July 15, 2019

Ep 19: Matt Rogers, Co-Founder at Nest and Incite.org

1 hour 1 minute

Today’s guest is Matt Rogers, the co-founder of Nest and now Incite.org. Incite turns big ideas to improve the world into big deals. They offer early money & support for changemakers through Incite Labs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that makes grants and program-related investments to further charitable, educational, and scientific purposes, Incite Ventures, an investment fund that supports mission-driven enterprises through investments in businesses with the potential to scale, inspire others, and make a difference, and Incite Politics, the name of the work of Incite’s founders, Matt and Swati, to personally organize and support initiatives to pass legislation and elect candidates who approach our country’s issues from a fresh perspective.

Matt is a builder at heart. He started at Apple, building the software team for 10 generations of the iPod. He was one of the first engineers on the original iPhone and involved in the development of 5 iPhone generations, and the first iPad.

As co-founder of Nest, Matt built the team that built the first machine learning thermostat. And by doing so, has built the leading connected home brand — Nest.

Matt is a Star Wars enthusiast and can often be spotted playing with his Airedale terrier friend, Bingley.

In this episode we discuss:

Matt’s time at Apple where he worked on the iPod, iPhone, and iPad

The aha moment that led to Matt leaving Apple and founding Nest with Tony Fadell

How Matt blended product and mission at Nest, which helped lead to it’s 3.2B acquisition by Google

Matt’s time post Google acquisition and what led him and his wife Swati to found Incite.org

The work Matt and his wife Swati are doing at Incite in startups, government, philanthropy, and politics

Matt’s personal views on climate change and his expectations of those who have achieved success

Links for topics discussed in this episode:

Matt Rogers LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattrogers2/

Matt Rogers Twitter: https://twitter.com/nestmatt

Swati Mylavarapu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swatimylavarapu/

Incite.org: https://www.incite.org

Yoky Matsuoka: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoky_Matsuoka

Apple: https://www.apple.com/

Nest: https://nest.com/

Tony Fadell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyfadell/

Dan Yates: https://www.myclimatejourney.co/episodes/dan-yates

Google acquires Nest: https://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2014/01/13/google-acquires-nest-for-3-2-billion/

Carbon180: https://carbon180.org/

Cyclotron Road: https://www.cyclotronroad.org/

Julio Friedmann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julio-friedmann-86a83a44/

ClearPath: https://clearpath.org/

UC Davis: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/can-seaweed-cut-methane-emissions-dairy-farms/

New York Times article w/ Matt Rogers: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/business/carbon-removal-technology-start-ups.htm

I hope you enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and provide suggestions for future topics or guests.

One correction: In this episode Matt Rogers said Cyclotron Road will soon be called Activation Energy. In fact, Cyclotron Road is a program managed in partnership between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Activate (formerly called Activation Energy), an independent nonprofit organization.

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

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