Making Things Worth Making

From First Principles to Product with Tony Fadell—Live Working Sessions with MIT StartupsJan 30, 2026

Promotional graphic with the words “Making Things Worth Making” over a yellow-to-purple gradient background, alongside a black-and-white portrait of Tony Fadell wearing a black T-shirt, standing casually with hands in his pockets.

About

Making Things Worth Making is a live, in‑the‑open design and product working session, modeled on how MAD Designer in Residence Tony Fadell and the Build Collective team work with portfolio companies.

Rather than a lecture or fixed playbook, the session emphasizes:

  • The customer journey as a design discipline
  • First‑principles thinking across hardware, software, and systems
  • How great products emerge through relationships, iteration, and hard tradeoffs

MITdesignX alumni will observe — and actively participate in — real product critique, learning how experienced designers think, ask questions, and decide what matters most.

Apply to Attend

This event is presented in partnership with MITdesignX and is part of a series of public events featuring Tony Fadell at MIT.

Speakers

  • Tony Fadell

    Engineer, designer, entrepreneur, and investor

    Anthony “Tony” Fadell is an active investor and entrepreneur with a 30+ year history of founding companies and designing products that profoundly improve people’s lives. He founded Nest Labs, Inc. in 2010 and served as its Chief Executive Officer until 2016. Known as the “father of the iPod,” he joined Apple Computer Inc. in 2001 and, as the SVP of Apple’s iPod division, led the team that created the first 18 generations of the iPod and the first three generations of the iPhone.

    Fadell has filed more than 300 patents for his work and was named one of Time's “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2014. In May 2016, Time named the Nest Learning Thermostat, the iPod and the iPhone three of the “50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time.” Fadell graduated with a BS degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1991.

  • A close-up headshot of a woman with short brown hair and bright blue eyes, wearing glasses pushed up on her head and a black turtleneck, smiling slightly at the camera against a white background.

    Svafa Grönfeldt

    Professor of Practice, Morningside Academy for Design; Faculty Director, MITdesignX

    Svafa Grönfeldt is a professor of the practice in the Morningside Academy for Design (MAD). She is a founding member and faculty director of MITdesignX, a program focused on design innovation and entrepreneurship.

    She is a member of the board of directors of three publicly listed companies on Nasdaq OMX and the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to joining MIT, Grönfeldt was a member of a team that created two global life science companies. She is a former president of Reykjavik University, and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics. 

    Applying the lens of design to complex problems is a focal point of her work. Driven by a need to understand the dynamic relationship between people and their environment, Grönfeldt combines her academic, entrepreneurial, and executive careers with her lifelong passion for design to develop ideas and new enterprises through design innovation and the development of design-based entrepreneurship theory and methods.

Accessibility

Our events are enriched by your presence and we are committed to making them accessible to everyone.

Please email us at [email protected] to request accommodations.