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:    / @nothingtechnology   Find Carl on Twitter:   / getpeid   Find Nothing on Twitter:   / nothing   Nothing’s recently launched Ear (2): https://us.nothing.tech/products/ear-2 Stay Updated: Find a16z on Twitter:   / a16z   Find a16z on LinkedIn:   / a16z   Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host:   / 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.