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Palo Alto likes a garage story. Nest Labs has a good one. In the summer of 2010 two former Apple engineers set up in a rundown garage behind an old house in Palo Alto. They were building a thermostat, of all things. Within four years the company had shipped a hit product, moved into Stanford Research Park and been bought by Google for $3.2 billion.
This profile follows Nest through its Palo Alto addresses, from the garage to Hansen Way and Hillview Avenue. It also explains what became of the company inside Google. For the research park where it grew up, see our guide to Stanford Research Park.
Two former Apple engineers
Tony Fadell had led the team that built the iPod at Apple and is often called the father of the iPod. Matt Rogers started at Apple as an engineering intern in 2004, working near Fadell's office. In 2010 the two started a company together.
The product idea came from Fadell's own frustration. While he was building a vacation home, he found the thermostats on the market inadequate. He wanted a thermostat that learned a household's habits, could be controlled from a phone and looked good on a wall.
The Palo Alto garage, 2010
The company's first workspace was a garage in Palo Alto. In a profile of the founders, Entrepreneur described it as sitting behind a blue Craftsman-style home long since converted into offices. Rogers recalled a pull-up garage door, "not the best design," and said the charm was that it suited a scrappy early company.
During that first summer of 2010 the small, secretive team often worked with the door open. Birds and squirrels sometimes came inside. The early prototype was a large green circuit board mounted on the wall. The drafty garage made it run hot and cold. Rogers also remembered a Gizmodo article that summer declaring the days of hardware startups in Palo Alto garages were over. The team laughed, since they were doing exactly that.
Investors came to see them there. Randy Komisar of Kleiner Perkins, an early Nest backer, attended a company meeting in the garage. Shasta Ventures was the other early investor named by Wikipedia. Our page on Kleiner Perkins covers the firm.
Good to know
- Entrepreneur did not publish the garage's address and we could not confirm it, so we do not list it.
- For a garage you can actually see, visit the HP Garage at 367 Addison Avenue, viewed from the sidewalk.
The Learning Thermostat
Nest introduced the Nest Learning Thermostat in 2011. It had a brushed metal case and an LCD display. It learned a home's heating and cooling schedule, connected to Wi-Fi and could be adjusted from a phone. The product sold well. Entrepreneur reported that news outlets put sales at 40,000 to 50,000 thermostats a month. It also noted the thermostat was a best seller in its Amazon category.
A second product followed in October 2013. Nest Protect combined a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector with the same design approach. By the end of 2012 the company had more than 130 employees.
900 Hansen Way and the Google deal
As the team grew, Nest moved out of the garage and into Stanford Research Park. By early 2014 it was based at 900 Hansen Way, according to Palo Alto Online. Hansen Way is also the longtime home of Varian, whose medical business still lists 3100 Hansen Way. Our Varian profile covers that history.
On January 13, 2014, Google announced that it would buy Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash. Nest had about 280 employees at the time. Google said it would run independently. Later that year Nest bought the camera startup Dropcam for $555 million.
3400 Hillview Avenue
In June 2014 Palo Alto Online reported that Google had leased an office complex at 3400 Hillview Avenue for Nest. Building permit filings showed Nest would occupy two of the complex's five buildings. The buildings had been used by Nook, the e-reader division of Barnes and Noble. The land belongs to Stanford, which subleases the complex through the real estate firm CBRE.
The same article noted that Google had bought seven properties on East Meadow Circle in Palo Alto in 2013 and taken a floor at 975 California Avenue. Google's own Palo Alto chapter dates to 1999, when it spent a few months at 165 University Avenue. Our Google profile tells that story.
Hillview Avenue is a busy tech street. The former VMware campus at 3401 Hillview Avenue is now Broadcom's headquarters. SAP's campus is at 3410 Hillview Avenue, covered on our SAP Labs page.
Inside Alphabet and Google
In August 2015 Google reorganized under a new parent company, Alphabet. Nest became a separate Alphabet company. By late 2015 it had more than 1,100 employees and an engineering center in Seattle. The years that followed were rocky. Press coverage criticized the decision to switch off Revolv smart hubs in 2016 and reported staff departures. Fadell stepped down as CEO in June 2016 and moved into an advisory role.
On February 7, 2018, Google said Nest would join its hardware division under Rick Osterloh. According to Wikipedia, Nest kept its separate Palo Alto headquarters at that point. Rogers announced he would leave soon after. In July 2018 Nest merged with Google's home devices team. In May 2019 Google made Google Nest the brand for all of its smart home products, including speakers and displays.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Summer 2010 | Nest team works out of a Palo Alto garage. |
| 2011 | Nest Learning Thermostat introduced. |
| October 2013 | Nest Protect introduced. |
| January 13, 2014 | Google announces $3.2 billion purchase; Nest is at 900 Hansen Way. |
| June 2014 | Permits filed for Nest's move to 3400 Hillview Avenue. |
| 2015 | Nest becomes a separate Alphabet company. |
| 2018 | Merged into Google's hardware division. |
| May 2019 | Google Nest becomes the brand for Google's smart home products. |
Seeing the Nest sites
Both research park addresses are easy to pass on a bike or car loop. Hansen Way runs off Page Mill Road near El Camino Real. Hillview Avenue runs parallel to Page Mill Road a little further into the park. Both are working office sites with badge access, so stay on the street and do not enter lobbies or parking lots. The California Avenue Caltrain station is the nearest train stop.
The garage is a different matter. Its address was never published and the property is private. If you want to stand in front of a famous Palo Alto garage, the HP Garage on Addison Avenue is the one built for that, with a state landmark plaque you can read from the sidewalk.
Nest in Palo Alto today
Nest no longer exists as a separate company. Wikipedia still lists Palo Alto as the headquarters of Google Nest, but Google does not publish a current address for the Nest team. We could not confirm who occupies 3400 Hillview Avenue or 900 Hansen Way in 2026, so we do not say.
The Nest story still gets told in Palo Alto startup circles for one reason above all. It proved the Gizmodo writer wrong. A hardware startup could still begin in a Palo Alto garage. For more company histories, see our guide to Palo Alto companies and the famous tech addresses tour.
Frequently asked questions
Where did Nest start?
Nest Labs started in 2010 in a garage in Palo Alto, behind a Craftsman-style house that had been converted into offices. Co-founder Matt Rogers told Entrepreneur the team worked there through its first summer with the garage door often open.
Where was Nest's headquarters in Palo Alto?
By 2014 Nest worked from 900 Hansen Way in Stanford Research Park. After Google bought the company, Palo Alto Online reported in June 2014 that Nest would move into two of five buildings at 3400 Hillview Avenue, a complex previously used by Barnes and Noble's Nook division.
When did Google buy Nest?
Google announced on January 13, 2014 that it would buy Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash. Nest then had about 280 employees. It later operated as a separate Alphabet company from 2015 until it was merged into Google's hardware division in 2018.
Who founded Nest?
Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, both former Apple engineers, founded Nest in 2010. Fadell had led Apple's iPod team. The idea came when Fadell found existing thermostats inadequate while building a vacation home.
Is Nest still based in Palo Alto?
Nest is now a Google brand rather than a separate company. Wikipedia still lists Palo Alto as its headquarters and Google kept Nest's separate Palo Alto headquarters when it merged the teams in 2018. We could not confirm which buildings the Nest team uses in 2026.