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Equity · Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Light Phone Founders Discuss Building an Alternative to the Attention Economy

Kaiwei Tang and Joe Hollier, founders of Light phone, aim to create an intentionally simple phone that prioritizes utility and intentional living. They position their product as an alternative to 'big tech' and the attention economy, offering essential tools without the distractions and vulnerabilities of app stores.

personKaiwei TangpersonJoe HolliercompanyLight phonecompanybig tech

The tape

3 quotes
So we built Light as an alternative to big tech, you know, things that are fighting ever more aggressively for our time and our attention.
Joe Hollier
And so we build tools, uh, phones, particularly, and they're all based around what we call it Light OS, and really it's about an intentionally simple phone that lets you, you know, connect with those that you need, do the simple essential tools that you might expect of a phone in 2026 but without the distractions and vulnerabilities that come with an entire app store and all of the abundance of, you know, that entire industry.
Joe Hollier
We're not going back in time, we're not anti-technology, we're always trying to clarify that.
Kaiwei Tang
Heard on Equity — “‘If this isn't addiction, I don't know what is’: Light Phone's founders get real about screen time and building for the anti-smartphone generation, published Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.04
Light Phone Founders Discuss Building an Alternative to the Attention Economy — Heardvine