Zero to One

Opinion

Pretty good book with some thought provoking statements. One of which is that monopolies should be supported instead of prevented. Second is that competition is bad in all aspects of life. Third is that not everything has been solved yet, there are still unknown unknowns but we are afraid of trying and tend to let others do the work. This book is truely for people who want to create a world changing startup.

Book in 3 sentences

• Copying an existing model and improving it is easy. It will take the world for 1 to n. Basicly making more of what we already have. Making something new will take the world from 0 to 1.
• What valuable company is nobody building? Have a definite view on the future and dare to mold it. The world is already filled with indefinite thinkers.
• Monopoly is for winners, avoid competition. Focus on your vision instead, ignore what others are doing.

Notes

• Peter Thiel - PayPal, Palantir
• The contrarian truth: “What important truth do very few people agree with you upon?”
• After the dotcom crash business thinking still is:
• • Make incremental advances.
• • Stay lean & flexible.
• • Improve on the competition.
• • Focus on product, not sales.
• Thought the opposite might be ever more true:
• • Grand visions inflated the bubble, though without a grand vision you will not build a grand business.
• • A bad plan is better then no plan. Constantly iterating and adjusting is not a plan.
• • Competitive markets destroy profits. At a certain point there will be a race to the bottom.
• • Sales matter just as much as product.
• Perfect competition is supposed to be good for economics, but it is bad for business when there is a homogenous product. There is constant compeition which will drive the price down.
• Monopolists often say they are under heavy competition, while undifferentiated businesses usually shout they are unique.
• • A new restaurant will say they are totally different, while they will still serve food and drinks just like any other restaurant, thus are still in competition.
• If you can’t beat a rival, it might be better to merge. That is what X (Elon Musk) and PayPal (Peter Thiel) did.
• “Will this business be around in 15 years?”
• Dominate a small niche and scale up from there.
• People tend to generalise their skillset instead of specializing.
• You can choose to think of the future in definite or indefinite terms:
• • Definite: the future is known and can be molded.
• • Indefinite: the future is randomized and you have little to no influence upon it.
• When people lack plans, they favor a lot of options.
• • Indefinite Pessism: The future is bleak and we can’t do anything about it.
• • Definite Pessism: The future is known and we must prepare for it.
• • Indefinite Optimism: The future is bright but doesn’t have any plans for it.
• • Definite Optimism: The future wil lbe better then the present if you make plans for it.