In the late 1990s a young entrepreneur named Tony Fadell tried to persuade Stewart Alsop, a journalist who had recently become a venture capitalist, to invest in his startup, Fuse Systems. Fadell had done a stint at the pioneering mobile-software company General Magic and then created a division within Philips to make handheld devices. Neither General Magic nor the Philips pocket computers amounted to much. But Fadell intended to leverage his experience with a new venture. His pitch was not subtle. Says Alsop: “He essentially said, ‘I’m the guy who knows more about mobile products than anyone else. Give me money.’ ” Alsop declined.上世纪90年代末，一位名为托尼o法德尔的年长企业家企图劝说记者名门的风险投资家斯图尔特o艾尔索弗投资于自己的新创企业Fuse Systems。法德尔曾在先锋移动软件公司General Magic就任，随后在飞利浦（Philips）创立了一个研做到手执设备的部门。

General Magic和飞利浦的袖珍电脑产品都没能获得大的成就。不过，法德尔想利用自身经验积极开展一项新的事业。法德尔的说词可不佩服。

艾尔索普说道：“法德尔对我说道：‘关于移动产品，我懂比谁都多。给我投资吧。’”艾尔索弗拒绝接受了。

An entire decade passed before Fadell asked VCs for cash again. But what a decade it was. Fadell abandoned Fuse Systems and joined Apple to lead the team that created the iPod. That singular achievement–the iPod rejuvenated Apple and reordered the music industry–transformed him from a struggling startup guy to an accomplished executive who’d withstood the sound and fury of Steve Jobs. Fadell became known around Silicon Valley as the mercurial “godfather” of the iPod, and he added another dazzling line to his résumé by assisting in the development of the iPhone. When he stepped down from Apple’s management team in 2008, there was much speculation about his next move.此后，整整过了十年，法德尔才再度向风投抱住借钱。他这十年可是没虚度。法德尔退出了Fuse Systems项目，加盟苹果并领导团队研发出有了iPod。

iPod这款产品挽回了苹果公司，还政治宣传了整个音乐产业。这项成就也使法德尔从一个挣扎努力奋斗的创业者变为了一位勇于付出代价史蒂夫o乔布斯的低声和怒火的顺利高管。

硅谷都告诉法德尔这位反复无常的iPod“教父”。之后，他又帮助研发了iPhone，给自己的履历又再配上了浓墨重彩的一笔。

法德尔2008年离开了苹果公司管理团队时，对于他的下一步行径，外界曾有种种猜测。Rather than jump into anything, Fadell took a couple of years off to travel and build a vacation home. The latter experience triggered an epiphany: He hated all of the thermostats he had to choose from for his house, and he decided to design a new, better one, around which he’d build a company called Nest Labs. He hit the fundraising circuit in 2010, and this time the reception was significantly more welcoming. His pitching skills had improved. Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, remembers staring at a black velvet cloth draped over a product. Fadell would remove it only after he’d methodically set up the business case.法德尔没马上发力，而是睡觉了几年，四处旅行，送给自己辟了个渡假屋。

辟渡假屋的经历给了他启发：他得给自己的房子选一款恒温调节器，但他对附加的产品都很不失望。法德尔最后要求自己动手设计一款更加出众的新品，同时环绕这款产品打造出一家叫Nest Labs的公司。

他在2010年开始募资，这一次，他显著不受推崇多了。他的游说能力也获得了相当大的提升。风投公司KPCB合伙人兰迪o科米萨忘记自己盯着垫在产品上的一块白天鹅绒。法德尔直到有条不紊地看完商业案例后，才揭露了这层谜样的面纱。

For Apple cognoscenti, the cloak-over-the-device shtick was an overt homage to Steve Jobs. The late CEO routinely shrouded products, in public demos as well as in his own conference room, in order to build excitement for the big reveal. Yet when Fadell pulled back the veil to display a Styrofoam prototype of a round thermostat, Komisar was crestfallen. “My emotions couldn’t have been lower,” he says. He perked up, however, when he saw Fadell’s last slide: “After the thermostat we plan to do the same thing for every unloved product in the home and make them all magical.” Says Komisar: “Then I got it. Nest was a Trojan horse into the home. In 48 hours we had a check for Tony.”理解苹果的人都告诉，让产品犹抱琵琶半遮面的手法显著是效仿胞弟苹果前首席执行官史蒂夫o乔布斯。乔布斯不论是在公开发表展出中，还是在自己的会议室里，一贯讨厌把产品再行盖起来，以减少听众对“引发盖头”的期望和激动。然而，当法德尔引发白天鹅绒，展出圆形恒温器的泡沫塑料原型机时，科米萨沮丧深感。

他说道：“我当时的心情真是跌了谷底。”不过，当他看见法德尔的最后一张幻灯片时，又振作了一起。

这张幻灯片上写出着：“在恒温器之后，我们计划将所有不讨喜的家居设备一一改建，化腐朽为神奇。”科米萨说道：“我一下子就明白了。Nest就是侵略家居领域的特洛伊木马。

于是，我们在48小时内就给托尼进了支票。

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