The shape of things to come

Naweed Khan | Issue 6 | Comment, Magazine

From the Archive

Naweed Khan hears from Future Shape’s tech guru Tony Fadell how skills honed in Silicon Valley can solve the climate crisis

"We call ourselves mentors with money,” says Tony Fadell, who is principal at Future Shape, a global advisory and investment firm coaching engineers and scientists working on foundational deep technology. He has been coaching founders and investing in their start-ups for the better part of the past decade, and with 250-plus start-ups in its portfolio, Future Shape is bringing technology out of the lab and into our lives. The idea behind Future Shape, he says, was to “help all of these companies that are doing really difficult things”. Fadell and his crew have identified a few really difficult things that he sees as big investment areas going forward. They include the electrification of everything; the digital connection of everything; the rise of biomanufacturing; and the eradication of waste. Those themes drive some, though not all, of the work in Future Shape’s portfolio. Everyone deserves a mentor, Fadell believes. For every career crisis, every fork in the road, you need someone t...

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