# T-24-004 : Tom George - Hardware Startup Engineer to Google Product Lead

- Show: [TRADEOFFS](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs)
- Published: 2024-11-13
- Length: 48m
- Episode: 4
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead
- Listen: https://tradeoffs.fm/4

## Summary

Tom George, now a Product Team Lead at Google leading the Pebble initiative, recounts his journey from early hardware startups like Maritime Broadband and QuadLogic to his current role in Sustainable Cities. He details the engineering trade-offs of building satellite communication systems for cargo ships, including the failure of using commercial stepper motors in marine environments, and the organizational challenges of separating R&D from sustaining engineering at QuadLogic. George explains his decision to halt production at Sidewalk Labs when the Pebble sensor was not ready for scale, and his subsequent pivot at Google away from hardware manufacturing toward policy and urban planning solutions.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=1) Introduction: Tom George and Google's Sustainable Cities
- [1:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=75) BlackBerry Voice Messaging Startup and Speech Compression
- [4:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=293) Maritime Broadband: Satellite Systems for Cargo Ships
- [7:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=472) Engineering Trade-offs: Stepper Motors and Marine Corrosion
- [12:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=735) QuadLogic: Separating R&D from Sustaining Engineering
- [18:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=1094) Hardware Meetup Community and Career Networking
- [23:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=1389) Scaling Processes: ISO 9001 and Issue Tracking
- [35:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=2109) Sidewalk Labs: Urbanists vs. Technologists and Pebble
- [39:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=2372) Halting Production: Trusting Instincts at Sidewalk
- [41:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/tradeoffs/2024-11-13-t-24-004-tom-george-hardware-startup-engineer-to-google-product-lead#t=2508) Google Pivot: From Hardware to City Policy and Sustainability

## Topics

- [Mechanical engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/mechanical-engineering)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Google (company)
- Pebble (product)
- Sidewalk Labs (company)
- BlackBerry (product)
- Maritime Broadband (company)
- QuadLogic (company)
- Broadband Maritime (company)
- Lockpower (company)
- Tidewalk Labs (company)
- Intersection (company)
- Link NYC (product)
- Replica (company)
- Core (company)
- Waterfront Toronto (other)
- Starlink (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Michael Kubba | Working for Apple, Tesla, and Google](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-07-15-michael-kubba-working-for-apple-tesla-and-google) (Being an Engineer)
- [S5E17 Shobana Radhakrishnan | Blameless Post-Mortems, Google TV, & Engineering Leadership](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-04-26-s5e17-shobana-radhakrishnan-blameless-post-mortems-google-tv-engineering-leaders) (Being an Engineer)
- [The Waste Management Industry with Jeff Satwicz, Co-Founder of Bigbelly](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2022-06-23-the-waste-management-industry-with-jeff-satwicz-co-founder-of-bigbelly) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Moonshot Engineering Projects: Getting Innovative Initiatives Off the Ground](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2021-05-25-moonshot-engineering-projects-getting-innovative-initiatives-off-the-ground) (Over the Air)
- [Shiny New Pebble with Eric Migicovsky](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2026-02-10-shiny-new-pebble-with-eric-migicovsky) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

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