Former Apple employees building a different culture at startup


The New York Times has a profile of Pearl Automative. The startup is building safety products for existing automobiles. Their first product was an after-market rear-view camera.

The company was founded by Bryson Gander and Brian Sanders, who combined have 18 years experience working on Apple's iPod and iPhone teams. Over 60 of the Pearls' 80 employees used to work at Apple.

The company aims to duplicate Apple's attention to quality and design, but not its top-down management and obsession on secrets. The result is everyone in the company regularly meets and is briefed on the company's activities. As a result, everyone knows the challenges and can contribute to solutions, where at Apple, only a few people know specific info and even fewer at the top see the big picture.

Apple's longtime chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, exercised control over the smallest details about products. When he stepped down in 2011, his power was distributed among more of the company's executives, but decisions remained highly centralized.

Matt Rogers, who left Apple to co-found Nest and is on Pearl's board:

But Mr. Rogers, who worked with some of Pearl's founders at Apple and serves on its board, said that the start-up absorbed many of the positive lessons of Nest: Recruit top Apple people, control your hardware and software, establish a culture of openness and empowerment, and constantly upgrade the product.