what was it like working for andy rubin? i worked for a few really amazing executives and mentors and then of course andy, one of the most brilliant in tech ever, a man so incredibly knowledgeable, and whose intuition about technology, thinking years and years ahead. i was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. emily: how did you come across this company called xiaomi? hugo: it was started, by the two primary founders of a team of eight founders. then ben was a colleague of mine. and then he left to do something ballsy and new. i tracked all of that very closely. it wasn't until a couple of years that he came to visit us at mountainview and brought their second-generation devices. it was when i powered the device on and played with it the first time that it dawned on me those guys were not joking around. emily: tell me your first meeting. hugo: our first meeting was a four-hour meeting which tends to be the case. very deep, involved discussions. he is that kind of guy. it was a dinner in beijing in late 2012. we sp

you know, at the same level of somebody like andy rubin.bility to understand consumers, think so many years ahead, four hours flew by like 10 minutes. it was amazing. and this was a translated conversation. emily: he did speak to you in chinese? hugo: in chinese. emily: and ben translated. hugo: and ben translated. it was a surreal but amazing experience. emily: you are a happy google employee at the top of android -- how do you decide to take this job? hugo: part of me you always wanted to try something. beyond that was a possibility that xiaomi might be doing something that would have a similar level of impact in the world that android did. emily: how did larry take the news? hugo: larry reached out and was supportive, but at the same time, trying to see if that was really what i wanted to do. at the end of the day, everyone was supportive. in many ways, i was leaving to continue what i had been doing on android. xiaomi, if successful would become one of the most important partners for the android team. in many ways, it was like i was sti