Zero to One
2014 · 290m
Synopsis
Publisher's Summary Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won't create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren't learning from them. It's easier to copy a model than to make something new: doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But every time we create something new, we go from 0 to 1. The act of creation is singular, as is the moment of creation, and the result is something fresh and strange. Progress comes from monopoly, not competition. If you do what has never been done and you can do it better than anybody else, you have a monopoly - and every business is successful exactly insofar as it is a monopoly. But the more you compete, the more you become similar to everyone else. From the tournament of formal schooling to the corporate obsession with outdoing rivals, competition destroys profits for individuals, companies, and society as a whole. Zero to One is about how to build companies that create new things. It draws on everything Peter Thiel has learned directly as a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and then an investor in hundreds of startups, including Facebook and SpaceX. The single most powerful pattern Thiel has noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places, and they do this by thinking about business from first principles instead of formulas. Ask not, what would Mark do? Ask: What valuable company is nobody building? ©2014 Peter Thiel (P)2014 Random House Audio
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Comments
10 Comments
Brilliant thought packed 4 hrs. Enjoyed every min. of it whether agreed with it or not and will be back for more. Thank you!
... and One is probably the best in Peter Thiel's view. He has a point, obviously. A good one. Of course some lines of thought are controversial as they have political undertones... but as long as you know the viewpoint it is okay. It is sincere, well structured and coherent.This is a serious thought exercise, andthat I will definitely read - i.e. listen to - again soon... [and may change may review, then...]
If you could sum up Zero to One in three words, what would they be?Original, insightful, thought provokingWhat other book might you compare Zero to One to and why?In the plea, the everything store.These are examples of Peter's companies that do things rightWhich scene was your favorite?Failure of Green EnergyWhat insight do you think you’ll apply from Zero to One?Your product be 10 times better than your established competitor to have a chance
I enjoyed listening to this book even though it really just covers one core idea. Many of the supporting stories are just tidbits about the author's experience in creating PayPal, and his general observations about business.
Great, great book. The concepts and ideas seem to be self-evident AFTER you hear them. They are simple and profound.Seriously, you can pay for a book to get tutored and taught by a billionaire?!! Sheesh. I love this future.Thanks Peter Thiel for putting this out there and sharing with us. The world is better because of it.
This book helped me back up my belief in humanity. Kind of like a bible for start ups and venture capitalists.
I give this book 4 stars and do so having extremely high standards. As in my standards are literary fiction, MSA sort of standards. not only is it short and Powerful it's quite smart.it is just. wow. The last line is my favorite of any book I can remember and I think it might also be the all around best last line of any book I can remember. I'm going to look up whether the author is a Heideggerean. I definitely recommend it.in case you're wondering why not four stars,like almost all on the mass market this book underestimates the willingness of readers to sit through more exacting sentences in exchange for good Style. Of course for that you have to have style in your voice. like I said I have high standards. to be clear I just mean that the prose was fairly unadorned as compared to what I feel the author was probably capable of.
Worth reading because the big ideas about monopolies and motivations are so crucial to understanding the world of Silicon Valley startups. Worth reading skeptically because Thiel is a shameless cherry picker.
Tried hard to stick with it, but was turned off by the pedantic diatribes and simplistic generalizations.
My apologies for the authors as writing a book takes loads of hard work, I was not able to listen more than 50% of this book, everytime i started to listen it make me feel like I have no chance for with my own startup ideas. Maybe this book works for other people but not for me, very demotivational book.