Krishna Bladoe Jeff Lerner Review
Meet Krishna Bladoe. He's a graduate of ENTRE Insight. The program has opened up his mind, taught him about visualization and deep listening. He thought it was an amazing experience. Now he can visualize who he's going to become in the future and he knows that it's going to be okay. He thinks that ENTRE Insight is one of the best programs he's ever attended in his life.
Welcome to another episode of Millionaire Secrets!
In this exciting episode, I’ve been joined by Chris Bello who recently hosted me on his show ‘Entrepreneur Motivation Podcast’.
But, of course, Chris isn’t just the host of a top 100 business podcast…
He is also a real estate investor, productivity guru, a very successful entrepreneur, and he’s only 30 years old.
As many entrepreneurial stories go, he went the traditional route of getting a college degree and landing a “good corporate job.”
Chris fell into the classic tale of following the footsteps of what is expected of you until he didn’t…
A few years into his so-called ‘dream job’, Chris realized that he wanted more.
He wanted financial freedom, but most importantly, he wanted TIME freedom and he knew he wasn’t going to get it doing a 9-5 job.
He put in his two weeks notice and booked a month-long trip to Asia to figure his future plans out.
There was no turning back.
After returning and going through one business failure to the next, Chris discovered real estate investing.
Ever since then, he has been consistently closing deals with 5-figure profit margins every month.
From there he discovered his passion for productivity and helping other people to hone in on their passions and make it happen.
Listen to this Podcast to get your top insider tips for everything motivation and productivity from the guru himself!
This is Chris Bello’s Success Story!
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Krishna Bladoe Review
ero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Audible Audiobook – Unabridged
Peter Thiel (Author), Blake Masters (Author, Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.6 out of 5 stars
#1 Best Seller in Starting a Business
Every business moment is only once in a lifetime.
Next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. the next Larry Page or Sergey Brin will not create an engine for searching. The future Mark Zuckerberg won't create a social network. If you're replicating these men but not taking lessons from them.
It's much easier to replicate a design rather than create something completely unique. Using what we know how to perform takes the world one step further and then adds more of what we know. When we make something completely new, we move from 1 to 0. The process of creation is unique, as is the time of creation and the end result is unusual and new.
The growth of the Internet is due to the monopoly of the system it is not from competition.
If you are doing something that is unheard of and can perform it better than anyone else, then you've got an exclusive right - and each company is successful precisely it's an exclusive one. However, the more you play with others, the more you'll become identical to the rest of us. From the competition of formal education to the obsession of corporate executives of beating rivals to the punch the competition eats away profits for businesses, individuals and the entire society.
Zero To One is about building businesses that are able to create something new. It is based on what Peter Thiel has learned directly as the cofounder and founder of PayPal as well as Palantir and later an investor in a variety of startups that include Facebook as well as SpaceX. The most effective way Thiel has observed is that successful people discover worth in the unexpected They do this by considering business from fundamental principles rather than formulas. If you don't ask, what do you think Mark do? Question: What valuable company is there no one creating?
The 4 minutes that will help you decide if this book is for you
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2015
Play Video
The first time I read the book, I didn't find it extremely insightful or cohesive. But the second time around it made a whole lot more sense. It's like all these connections started firing up. It's truly a great book with contrarian thinking and insights that make you pause. This video highlights some of these key concepts and hopefully will help you make the connections the first time around. It's part of a larger effort to create a completely-free library of compelling books in a handcrafted video format - check it out at bookvideoclub.com and enjoy!
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Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2020
This book has been on my Kindle for years and I had heard great things about it, but never took the time to read it until finishing Alexandra Wolfe's book Valley Of The Gods about the Thiel Fellowship (which is worth a read). I was a bit skeptical owing to Peter Thiel, who is tremendously successful but also a famed contrarian with different political leanings from mine. However, after reading this book, I can say it is one of the top 3 most impactful books I have ever read. As an economics major who has worked in corporate America in the financial services sector for 20+ years, Thiel's description of our economy and society is compelling. His insights into how to create something of true value where nothing previously existed - 0 to 1 - are tremendously valuable, particularly in comparison with most of us who work towards improving what already exists - going from 1 to n. Standard economic theory has been solely tested over the past 25 years with the tech book and Great Financial Crisis as well as globalization and our turbulent times and politics today. Although written in 2014 based on lectures by Thiel at Stanford University in #012, the book remains highly relevant in 2020 and really foreshadows much of what has happened over the last 5 years. Simple, quick and easily accessible, my copy is marked up with tons highlights and notes. You won't regret making the investment in time reading this book, but be prepared to be challenged and bring an open mind to refining your own views, regardless of whether you wholeheartedly agree or disagree with Thiel.
14 people found this helpful
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A great book for microcap investors
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016
Have you ever read an article or book that defined something that you’ve abstractly believed for years? When you read it you let out an affirmative mental “aha!”. I had one of these moments recently when I read Zero to One by Peter Thiel. This book helped shape and better define my investment strategy.
Far too often I see a microcap company’s investor presentation start off with some enormous addressable market ($20 billion, $100 billion, etc) and what follows is “If we just capture 2%….”. This has always annoyed me because in many ways the worst thing an undercapitalized public microcap can do is try to attack a huge highly competitive market.
In Zero to One, Peter Thiel talks about how small emerging companies/and investors need to take the opposite approach. In simple terms, aim for monopoly, competition is for losers. Monopolies have far greater profits, pricing power, and ability to think long-term. For small companies like microcaps to be a monopoly they need to focus on dominating a small market that is expanding, and then further grow into other complimentary markets. “Capitalism is premised on the accumulation of capital, but under perfect competition all profits get competed away.” When a company dominates a market (large or small) it is much more profitable and valuable then one owning 1% of a large competitive market.
When I look back at some of the best microcap performers they too had this characteristic of dominating a small market that is expanding rapidly. These companies normally have high organic growth rates, profitability, and pricing power. These powerhouse businesses can fund high rates of growth from internal cash flows. Their market leadership and profitability allows them to make longer-term strategic decisions that provide an even wider moat.
54 people found this helpful
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Will become a classic on how to build a remarkable (not ordinary) new enterprise.
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2017
This is an excellent book. Not many people can be entrepreneurs, but I believe this book could inspire many and it can certainly guide one to a more open-minded approach. Peter Thiel shows us that unconventional thinking (i.e. zero to one), is absolutely required to succeed with a new business. Conventional thinking (for instance that competition is unavoidable (if you have something proprietary a la apple, it IS AVOIDABLE) , that competition is wonderful and necessary {but actually it is NOT}), is the linear approach (go from 1 to 1.1). Conventional means copy others and when you do that you have to compete mainly by cutting prices. The leading businesses truly innovate (and everyone else follows or stay behind). I started reading a library copy but realized I want to own it because I have to read it slowly many times like a good wine. The copy that I received is in great condition; good deal, thanks!
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A Needed Book for All Organizations
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016
As a minister, I am always looking for interesting business books that can translate into the world of ministry and congregation. Sometimes great books appear, but sometimes these books do not translate well. This book caused me to think deeply about the role of church, and how can we create a future through the church. There are books about running a congregation, and this book causes you to think through the future of your congregation. Let me say it quickly, this is a great book to read. The book is full of wisdom in leading an organization to the future. One must remember that we are leading congregations that will be alive and growing in the next century if it exists. Here is some wisdom from the book. "Instead ask yourself: how much of what you know about business is shaped by mistaken reactions to past mistakes? The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself." "Each company was obsessed with defeating its rivals, precisely because there were no substantive differences to focus on. Amid all the tactical questions— Who could price chewy dog toys most aggressively? Who could create the best Super Bowl ads?— these companies totally lost sight of the wider question of whether the online pet supply market was the right space to be in. Winning is better than losing, but everybody loses when the war isn’t one worth fighting." When I think through this question, and think through what is happening in the churches of Christ, I wonder about the wisdom of following after the community church movement to create vitality within our congregations. On a practical measure, this strategy seems like falling into the trap that Thiel is warning us about. Instead of this approach, perhaps, simple, discipleship, and going back to the bible is something that people will love more than another Christian concert on Sunday morning. Here is another quote. "As you craft a plan to expand to adjacent markets, don’t disrupt: avoid competition as much as possible." Think about this approach in your evangelism. Think back about Saddleback Sam, this is something that was taking place, but than apply this to your context. Instead of an approach of a shotgun, where is the rifle opportunity to reach people in your congregation with the gospel? Here is another. "Actually, a huge board will exercise no effective oversight at all; it merely provides cover for whatever microdictator actually runs the organization. If you want that kind of free rein from your board, blow it up to giant size. If you want an effective board, keep it small." Now apply this to your situation within an eldership. Think through this one too. "However, anyone who doesn’t own stock options or draw a regular salary from your company is fundamentally misaligned. At the margin, they’ll be biased to claim value in the near term, not help you create more in the future." When we let the right people have too much influence in a congregation, without skin in the game ideals, we are stopping the progress of a congregation. There is much more I could share, but this book really got me thinking about the future of church. It might help you too.
18 people found this helpful
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Creating Value by Questioning Conventional Thinking
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2017
There are many excellent reasons to purchase and enjoy Peter Thiel’s Zero to One, Notes on Startups.
For starters, going from zero to one or intensive (vertical) progress means doing new things. Vertical progress is harder to imagine because it requires doing something no one else has done. In short, doing new things is wiser than copying things that work. Thiel is best in questioning conventional thinking for he advises a start up must question received ideas and rethink business from scratch.
Two conventional beliefs Thiel asks us to question are monopolies and competition. “Creative monopoly means new products that benefit everybody and sustainable profits for the creator. Competition mean no profits for anybody, no meaningful differentiation, and a struggle for survival…. The more we compete, the less we gain."
The book offers entrepreneurs many lessons learned but the best suggestion I offer is if you have little time but make sure you read chapter seven, Follow the Money. In my opinion, this chapters offers the key to successful venture capitalists by understanding the Pareto Principle, which Thiel explains as the "power law of venture capital," so named because exponential equations describe severely unequal distributions i.e. the 80 /20 rule.
What a refreshing read teaching us how to create value.
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Concise and Clear. Great Insights with special illustrations for abstract concepts.
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2018
There are two primary things that I learned from this book, among many smaller lessons. First, it made me reinterpret conventional theories about how the marketplace works - how technology is more important than globalization since globalization simply multiplies the existing benefits of technology - which is unsustainable in a scare resource world, whereas technology is the actual driver of wealth creation - creating ways to innovate new products and services to find optimal uses for existing resources. This is an important thought to keep in your mind when hearing the endless benefits when the buzzword globalization is mentioned.
It also fundamentally shaped my view on the Economics 101 theory of perfect competition being the ideal state for an economy where the consumer benefits and the quality of the product is maximized when individual firms enter the market. Thiel brings up the important point that in the long run this trend eventually means that no firm makes an economic profit. He provides the alternative of the innovative monopoly that has the ability to raise money and make long term profits to innovate - a point interesting absent in generic economic textbooks that describe monopolies as entities that utilize their market position to impose predatory pricing.
Apart from these two broad and macro insights - he offers a lot of practical advise that come as a corollary from his POV on competition. This advise is basically: don't focus on competition, focus on innovation - the history of firms show that competitive wars often lead to destruction of both parties, especially when a third, more innovative party joins the frey and overtakes both. Competitive parties also lose out when focusing on other firms in the market and ignoring where the market itself is going - the prime example as online pet food sales firms in the late 90s.
The other piece of practical advise is how to strategically invest in firms as a venture capital or investment company by correctly identifying the probability distributions that successful firms follow. That is, that the success of large firms usually depend on extreme power laws - with the winner takes all effects being MUCH larger than what people normally interpret them to be.
Apart from all his general advise and general musings, he communicates his points through (non-generic or textbookish) illustrations, especially when dealing with very abstract ideas - with incredible clarity in a way that cannot adequately be captured by words alone.
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Thiel has more wise things to teach you than just crazy though brilliant visions.
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2015
I have been reading Thiel‘s Zero to One in the last days. And after a compilation of his class notes last year, here are a few more comments. His book is as good as his notes but some readers may be puzzled. It’s not a book about how to build start-ups. (For this read Horowitz or Blank) “This book offers no formula for success. The paradox of teaching entrepreneurship is that such a formula necessarily cannot exist; because every innovation is new and unique, no authority can prescribe in concrete terms how to be innovative. Indeed, the single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places, and they do this by thinking about business from first principles instead of formulas.” [Page 2]
Thiel is a strong believer in exceptional achievements, in innovation just like in art or science. “The entrepreneurs who stuck with Silicon Valley learned four big lessons from the dot-com crash that still guide business thinking today:
1. Make incremental advances
2. Stay lean and flexible
3. Improve on the competition
4. Focus on products, not sales.
These lessons have become dogma in the startup world. (…) And yet the opposite principles are probably more correct:
1. It is better to risk boldness than trivaility
2. A bad plan is better than no plan
3. Competitive markets destroy profits
4. Sales matters just as much as product.“
[Pages 20-21]
There is one point where I disagree with Thiel. Though I tend to be convinced by his argument that monopoly is good and competition is bad – read Thiel with care for the subtlety of his arguments – I do not think he is right when he writes [page 33]: “Monopolies drive progress because the promise of years or even decades of monopoly profits provides a powerful incentive to innovate”. I prefer Levine and Boldrin. Now I do believe that established players are displaced by new players – not competitors – who innovate when the champions who have become dinosaurs stop being creative.
Thiel does not believe in luck. “You are not a lottery ticket” and I agree that you can minimize uncertainty by carefully planning and probably by adapting too. He still quotes [page 59] Buffett who considers himself “a member of the lucky sperm club and a winner of the ovarian lottery”. He also quotes Bezos with his “incredible planetary alignment” (which has not much to do with luck either). According to Thiel. success is never accidental.
I also like his piece about founders: “Bad decisions made early on – if you choose the wrong partners or hire the wrong people, for example – are very hard to correct after they are made. It may take a crisis on the order of bankruptcy before anybody will even try to correct them. As a founder your first job is to get the first things right, because you cannot build a great company on a flawed foundation. When you start something, the first and most crucial decision you make is whom to start it with. Choosing a co-founder is like getting married, and founder conflict is just as ugly as divorce. Optimism abounds at the start of every relationship. It’s unromantic to think soberly about what could go wrong, so people don’t. But if the founders develop irreconcilable differences, the company becomes the victim.” [page 108]
Ands now about sales: “In engineering a solution either works or fails. [Sales is different]. This strikes engineers as trivial if not fundamentally dishonest. They know they own jobs are hard so when they look at salespeople laughing on the phone with a customer or going to two-hour lunches, they suspect that no real work is being done. If anything, people overestimate the relative difficulty of science and engineering, because the challenges of those fields are obvious. What nerds miss is that it takes hard work to makes sales look easy. Sales is hidden. All salesmen are actors: their priority is persuasion, not sincerity. That’s why the word “salesman” can be a slur and the used car dealer is our archetype of shadiness. But we react negatively to awkward, obvious salesmen – that is, the bad ones. There’s a wide range of sales ability: there are many gradations between novices, experts and masters. […] Like acting, sales works best when hidden. This explains why almost everyone whose job involves distribution – whether they’re in sales, marketing, or advertising – has a job title that has nothing to do with those things: account executive, bus. dev, but also investment banker, politician. There’s a reason for these re-descriptions: none of us wants to be reminded when we’re being sold. […] The engineer’s grail is a product great enough that “it sells itself”. But anyone who would actually say this about a real product must be lying: either he’s delusional (lying to himself) or he’s selling something (and thereby contradicting himself). […] It’s better to think of distribution as something essential to the design of your product. If you’ve invented something new but you haven’t invented an effective way to sell it, you have a bad business – no matter how good the product.” [Pages 128-130] And if you do not like it said this way, watch HBO’s Silicon Valley episode 15… I may come with more comments when I am finished with this great book.
In fact I have... and here are a few more comments, less about entrepreneurship than about social issues. Whatever the reputation of Thiel in Silicon Valley as a possible Libertarian, there were a couple of topics he addresses very convincingly. He is not a pure Contrarian. He disagrees with mainstream fashion in a very serious manner. Here are a couple of examples:
– The machine will not replace humankind
Yes computers have made impressive progress in the recent decades, but not to the point of replacing mankind. He shows very convincingly through the cases of Paypal and Palantir [pages 144-148] that computers cannot solve automatically tough issues but are only (excellent and critical) complements to human beings. Even the Google experiment of recognizing cats “seems impressive – until you remember that an average four-year-old can do it flawlessly” [page 143]. He finishes his chapter about Man and Machine this way: “But even if strong AI is a real possibility rather than an imponderable mystery, it won’t happen anytime soon: replacement by computers is a worry for the 22nd century. Indefinite fears about the far future shouldn’t stop us from making definite plans today. Luddites claim that we shouldn’t build the computers that might replace people someday; crazed futurists argue that we should. These two positions are mutually exclusive but they are not exhaustive: there is room in between for sane people to build a vastly better world in the decades ahead. As we find new ways to use computers, they won’t just get better at the kinds of things people already do: they’ll help us to do what was previously unimaginable” [pages 150-151]. You will not be surprised I prefer this to Kurweil views.
– Greentech was a bubble and it was obvious from day 1.
I was always puzzled with greentech/cleantech. Why are people so excited about the promise to solve an important problem when we do not have any solution. Thiel is far tougher. First he shows the obvious: it was a bubble. Then he analyzes this industry through his “zero to one” arguments.
“Most cleantech companies crashed because they neglected one or more of the seven questions that every business must answer:
– Engineering: can you create a breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements?
– Timing: is now the right time to start your particular business?
– Monopoly: are you starting with a big share of a small market?
– People: do you have the right team?
– Distribution: do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product?
– Durability: will your market position be defensible 10 and 20 years into the future?
– Secret: have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?
If you do not have answers to these questions, you’ll run into lots of “bad luck” and your business will fail. If you nail all seven, you’ll master fortune and succeed. Even getting five or six correct might work. But the striking thing about the cleantech bubble was that people were starting companies with zero good answers – and that meant hoping for a miracle” [page 154]. What’s next? Fintech?
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Great read and very relevant to entrepreneurs!
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2017
This book has been on my list for the last couple of years and comes highly recommended. Unfortunately I haven't got around to it and must admit I wasn't interested in reading it given Thiel's involvement in politics during the 2016 Presidential Election. With that being said I did get into it early in 2017.
Wow, what a book it was though! The stories and lessons from Thiel were refreshing with so many tidbits, ideas and approaches to entrepreneurship enabling you to take your business from zero to one.
Many of us dream of building billion dollar businesses and Thiel believes it is possible. It does comes with luck and timing which are both hard in this day and age. What he does provide though is a number of factors, questions and considerations that one can work through and think about when generating a business plan with the vision of building a idea for a product and service.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those wanting to start a business or just to get a feel of what it would be like to be an entrepreneur. It is written by a billionaire who has successfully built two major corporations and has likewise invested in very successful organisations (namely Facebook).
Three key takeaways from the book:
1. Monopolists can think about things other than making money; non-monopolists cannot. Monopolists have four key advantages: 1. Proprietary technology, 2. Network Effect, 3. Economies of Scale and 4. Branding.
2. The biggest secret of a VC Fund is that it's best investment outperforms all other investments combined. Interesting fact but it makes sense given the results of IPOs over the last 10 - 15 years.
3. Every great business is built around a secret that is hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world and when you share that secret the recipient becomes your co-conspirator.
7 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2018
This was more than a self-congratulatory guide through how Peter Thiel became successful, like seemingly so many other books from successful people. This seems to take a very real and genuine look into how Peter Thiel views the world (obviously through his own words), the same worldview that allowed him to start and invest in very successful companies as well as make billions in the process.
I will admit that I had a few, though exceedingly limited, gripes with his point of view. His apparent disdain for things like globalization and incremental (rather than radical) improvement seem to unfairly discount how the value of adding more and more players to an increasingly better starting point can lead to the creation of even more of these singular start ups that can bring game changing innovation to reality. I also think his comments on how competition prohibits companies from enjoying economic profit, thus ultimately must be bad in the long-run, is based on what seems a faulty notion around the meaning of economic profit - it’s the ability to generate profitable returns that exceed their required risk-adjusted return (also known as ‘alpha’ in the financial markets space). That would mean there’s more than plenty of opportunities to profit in incremental improvements, but it is unlikely to do so in a way that exceeds the risk-adjusted return. Given the type of moonshot efforts he seems to support here, that would naturally seem to require these monopolistic margin / exponential growth characteristics he advocates.
Those minor gripes aside, I think he’s put together an amazing book on the principles and guidelines that are exceedingly valuable for creating large-scale, positive societal impacts and monetary value.
Thiel's Advice To The Next Generation Of Visionaries
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2016
Thiel in "Zero To One" brings all his past experience, as entrepreneur, venture capitalist and visionary, together as he presents his thoughts and advice on how to build a better future and world.
Overall Thiel delivers well on his purpose. He cites past experience, reasearch, thought experiments, future projections and more as he makes his case for what it will take to build a better future and what it would likely look like. He's extremely articulate (thanks in part to his philosophy and law background), funny, insightful and almost never boring. I picked up the book once and didn't set it down until I was done reading all of it (it's that good).
With that being said though I'm not sure exactly who this book is for or even if it has a target audience. Theil himself says that the book is not meant to be a strict "do x and get y" (paraphrasing here). This is because often the best entrepreneurial ideas aren't achieved by sitting around and thinking I should start a company and then trying to find an idea. They come from people recognizing their is a real unmet need or opportunity in the world that is best achieved through entrepunurship. The best entrepreneurs are often "accidental" ones.
I feel one purpose, of the book, is to put some thoughts in the back of your mind that may come to use at a later time. Or if you already have a business, or have been pondering one, and need some self help in acheiveing that vision. It's also good for those that are intellectually stimulated and or are dreamers visoniarys themselves.
Ultimately though I feel, at least for Thiel himself, the book is like a letter to his younger self. If he could back to when he graduating high school or college and had his whole life ahead of him the advice he would give himself. So in some ways its more than just about entrepreneurship, there's a little self help advice mixed in with it all. Some advice in general... listen to people when they want to tell you what they wish they knew when they were your age. You can avoid alot of mistakes and mature faster that way.
I recommend this book and I feel most people can take something from it. And hopefully it will be puzzle piece in helping you push for your vision in the world.
5/5 Stars!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2016
I loved Peter Thiel's original way of thinking. This book shows how a contrarian viewpoint is an essential tool to building a great business. He also walks through other elements that are necessary to create a monopoly, which he argues is key if you want to escape the constant battlefield of a competitive market. He almost advocates against the typical lean startup strategy of improving product through iteration, improvisation and incremental improvement. He instead recommends that you design a product strategy with deliberate intention and planning (and capital), so that you can build a unique product that is 10x better than your competitors. Only in this way can you leapfrog ahead of your competition to become the dominant player in your market.
For a 150-page book, Peter Thiel packs in a lot of great ideas. I'm very glad I read the book, and would recommend it for any entrepreneur. Because his book probably applies best for entrepreneurs who have both significant experience in an industry and access to substantial capital, if you have less experience of fewer resources I'd recommend reading other books on entrepreneurship as well to get more viewpoints. This author's ideas might be hard to implement for a smaller company, but they will no doubt inspire you to think bigger.
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How to build a monopoly business 101 (7 steps required)
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2017
5 stars for originality. 2.5 stars for independence and objectivity. Overall 5 stars for utility and instruction.
Get the most out of this book by writing plenty of notes of your own after a critical examination of his points.
Peter Thiel owns the Thiel Foundation and Founders Fund, and is actively encouraging young and daring people to drop out of school to found companies. If they fail in the end, they can always go back to school with "startup founder" in their resume. A noble endeavour, but readers are reminded to be aware of his agenda.
Also, Peter preaches from a perspective of the successful co-founder and CEO of PayPal. All his discourses and elaboration are tinged by his way of seeing the world. Is his narrative relevant to current macro and micro picture of startups and potential monopoly businesses? Caveat lector.
I for one, thinks Peter has a high level of believability due to his real world experience of venture capital and entrepreneurship, as well a demonstrably decent grasp of macroeconomics. Also, his points about business thinking rhymes with that of Clayton Christensen, the author of The Innovator's Dillema. And finally, if one were to rethink the concepts highlighted by Peter in the book using first principles reasoning, we can come to roughly the same conclusion as Peter, most of the time.
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Whatever you think of Peter Thiel now, this book is a great read
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020
I picked this book up in the summer of 2020 as I was considering a career change from management consulting to a startup. There was a section that deeply resonated with me where he talks about baby boomers steering towards jobs in banking, law, and consulting v. taking greater risks and breaking new ground.
Over any objections you have to Peter Thiel's political leanings, I think this book is a worthwhile read. His Randian worldview occasionally seeps into the pages of the book, but at it's core it's a book about how to build companies that will solve problems in radically new ways.
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Must read for people considering starting a tech start-up
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2017
I read this because lots of super-successful people from Tools of Titans recommended it. It was a great decision. Lots of very straightforward, practical advice from someone who has been closely involved with or responsible for some majorly successful tech companies.
Many of the things he says run counter to some conventional "lean start-up" accepted wisdom. Given his pedigree and the success of the PayPal Mafia, I confide in him over them.
I am in the process of starting a tech start-up, and am incredibly happy I read this. If things go the way that I anticipate and hope, I plan on thanking Mr. Thiel one day for writing this book and inspiring me to take the course I did.
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One of the two great entrepreneur books from this year
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2014
This is one of two great entrepreneurship books I've read this year - the other is "The Hard Thing About Hard Things". Unlike that book, this one is invigorating, rather than unnerving. I found myself marking quotes all over, nodding in agreement not because the insights were so stunning, but because they were phrased so eloquently.
The big takeaway, and where I'd like to see this book make a pop-culture impact, is questioning the very nature of capitalism and monopolies. We're taught (and our politicians of all stripes praise) that competition is the ideal of capitalism. But as Thiel points out, there is no profit in a perfectly competitive market. Innovation doesn't come from relentlessly driving down costs to compete with other nearly identical businesses - if anything, that's bad for consumers rather than good. Following on this, 19th century style scarcity monopolies are a disease of a competitive market. But if the monopoly is due to product uniqueness or superiority rather than suppressing competition, then it's good for consumers and good for business. You get monopoly profits but without cheating anyone. And the cure for these monopolies as they become problematic is a new monopoly that kills off the old one by discovering new markets.
As for the rest, the Zero-to-One of real innovation - creating something that didn't exist before, rather than the one-to-n of refining existing products - is the real driver of economic growth and effective improvements to civilization. That's a fundamental point, one that should be part of our general economic dialogue. Society would be better if we acknowledged the truths in this book.
But, as Thiel asks... "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?" This is his answer.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2018
This is one of those books that entrepreneurs and people in the startup world like to reference. I finally got around to reading it and see why it's so popular. His views on how competition kills companies and the implication that monopolies are needed for progress makes sense. It puts into perspective why really influential companies get big fast. Biggest lesson for young people is this - if you want to go the startup route, read this book in high school and absolutely find a trusted team of cofounders. It's virtually impossible to create a billion dollar company as an individual.
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For anyone wanting to truly succeed in business and life...
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2014
Thiel reminds us what we’d learned in Economics 101 about competition and monopoly.
What I had found especially shocking, is a piece of data, Thiel shares when he writes about continued competition and the cost of ‘war’ among and between Bing vs. Google Search, Explorer vs. Chrome, and Office vs. Docs… then in January 2013, Apple coming along and overtaking them all. Apple’s was worth $500 billion while Google and Microsoft were $467 billion combined. However, only three years before, Microsoft and Google were each more valuable than Apple. Playing war game, they competed all their profits away and lost their dominance.
“The lesson for entrepreneurs is clear: if you want to create and capture lasting value, don't build an undifferentiated commodity business.”
In perfect competition, we don’t come up with new ideas, we don’t develop new products that are necessary to continue to develop and grow.
“Even our everyday language suggests we believe in kind of technological bed of history: the division of the world into the so-called developed and developing nations implies that "developed" world has already achieved the achievable, and that poorer nations just need to catch up.”
Thiel argues that technology (technology defined as any new and better way of doing things, not specific to IT) matters more and we need to focus on coming up with new things that do not exist today.
“Creative monopolies aren't just good for the rest of society; they're powerful engines for making it better.”
Continue to a full article at www.alwayskeepgrowing.com
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A book that gives you new ways of thinking about the world
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2014
One of the best business books for 2014. Thiel shares the way he looks at the world without over pontificating his beliefs. People reading this book to understand the mind of an accomplished venture capitalist may be disappointed. There is not start-up or investment recipes in this book, rather you get a sense of how Thiel sees the world, which is in a different way.
Reading this book to understand those differneces and how they may change the way you think, is the highest and best use of your time. Highly recommended.
Challenges
This book is Thiel telling you how he sees the world. The tone can be a bit dismissive, egotistical and illustrates some hubris, particularly as it comes to ideas related to founders and start up companies. Reader will have to look beyond that to see the ideas and frameworks behind the observations and assertions.
This book contains notes, thoughts and discussions of the world presented in a personal and first person view. This is not a policy book, or one filled with prescriptions or recommendations. Readers looking for that will find them selves saying so what to these discussions.
The discussion at the end The Founder's Paradox is perhaps the weakest part of the book as Thiel compares different types of founders and their fortunes. Thiel's respect and admiration for Tesla's Musk gets a little thick.
Strengths
The book lets you look inside of his mind, to see the way someone thinks differently about a world we all think we understand. We do not need to think like Thiel, but we can benefit from testing our thoughts and plans against some of the ways you look at the world. Thiel's observations regarding seeing things as the union between two forces rather than the intersection was particularly powerful, as was observations about monopoly and size. These ideas and you ability to apply them make this a great book for business thinkers, strategists and leaders.
Chapters about competition, his analysis of the Green "bubble" and money are all well worth reading and considering.
Overall, Highly recommended particularly for strategists, executives and people looking to start something new. If you are stuck in old ways of thinking, then Zero to One will give you some thoughts to shake them loose.
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A great book on startups and corporate management by Peter Thiel
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2020
I ordered this book ahead of its publication in September 2014 knowing Peter Thiel as a first venture backer of Facebook and founding financier of Palantir, the famous analytics company set to debut on NASDAQ. As a technology professional I had already read a lot of writings by Peter Thiel, but this book provides all of his insights in a textbook-like format. Thiel teaches at Stanford University and his teaching style conveys his innovative management thinking in a methodic way. It's very difficult to skim through management books and find solutions to your problems when you need the information at that moment. One of the reasons effective corporate managers tend to be methodic and process oriented to some extent is to be able to handle adversities without any aftereffects. Peter Thiel provides his audience that actionable and goal oriented management method. The goal here is to scale the operations of the companies and teams at the moment of their formation.
New Thoughts from an Established Innovator
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2014
I love to read books from independent thinkers who are not afraid to share their controversial thoughts. Peter Thiel is an outlier. So it’s logical to expect him having thoughts out of the curve.
I loved to see him demoting the MVP (minimum viable product) concept. I thought I was alone on this topic. Some ideas get so much traction, like the “lean startup movement”, that it becomes sacred. It’s socially unacceptable to criticize it.
I also enjoyed Thiel's thoughts on competition. It's not unusual to see entrepreneurs and investors welcoming competition with the rationale of "expanding the segment". This rationale is either fake or stupid. Competition simply destroys value. That's why a business with great barriers to entry is more valuable than a commodity business. I prefer to assume an industry is talent constrained. And I think you can't be a true innovator without believing that with great talent and imagination you can create huge new opportunities.
So if you are committed to improving the world through technology, you should read this book.
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Best business book of 2014. Buy it. You will not be disappointed.
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2014
Categorically, this is one of the best business books I have ever read. I placed an advanced order for it, having heard of Thiel's Stanford lecture series. The book, as many know, is based on outstanding notes from one of his students. He goes well beyond those notes in this book, so if you have read them, you will still want to read this.
While he does reference his past successes, this is not a "look what I did" sort of book. He does make powerful assertions which he grounds based on his success and experience.
Many business books, some of them quite good, are variations on a theme. They will arrive at similar hypotheses via varying approaches. While this is valuable, it is far from original.
In contrast Zero to One begins with a bold assertion, he then proves that assertion throughout the book and shares his thinking with you as he builds his case on a range of business concerns.
Voice of authority. In the unlikely event you are not aware, Theil, leader of the PayPal "Mafia", was the first money into Facebook and has led one of the most storied careers in high-tech investing — and he's far from finished.
There are already multiple in-depth reviews online. Rather than repeat them, I will simply add to the chorus. Buy this book. You will not be disappointed.
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Why every environmentalist should read this book, but probably won't
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2014
There is a lot of good advice from Peter Thiel in Zero to One. I recommend reading it.
Every environmentalist should read chapter 13, ‘Seeing Green’. It gives some great advice on what it will take make clean technology successful. He also explains why too many green firms flop.
7 Basic Questions To Answer
Thiel writes: “Most clean tech companies crashed because they neglected one or more basic questions that every business must answer:
The Engineering Question. Can you crease breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements?
The Timing Question. Is now the right time to start you particular business?
The Monopoly Question. Are you starting with a big share of a small market?
The People Question. Do you have the right team?
The Distribution Question. Do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product?
The Durability Question. Will your market position by defensible 10 and 20 years into the future?
The Secret Question. Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?
You must be 10x Better than the alternative
I was struck by an observation he made to the first threshold, the engineering question. He writes “A great technology company should have a proprietary technology an order of magnitude better than its nearest substitute … Companies must strives for 10x better because merely incremental improvements often end up meaning no improvement at all for the end user”.
Written starkly and honestly, this 10x better makes a lot of sense. Why would you switch to a new energy source to power your home if it is not 10x better than what you are using today. People don’t believe the hype of the untested, they factor out the good news story, and instinctively fall back on what is tried, tested, and works 24/7/365.
The same surely goes outside the technology business. Why would a customer switch to another service provider unless the competition is not just a little better but hell of a lot better, say 10x better. It’s a high number, but it makes a lot of sense.
What Does It Take
He reflects that “No matter how much the world needs energy, only a firm that offers a superior solution for a specific energy problem can make money”. And, it is clear that if your business model depends on the support of the government(whether by handouts or special rules), you have a very short future.
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while it was highly recommended, my primary reason for reading the book was ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2014
http://focusinvestor.com/index.php/blog/item/28-zero-to-one.html
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
I had reservations about this book because, while it was highly recommended, my primary reason for reading the book was the hope that it might contain some useful perspective on common stock investing. The book is primarily focused on venture capital, not an area that holds a high level of interest to me so I was pleasantly surprised when the first paragraph of the book contained a question that hooked me. The question was one of the author’s favorite interview questions: “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”
The question was an easy one for me to answer as most people believe in diversification, but the truth is the opposite, i.e. portfolio concentration. Too many funds practice a high level of diversification that essentially makes them index funds with much higher fees.
This will be an unconventional blog post as most of the items I quote from the book speak for themselves.
p. 13: “The first step to thinking clearly is to question what we know about the past.”
I'm always surprised that most investing books don't discuss investing history. If you don't take the time to understand historical markets movements you put yourself in a bad position because you will have a much harder time understanding market cycles. The low point of cycles when everyone else is afraid to invest is the ideal time to make outstanding investments.
p. 21: What does the author say the lessons of the internet bubble were?
1. It is better to risk boldness than triviality.
2. A bad plan is better than no plan.
3. Competitive markets destroy profits.
4. Sales matters just as much as product.
p.23: “The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.”
p.24: “Under perfect competition, in the long run no company makes an economic profit. The opposite of perfect competition is monopoly.
p.25-35: He defines a monopoly as”…the kind of company that’s so good at what it does that no other firm can offer a close substitute.”
“If you want to create and capture lasting value, don’t build an undifferentiated commodity business.”
p.25: This in investing terms would change only slightly to don’t buy an undifferentiated commodity business.
Decline of Monopolies
p.33: "...old monopolies don't strangle innovation. With Apple's iOS at the forefront, the rise of mobile computing has dramatically reduced Microsoft's decades-long operating system dominance." He talks about IBM, AT&T also eventually declined. Even the best monopolies have finite lives.
p.34: "All happy companies are different: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition."
p.47: "If you focus on near-term growth above all else, you miss the most important question you should be asking: will this business still be around a decade from now? Numbers alone won't tell you the answer; instead you must think critically about the qualitative characteristics of your business."
p. 48: Monopoly Traits:
1. Proprietary technology: "...most substantive advantage a company can have because it makes your product difficult or impossible to replicate. Mentions Google's algorithms and that your product needs to be 10X better. Amazon had 10x inventory.
2. Network Effects
Product is more useful as more people use it. He believes that to be successful with this strategy you must start in a small market.
3. Economies of Scale.
Monopoly business gets stronger as they get bigger. Can spread costs out.
4. Branding
Used Apple as an example - "paid advertising, branded stores, luxurious materials, playful keynote speeches. Reinforces other monopoly traits.
Power Law p.87: "At Founders Fund, we focus on five to seven companies in a fund, each of which we think could become a multibillion-dollar business based on its unique framework Whenever you shift from the substance of a business to the financial question of whether or not it fits into a diversified hedging strategy, venture investing starts to look a lot like buying lottery tickets. And once you think that you're playing the lottery, you've already psychologically prepared yourself to lose."
What an excellent quote and advice that I wish more people will follow. Investors should approach investing in a rational serious manner which in a perfect world would allow them to make the optimal investment decisions based on the companies available that they can understand and value.
p. 90: "The most common answer to the question of future value is a diversified portfolio: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket... investors who understand the power law make as few investments as possible."
The author is involved with venture capital an area where the accepted wisdom is to diversify your portfolio, much like what you hear as an accepted truth in the equity investing world. In his fun he tries to purchase companies that "..have the potential to be succeed at vast scale." The only thing I would add from an equity investing standpoint is that valuation must also play a role in your decision making process.
To wrap this blog post up I have to say that I really enjoyed the book and would have no problem recommending it to followers of the blog.
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A book which will change the way you think
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2020
Zero to One has a little something for everyone. It has to do with leadership, philosophy, business, economics, psychology, and much more. It's something of a biography, but also a tour of entrepreneurial history of the past century and change.
The book is very well written, getting at deep ideas without flowery language. I'm confident a middle schooler could understand it, meanwhile, it deals with graduate-level ideas.
Above all else, this book is an incredible gem. Every chapter, almost every page has something incredibly deep and interesting which you can apply to your life (especially if you're in business). Very much worth the read!
Side note, Zero to One is an excellently published book. The hard copy has a great feel and size, very portable, but it also has a great book smell (important to me), and it's overall a fantastic tactile experience.
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Easily in my top 5 business reads
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2014
Now, the first couple of chapters weren't great. Too basic, other books present that material better.
The rest of the book is just Golden. I read a widely published review recently saying that Thiel's material is just old stuff restated. Well, I have a couple opinions on the point myself:
1) If anyone can restate old wisdom in a way that's better than anyone before, that's called an achievement.
2) I felt that what was being taught in this book was fresh, and seldom encountered in my other business readings.
Showing unique nature of founder, targeting small markets, what type of companies investors need to invest in (one that can repay the entire fund), that's just great stuff. And there's plenty more.
It's a killer book. My main criticism is that you might not want to build a company that he describes in his book. What if you only want have a good life and business, and aren't looking for $1b IPO? Thiel is pushing for the latter. Personally I like to dream big, so it didn't bother me, but I will also be quite happy having my businesses continue to grow slowly.
Oh, and his chapters about indeterminate pessimism/optimism?! Great stuff. The seven diagnosis questions for your company? Oh yeah, good stuff again.
However, this is a Biased review: I now want Thiel to be my investor!
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Zero to One: How to Create the Future
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2016
Zero to One is a critical read not just for the aspiring start-up builder, but for anyone who wants to think about the world in a different way. As Thiel makes clear, this book is not an interchangeable step by step guide of how to build a successful business. Rather, it is an exercise in the type of thinking that will make you and your business successful.
Behind the entertaining and insightful history, anecdotes, and tips there lies the fundamental idea that the future is not a given. It doesn't just happen due to the simple passing of time. The future is driven by thinkers and by groups of individuals who see opportunities where other don't and who are able to turn that vision of opportunity into material reality and success. The book challenges you to take on conventional ideas regarding competition, monopoly, marketing, strategy, among other things and view them in a way that most people do not. That is how Thiel argues you create the future you want to see.
This book is an easy read and short enough to get done in a few days to a week. If you want to understand the thinking that goes behind changing the world and learn the methods and dos and don'ts that make that change possible, then I would suggest reading this book several times. Thiel does an excellent job and we can learn a lot from him.
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Delivers exactly what the subtitle promises
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2014
I give this five stars because the book delivers exactly what subtitle promises: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future.
Thanks that these lecture notes have been made available. It is easy to agree with the mission and many of the conclusions of the book. Some examples. Think differently, ask questions beyond the obvious and consensus. The answer is often simple and it needs to be a solvable “secret”. Instead, beware of unsolvable “mysteries”. Team is important. Substance is more important than process. It is not enough the “save the planet” but you need to have a very specific business plan. There is a general lack of leadership, visions and ambitious projects, too much indefinite drifting. In addition, Europeans are pessimistic bureaucrats. Too many people make money without creating prosperity. Computers complement people they do not mean the end of the work. Incrementalism such as lean management is not enough you need to think big as well. You need to be 10x better but the talk about disruption is shallow and unnecessary hubris. Start small. And so on. In addition the book is easy to read, even for people like me who are not native English. It is even fun.
But Zero to One is not a new general theory or a cookbook of strategy, leadership or management. Due to its subtitled scope, some of the claims are questionable in other contexts. For instance, Zero to One, the idea to make products that nobody has ever done before, was Akio Morita’s strategy of the analog-era Sony. And they made a series of them, such as transistor radio, Trinitron color tv and Walkman. But it is difficult to lead what is largely serendipity even if Thiel writes that the existence of serial entrepreneurs proves that success is not just good luck but can be planned. But he also states that there are few big hits in any portfolio. Maybe only one, most fail. Even Google and Microsoft make their money from few original ideas. A normal company must balance between existent, new and M&A. Let's call this strategic trident instead of strategic intent.
Thiel writes that creative monopoly is a good result for all stakeholders and even for continuous innovation. Maybe, at least for owners and employees, but monopoly and perfect competition are no alternatives. Classic strategy from the 1970s described the so-called Rule of Three as an optimal and normal solution.
Even Thiel’s understatement of Chinese firms as “copiers” is an oxymoron. In the cleantech part of the book Thiel describes how Chinese firms crushed American solar companies by economy of scale. Probably this is the reason for calling them copiers, in other words, companies that were not following the theory of Zero to One, but succeeding by the opposite One to Hundred, the fire was put out incorrectly. Maybe this was the lesson learnt for Tesla’s pre-emptive strategy to build the giant battery factory (again, a classic strategic theory from the 1970s and the practice going back to Henry Ford in the 1910s). Classic innovation theories consist of three phases invention, innovation and scaling and the strategy needs to change between the phases, often creating new leaders.
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Disruptive but not that much, better focus and successful
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2017
Very interesting book that starts first with a little history of the dot com bubble and continues with a series of recommendation about the profit, the starting of new markets and how to build a company with product and services very different that they counter parts. The innovation in a new market instead of the continuity of little reforms in the products or services. The focus in the product not in the sales, focus in capturing first a tiny market and then start to grow organically but with determination. The autor touch the them of the 10x, the 21 inmutable laws of marketing and other concepts that are included in other books and authors but condensed here in one idea: create a monopoly if you want to thrive.
The autor too takes an approach to the startup funds and venture capital firms and study the success of this kind of investments. It is a very good book that give you a broad vision as investor and at the same time as an innovator and the things that you must to look for if you want to succeed with the product and the market.
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Brilliant book, possibly the best book on business ever written
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2014
This is simply the best business book I have ever read, period.
Peter Thiel is a deeply compassionate individual, and cares about the future of business.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, Peter.
Many books have been written about existing companies, but as Peter says, the next Bill Gates will not be making another operating system, because it has already been done. And if most of the business books, learning and research in academia are studying existing companies, those may not be the lessons needed to come up with new innovation.
Peter brilliantly presents what is needed for innovation, and his thinking is refreshing, insightful, and pioneering.
After all, we're lucky to have the founder of Paypal tell us how he thinks about business.
Highly, highly recommended.
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Everyone working at a startup, starting one, or interested in them needs to read this book.
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2015
I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started this book. I am glad I didn't read anything about it, because I might not have bought it.
The book is amazing. It totally obliterated my idea of what it means to be a successful business, let along a startup. We are always told that competition is good, monopolies are bad... Peter is going to reverse that way of thinking for you. And I can say I now understand why.
This is NOT a recipe or how-to guide on creating a successful business or idea or startup or whathaveyou. This discusses the signature model; it is up to you to apply it as you see fit. Take the point of hiring the best versus hiring the person that is great and also works well with the team. Peter is on the side of hiring for the good of the team instead of seeking the very best regardless of fit or the team's say so. It is up to you to know that "fit" is when you hire—there are no guidelines here.
There's some math and economic theory. I'm not a math whiz, so I had to reread a few sections to get it to sink in. He does a great job of using some simple and easy to understand graphs to help visualize his points.
I highly recommend this book to everyone working at a startup, starting one, or interested in them. BUT BE WARNED: it can and may mess with your head, getting you to start questioning the choice you made. Do not be surprised if you end up having doubts about the startup you are at after reading this book!
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Invigorating Shakeup of Business Forecasting
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2014
Loved Thiel's optimism, his book is easy to read and straightforward. Love how he promotes a continual startup mindset, it would have been neat to have more specific examples from the rigorous process from his startups. As an aside, his personal views of pervasive humanism are vibrantly apparent and I can't quite grasp how he personally is able to make the leap to the grand importance of business/life mission if we come from randomness and no authoritative direction in life. Thiel is adamant that a startup must have a great foundation and yet his explanation for our very earth if sketchy at best. His lifestyle literally has no scientific advantages. I will give him credit that he is a Libertarian and doesn't pervasively force his views down others throats like many Liberals. He has some great insight on business but when he strays into beating death and the future of humanity it gets desperately shallow and hopeless.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2022
I made so many highlights in the early chapters of this book that I highlighted nearly half the content!
For people nurtured to be both curious and ambitious, following the principles in this book will turn that ambition and curiosity into great outcomes. For those without such ambition and curiosity, you will come away better understanding the innovation swirling all around you and perhaps be motivated to not want to tax it to death.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2021
When I heard about this book, I was under the wrong impression about it. I am deadly wrong and it delayed me from reading such a great book. This book tells the readers what makes a successful startup. A successful startup is formed by a team that enjoys working together on a common mission, solving a specific problem, the solution is so well that the alternatives are hardly a match and one that would be used for years, the team got the roles & responsibilities right, got the sales/distribution right, got the timing right. The key is the team advances the world to be a better place. And we need such teams.
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Zero To One - the next book on your ‘to read’ list
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2015
When Peter Thiel’s book, "Zero to One" first came out, I was skeptical at first, thinking, ‘another how-to-win-it in the Valley book by a billionaire?’ but after hearing rave reviews from friends outside the tech sector I decided to give the book a glance.
Fast forward to today - I am glad I was open to reading "Zero to One" because I found myself Post-It-noting almost every other page trying to capture all of Thiel’s wisdom and foresight.
For those interested in getting the full value of the book, I actually recommend the following:
1) buy or borrow the book in a physical copy (Kindle just doesn’t do it for me personally for a book this ‘note’-worthy)
2) keep a stack of Post-It notes or a notebook with you and a pen and as you read jot down all the insights, questions and ideas you find interesting (there are a lot)
Ok, so what are mindshifts I took away from the book?
Mindshift One: There is the possibility of a bright future and it comes through technology.
Thiel asks in his opening chapter,
"What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
His response is:
most people believe the future is globalization but he believes technology will lead us into the future.
What globalization offers is commoditization of the same… flatness… everyone will have access to the same goods and services and quality will suffer for the sake of equal distribution of quantity. However, technology will continue to propel us into new ways of thinking and existing and society will not flatten in terms of progress and uniqueness.
As a person who’d worried about a dystopian future, where McDonald’s and Google and Coca-Cola have taken over the world and everyone speaks the same language while wearing Levis jeans, Thiel’s vision of the future is much appreciated and a breath of fresh air. If we focus on making 10x improvements in technology we will not suffer a bland and painful death of dwindling world resources and sameness.
Mindshift Two: Monopoly can be a good thing. And competition may not be an ideal solution.
Thiel’s definitions of monopoly, capitalism, and competition were novel yet convincing.
Monopoly - The condition of every successful company. Being so good people can’t ignore you and must use your offerings.
Capitalism - A good thing! Creates value but captures some of the returns on the value, meaning structuring higher margins and not fearing competition because the products and services you create are a 10x improvement over existing offerings.
Competition - Over time, competing products and services will trend towards commoditization, resulting in dwindling margins and profits for all companies.
Mindshift Three: Ted Kaczynski and hipsters share similarities and socially awkward tech geeks have an advantage over all of us.
Thiel states there are three groups of ‘challenges’ in this world: conventions, secrets, and mysteries.
Secrets are the interesting space because they aren’t overly simplistic or downright impossible but will keep human brains engaged and occupied for hours at a time to understand. To live in a utopian-future-mindset, you have to believe that secrets are still out there to be solved.
He makes the connection that Ted Kaczynski and hipsters live in a state-of-mind where they believe secrets don’t really exist anymore. The earlier days of history- when rimmed glasses and paisley print were vogue, and America was pre-modern luxury - were the days of interesting industrial, manufacturing, and distribution challenges. In other words, the ‘exciting secrets’ to solve thrived years ago.
However Thiel states that this is an incorrect lens to view the world. "Wantrepreneurs" (people with the Kaczynski/hipster mentality) will look at the current world of technology and think “someone’s already solved all the good problems. I’ll just mash up Facebook with Google and Pinterest but that’s not interesting… so I’m not going to try anything at allâ€.
Truly successful entrepreneurship and technological breakthroughs will come from the socially awkward tech geeks. These individuals are less aware of the social cues in their environment, less prone to mirroring and emulating other’s behaviors and thought patterns and therefore more prone to developing fringe ideas that cause real disruption. They are the ones that believe the world is ripe with interesting secrets to unravel and there is hope for the future with technology.
Mindshift Four: The next human Renaissance will be abetted by technology - so don’t fear technology.
Scripts for movies about artificially intelligent robots taking over Earth come partly from fiction and partly from the truth of existing technologies. This pseudo-reality can seem scary - it’s almost-maybe-possible our Roomba vacuum could outsmart us… actually maybe not. Thiel assures us that even with extreme advances in technology, humans still have the upper hand and can control robot-takeover of our planet. What robots will allow us to do is likely extend and expand our current abilities- robots can take care of the mundane tasks of calculations and manual labor while humans can use this free time for our next Renaissance - an era of the Übermensch.
Imagine all the untapped potential that lies within us because of the current boring demands on our time and energy … image how we could collectively harness this and use it to improve the universe!
After reading "Zero To One" I am more optimistic about the future, more eager to invest my time in working on new technologies, and more committed to finding ‘secrets’ and 10x improvements to push human existence towards our next Renaissance.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2021
The biggest insight for me 6 years ago when I read it almost 6 years ago was to challenge the norm and think like a contrarion. This in my opinion, is the single greatest lesson for your career, even if you are not an entrepreneur.
But the book is peppered with multiple other nuggets, with too many to list. The seven questions you must answer to start a company is gold. Read it for yourself. Many of his predictions from 2012 have played today in 2020.
I wish that more people would write short and crisp books like Thiel instead of meandering on for hundreds of pages to make a couple of interesting points.
Highly recommend
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Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2020
I am not a fan of Peter Thiel. A friend who is also not a fan tipped me to read his books anyway and yes I will be reading more from Peter Thiel. Very well written, but also clear and easy to understand. Why am I not a fan? Politics. But isn't it just great that we live in a democracy. He can have his opinions and I can have mine. More importantly is that we listen to people and views we might oppose. Listening is the new gold.
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What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2014
The first sentence of this book is "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
The second, missing half of the sentence is, "...and who are the gatekeepers who benefit from sustaining the problem, and how will you get around them to reach the people who will benefit from your solution, and will the consumers support you?"
Gatekeepers earn their income from sustaining a problem, not from solving it. Organizations founded to solve a problem devolve into organizations to sustain a problem. These organizations include established competitors as well as non-profit organizations. Professionals such as doctors and used car salesmen guard information to keep consumers in the dark. None of these people will help you, and many will actively oppose you.
The last part of my question asks if consumers will support you. There are a zillion smartphones apps that solve a problem but people expect the app to be free, or under $2.
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A guide to creating and growing a successful business
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2019
This is a fascinating, must read book on startups that applies to any business. The principles in this book will help you start a business or change an existing one. Most importantly what this book teaches you is how to focus on making your business successful, without falling into the trap of competition. Instead you learn why its important to do your own thing well and with a plan.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2015
This is a pretty good read. Short. This guy is pretty darn smart and thinks pretty deeply. This transcends a bunch of musings on how to start a business to a rather philosophical and political treatise on how the world should develop ideas. For example, he goes on about the relative pros and cons of a monopolies and whether they are good for bad for people and whether we live in a world ruled by determinism or indeterminism He divulges a rather libertarian world view, but he makes his case articulately. Much of the book is retreading over the lessons of the dot com startup boom. but it has some thoughtful perspectives that are a good read for anyone interested in startups and innovation in the world at large. It is actually a fairly inspiring book in that it makes you think deeply about big issues and has a rather positive spin on the future. I liked it.
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A way of thinking I haven’t heard before.
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2021
Doing some research into Peter Thiel, you quickly are exposed to his contrarian way of thinking.
It’s a useful skills to constantly be asking yourself.
Is this true?
Am I asking the right question?
He puts a lot of topics around business, technology, progress, and globalization into new perspectives I haven’t heard before.
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Indispensible! Useful for many professions.
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2019
Indispensible! Useful for many professions.
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Excellent--One of the most USEFUL books I've read.
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2021
I got my MBA a while back and much of the contents of the book I have already learned. But PT puts all of these cohesive thoughts in one book, one location, so it is a very useful reference nonetheless. That's not to say I did not learn a great deal as well.
For three types of people this book is a must-read: those who want to start their own business, those who want to start their own restaurant, and those who wish to invest in any type of tech. And after reading this book you won't want to start your own restaurant!
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Zero to One shows how to develop a new company
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2015
Phyllis Curtis
October 18, 2015
I’m a student in a survey entrepreneurship class at the University of Baltimore in Baltimore, MD, and have been assigned to write a review on the book Zero to One, by Peter Thiel, an entrepreneur and investor. At first, I didn’t understand Thiel’s concept. To be a successful entrepreneur, I imagined you only needed to have good ideas, however after reading his book I agree with him that “all happy companies are different.” A happy company not only creates an idea, but their idea solves a problem or need. On the other hand, “all failed companies are the same,” one reason they failed is because their idea wasn’t unique and couldn’t prevent them from competition with other companies.
Moreover, to be a successful founder of a new startup one needs to seek possibilities in unknown places, and possess the courage to think about invention in new ways. A successful founder asks questions, and perceives ideas that first appear to be most impossible, but progress into the realm of the most possible. Thereby, taking the ideas from zero to one.
Additionally, Thiel says the best start up ideas are based on secrets, or ideas not widely known. It’s easy to copy something already done more so than creating something new. To do so requires original thinking, and looking for solutions to problems.
Consequently, I found the book well written and informative. The book is original and is a classic. Thiel is smart and ingenious, and has written a useful map for future entrepreneurs.
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A must for new businesses & Start-ups
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2016
Great read! I like the common sense thinking in this book. It peels the onion back to the core heart of the entrepreneur. It also helps the start-up who is trying to offer a new philosophy into a saturated market.
When you look at Google and imagine its size today, you would have predicted with all the search engines dominating the market and the other web based platforms Google would not have a chance. However they are a monopoly in an already competitive market place. This book gives the insight to see something different in any start-up. To be able to separate yourself from the herd. Awesome content!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2021
Don't expect Trumpism or any semblance of it. Also don't expect a by-the-numbers guide. A prolonged meditation, this book veers from the very general to the specific concerns of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. All along the way, Thiel sprinkles golden nuggets of insight.
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L.M. KeeferTop Contributor: Cooking
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2014
If you are interested in startups, this book offers invaluable advice on what you should consider before going forward. The author is a co-founder of Paypal and initial investor in Facebook, among other businesses. His thoughts on business and the future are thought-provoking and worth reading. It will be intriguing to see how the young entrepreneurs he is funding - who dropped out of school - fare with their ideas. Thiel believes our colleges aren't serving the needs of our students. Yes, the boomers have felt getting a good education from a top school is the path to success for their children. Is it anymore? Do we have too many lawyers and investment bankers? Thiel's thinking is original. Sometimes this book felt as much a philosophy book as a business book and that's positive. Was fascinated by Thiel's thinking on the four possible scenarios the future holds. This book gives you context and a macro-perspective on startups. I found it fascinating.
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Peter Thiel thinks and analyzes down to the atomic level ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2015
Peter Thiel thinks and analyzes down to the atomic level. When he describes the current US political situation as "indefinite optimism", he is spot on. This book is very worthwhile taking the time to read. It's only 200 pages. However, ironically, the reader is left with the message of "think for yourself". And the notion that there is no substitute for personally knowing your subject area very well, seeing the subject/situation with a new and fresh perspective, and thinking for yourself. So . . that makes Thiel's work a sort of "non guide" and "non book" in that it does not actually give you any step by step recipe, but rather points you in a direction toward looking at things in a way that is uniquely yours.
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Interesting perspective by a very successful investor
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2015
Competition is for losers
entrepreneurs should embrace monopolies
anyone trying to start a company should shoot to dominate a small industry and create a “mini-monopoly”
Start-up Anti-Principles
Be humble and make incremental advances
Stay lean and experiment agnostically
Don’t try to create new markets all of a sudden
Focus on product, not sales
Start-up True-Principles
Start-ups should be bold
Have a clear and concise plan
Try to build a small monopoly
sales matter as much as product.
On Venture Capital
The biggest secret in venture capital is that the best investment in a successful fund equals or outperforms the entire rest of the fund combined
the power law applies to VC investments
Important Questions …
What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
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Great Read! But try and keep things in perspective as you read it.
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2015
Zero to One is more of an introspective look into how the upper echelon of Silicon Valley approach their investments as well as the types of businesses that they get excited about. While the book is jam-packed with useful information, universal fundamentals and is certainly a great read, I'd encourage new entrepreneurs to take it all with this large caveat: Peter isn't talking about the kinds of businesses that most people get into, or that most people ever could get into. Not every profitable is going to change the world. And the person looking to make a few hundred thousand dollars -- or even a few million dollars, has plenty more obtainable startup options than being obsessed with a completely unique idea that can monopolize within the market. Which is what Zero to One focuses on.
That being said, being able to have an understanding of the Silicon Valley mindset can help a person know what to look for in case they are in the right place at the right time for the right idea that will go Zero to One.