How Nothing Founder Carl Pei Built A Multi-Million Dollar Smartphone Brand In Just 2 Years

Pei became interested in electronics as a teenager, importing and jailbreaking an early iPhone. After building an online fan community for Chinese electronics brand Meizu, he joined the company and moved to China in 2011 to learn how to make hardware.

At Oppo, Pei joined the effort to create OnePlus for online sales beyond China. He drew on Oppo’s supply chain and partnered with Cyanogen to provide software for international markets. He led the work outside China as a young member of the team.

Pei said Nothing’s early plan was to apply lessons from OnePlus, but the team could not raise the roughly $100 million it believed a phone would require. Factories were reluctant after losing money on other startup projects, so Nothing began with earbuds. Its first factory struggled to follow the manufacturing process, and 90% of the first 5,000 Ear (1) units had charging problems; engineers moved into apartments near the factory to oversee production, and the company later sold about 600,000 units in its first year.

Pei described Nothing’s audience as tech enthusiasts and people drawn to design, fashion, and music, supported by a curated brand presence. He advised hardware founders to focus first on survival, volume, and stronger operations, then increase product differentiation over time. The Glyph lights were designed to show notifications and updates such as Uber arrival times without requiring users to turn on the screen.

Pei said hardware startups are difficult but possible, and advised founders to sequence products so early success can build credibility for the next step. For Nothing, selling earbuds well helped establish a path toward phones. He said seeing people use a product in everyday life can be especially satisfying.