2/17
There isn't much info on what Carl Pei—co-founder of OnePlus—is up to with his new company, Nothing. Despite my curiosity, I'm deeply satisfied with how fitting that is. The little bit of news that has emerged has been fascinating though. The two eye-catching stories for me have been the community equity round Nothing announced it will raise and the acquisition of the defunct Essential brand.
Starting with that community funding round, Pei wants to give his community some ownership in the business. In fact, he wants a representative from the community to sit on the board to serve as a reminder of "what users want," according to a TechCrunch interview. That's a wonderfully refreshing concept and I'm dying to see how that will play out in practice. Nothing has already raised $22M, with some notable investors already—GV (formerly Google Ventures), Tony Fadell (iPod inventor), Casey Neistat (high-profile YouTuber), Kevin Lin (Twitch co-founder), and Steve Huffman (Reddit CEO). That's a wide variety of of folks who believe in what Pei is up to.
I think Pei is worth the support and attention, too. OnePlus' unlikely journey from unknown to flagship competing brand with a diversified portfolio of devices in seven years is simply impressive. Despite several OnePlus devices baring striking similarities to Oppo devices—Marques Brownlee pointed this out excellently—it's an impressive rise nonetheless. Part of what fueled OnePlus' success was its opinionated marketing and knack for building, growing, and leveraging its community. They built an active and avid fan base nearly out of the gate. Those early, affordable phones punching above their weight sure helped, too. That was the second major key; OnePlus continuously made smart product decisions when it came to features vs value so they could hit competitive price points.
What I find stranger is scooping up the Essential brand. Ignoring any baggage, Essential would conceptually pair well with connected devices—the kinds of items that are part of our lives and routines that were once dumb but have become much smarter. Aside from sounding nice Essential didn't become a recognized brand outside of geeky tech folks. Pei's experience suggests his team is just as likely to make Nothing into a recognizable brand as they are to do for Essential what Essential couldn't with their own name. It's a decision I can't explain with the information available but I think will prove important in some way when the bigger picture is revealed.
Another compelling nugget of info is Pei committing to an ecosystem of devices. These devices would be differentiated by using "custom made" components from the start, according to an interview he had with The Verge. He further explained that “There’s a reason why a lot of products on the market look quite similar. It’s because they share a lot of the same components and the same building blocks.” This sounds like someone who is acutely aware of the limitations presented by his former company sharing its product DNA with another's.
If anything Pei sounds like a founder freed, aiming to strike with lightning a second time. OnePlus' smartphone Cinderella story gives me confidence in Pei's product decision making. His comments about hardware and design lead me to believe he wants to do more than he could do previously. Both are reason enough for me to pay attention to what Nothing—eventually Essential?—does moving forward. I think there's a reasonable chance this brand can carve out a solid position in the smart devices category similar to what Nest did before its Google acquisition. It does sound like Pei has a more varied scheme in mind, however. Regardless, new players in the tech space with good experience are always going to catch my attention.