Known for the development of the iPad at Apple more than 15 years ago, Tony Fadell has had an interesting career ride, to say the least. After leaving Apple in 2008, Fadell fell off and years later came with a new venture called Nest Labs. That venture was known for its Learning Thermostat, it was a huge success. It was such a success that Google bought out Nest Lab’s for a cool $3.2 billion. Fadell was placed in charge of the search giant’s Google Glass program before he completely left in June of 2016.
It appears that Fadell has been up to something, and that something is his new VC firm called Future Shape. “For the past 10 years, I’ve been sharing what I’ve learned with founders,” Fadell said in a letter on the company’s website. “Investing both money and my time. A lot of the founders of these companies have done quite well. But I’ve always wanted to do more, support them more, just like my mentors who helped me. That’s why I created Future Shape.”
Here’s something more interesting: Fadell still has beef with Apple and is making it known. Adam Fisher, in a profile on Fadell and Future Shape for Wired, writes:
“Fuck Apple!”
Fadell is in full manic panic, and those are the first words out of his mouth as I step into his garden courtyard in the seventh. It’s early in the morning, the day after Founders Forum in London, and I’m being escorted onto the premises by Fadell’s PR person. Today she has scheduled Fadell for a long sit-down interview with me. But all of that has been forgotten, as Fadell has just been hit with some disturbing news. “Fucking Apple,” he says. Fadell clams up after this outburst, but I later hear there is a dispute brewing between one of the Future Shape companies and Apple.
Fadell has refused to elaborate more on what’s going on, but I’m sure we will hear something more about it in the near future.
