# Make It. Fix It. Fix the Business.

*Tony Fadell's three-generation rule — and why your product probably won't work until the third try.*

By [BuildBetter by BFG](https://paragraph.com/@buildbetter) · 2026-06-18

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**TLDR:** Great products almost never work on the first try. They take three iterations — make it, fix it, fix the business. The iPod, the iPhone, the Nest Thermostat all followed the same path. The trick isn't being a genius on v1. It's hanging in there long enough to reach v3.

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Tony Fadell said something on Lenny’s podcast last week that I have used as a reminder in several conversations already, so I can’t stop thinking about it — maybe it deserves to be repeated here as well:

> "You make the product, then you fix the product, then you fix the business. Even the iPod took three generations before it became successful."

Here's the thing — this guy built the iPod, co-created the iPhone, and founded Nest. If _anyone_ gets to claim first-try genius, it's him.

And he's telling you it took three generations. Every single time.

Why it always takes three
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**Generation 1 — Make it.** You ship the thing. It exists. It mostly works. It's also rough, weird, and missing half of what people actually want. That's fine — the only job of v1 is to prove the idea isn't insane.

**Generation 2 — Fix it.** Now you know what's broken, because real people told you. You fix the product itself — the bugs, the friction, the stuff you were too close to see. This is where the thing starts feeling _good_.

**Generation 3 — Fix the business.** The product works… but the pricing is off. Or the [distribution is wrong](https://ai.paragraph.com/@buildbetter/bfg-hire-late-rather-than-early). Or the scale is small, and margins don't math. v3 is where you fix everything _around_ the product so it can actually make money.

Make it. Fix it. Fix the business.

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The part nobody likes
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Most founders quit somewhere in Generation 1.

They ship v1, it's clunky, the numbers are bad — and they conclude the _idea_ was wrong. Spoiler: the idea was probably fine. They just confused "first version" with "final version."

The iPhone we worship today? Not v1. The Nest everyone copies? Not v1. They're all v3-and-beyond products we pretend sprang fully formed from a keynote.

You're not failing. You're on Generation 1. That's exactly where you're supposed to be 😅

What to actually do with this
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*   Stop judging your product by its first version. Judge the _trajectory_.
    
*   Budget for three iterations from day one — time, money, and patience.
    
*   Separate the three problems. A v1 product problem is not a v3 business problem. Don't fix pricing when the thing doesn't work yet.
    

Consider this - maybe the builders who win aren't smarter. They just refuse to bail early

Hang in there.

Let's BUILD BETTER 💪

_— BFG_

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*Originally published on [BuildBetter by BFG](https://paragraph.com/@buildbetter/make-it-fix-it-fix-the-business)*