About this episode
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. Timestamps: 02:11 - The hardware market 02:53 - Breaking into the phone market 05:19 - Securing factories and stakeholders 07:39 - Differentiating products 10:32 - Hardware design 11:53 - Strengthening software proposition 16:04 - Table stakes 17:49 - Marketing and Youtube 19:34 - Underestimating the value chain 21:50 - Manufacturing 23:27 - Supply chain 26:05 - Remote work 27:36 - The future of hardware 30:45 - Breakthrough hardware 32:35 - 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. Stay Updated: Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg 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. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.