fadell
Jun 7, 2026 · 1h 35m · YouTube
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EP · Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth · Father of the iPod and iPhone on building taste, judgment, and creativity in the AI era | Tony Fadell1:35:07
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0:00You still need humans in the loop.
0:01Don't surrender to the machine.
0:02We can use the machines, but don't cognitively surrender it.
0:05Because it's so easy to build, the things that stand out are the things that are really well thought through.
0:09Today in the AI world, I can just make a prompt and all of a sudden it gets spit out.
0:13You're building on a really crusty foundation.
0:16You're getting short-term gain for very, very long-term loss.
0:19If you're gonna build a real company, can't be throwaway.
0:22One of your colleagues Herman Hauser that asks him how he decides what is worth building.
0:26I always start from pain.
0:27Are there new technologies to solve that pain?
0:30Bring innovation in, revolution in, and redefine the space.
0:33What's the threshold?
0:34What's a sign of care?
0:35This isn't big enough.
0:36No, the iPod wasn't big enough.
0:37It took three generations of the iPod before it became successful.
0:40You got to fail a few times until you find your way.
0:43You are so into marketing, that piece of building that I think a lot of builders don't think about at all.
0:48The technology is in service of the customer.
0:50Not we're going to jam the technology down the customer's throat.
0:53A customer only sees what they see through the lens of marketing.
0:57You often come back to the value of storytelling for product builders.
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