iPod inventor Tony Fadell who sold his smart home company to Google says: If you hire 15-year ‘career Googlers,’ it will mess up your culture

Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod and founder of smart home company Nest, said Silicon Valley’s lavish perks are hurting innovation and urgency in tech companies. Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, Fadell, who has worked with both Google and Apple, shared how the two companies have very different work cultures. “At Apple, you couldn’t hide,” Fadell said. “Everyone was critical.”

On the contrary, the culture at Google was much more relax. Fadell, who sold Nest to Google for $3.2 billion, said “You were lucky if they even showed up… They’d take the bus in for lunch, get a massage, grab yogurt, and head home”.