This work by Peter Thiel is partially the product of a course he taught on innovation and entrepreneurship at Stanford in 2012. Blake masters (listed as co-author) is the student who took such extensive class notes, that they could be composed into the book Zero to One in 2014.
This review comprises of a list of what I perceive to be the most powerful ideas in the book, and what implications they have for my current professional work, as well as my perspectives on business development.
Everything in business happens only once (the bedrock of Zero to One)
i.e. if you want to make huge impact, stop iterating. Do something radical. Shoot for the moon. Don’t improve something, invent something. If you’re trying to invent the next Google or the next Facebook, per definition you are failing.
It’s better to risk boldness than triviality
A bad plan is better than no plan
Competitive markets destroy profits
Sales matters as much as product
The above 4 sentences are Thiel’s take on why 4 huge principles of modern business management are bullshit. Incremental advances, staying lean and flexible, improving on competition, and focusing on product – those equate to the opposites of the above 4 rules – and that’s bad.
You are not a lottery ticket
Thiel vehemently rejects the idea that success is lucky. A startup is the largest endeavour over which you can have definite mastery.
This is beautiful. This requires taking responsibility.
Look for secrets. Not convention. Not mysteries. Secrets.
This is equal to looking for problems that are not obvious, pretty hard to solve, but doable – especially if they’re uniquely doable by you and your team.
Questions to ask: What secrets is nature not telling me? What secrets are people not telling me?
A great company is a conspiracy to change the world. Build a cult. Build a mafia. Be fanatic about a truth the people outside the company don’t know about.
Nail one distribution channel. Sell.
Major question spawned? What am I doing that’s moving from 0-1 ?