INTRODUCTION :
The most fascinating idea in the book is Thiel's description of a "creative monopoly." He convincingly argues that true competition is counterproductive to society and that consumers are best served by creative monopolies that offer breakthrough products. It is the apprehension basically on different levels when a veteran of entrepreneurship writes about the book. The book with key lessons taken from real life and my own experience. Therefore it is better to take notes on every insight shared in this piece of golden material. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal, Palantir, and the early investor of famous startups (Facebook, SpaceX, LinkedIn) imprints the whole idea and the secret ingredient for every startup to become successful: to follow “ Zero to One ” principle.
DESCRIPTION
The two-hundred-pager of collected notes is broken into 14 chapters, each of which delivers a single important message, though it is not feasible to summarize each of them in this writing. I highly recommend for the potential reader to purchase and go through each chapter carefully.
“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”
The book has an interesting opening question author usually asks in interviews. For the average person, it is difficult to come up with something in mind since we rarely think of typical questions ourselves. Even if we have some ideas, it is rare we would stand on the point to debate with people around. However, this kind of attitude is crucial. Often, businesses follow the path that is well-trodden and copy the products that work well outside. This defines horizontal progress. On the opposite side, the vertical progress, the progress from 0 to 1 is another mode, doing something nobody else has ever done.
Monopoly is the condition of every successful business.
Reaching the state of monopoly is the highest goal for every company. However, it is very challenging if you are just starting, especially, startups that are entering competitive markets. If there already exists the supply of products that satisfy the market and there is nothing much to offer, there is a mere chance to become a monopoly (the author gives characteristics of monopoly). Therefore, horizontal progress is not a solution. The only way for a startup towards monopoly is to make 0 to 1, and make the product 10x better than closest competitors, developing so-called proprietary technology. Otherwise, there are many factors/reasons customers may reject your product and prefer the other one.
We don’t live in a normal world; we live under a power law.
Compound interest is an example from finance. However, there is a wider concept of the power-law that people and the system better care of. For example, the author mentions, from middle and throughout high school, the educational system encourages extracurricular activities and well-roundedness. There is also a famous saying “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. However, when the student grows and picks up a major or career, focusing on the only craft becomes unintuitive. The wise people, and smart investors, decide to chase only one thing and invest hard on as few products as possible it following the sense of power law. They are extremely successful in perspective at their thing.
“What valuable company is nobody building?”
Every great company was once unknown. Nobody suspected them to grow. Secrets are the underlying weapon behind them. The author determines two types of secrets: the secrets about nature, and about people. Though secrets about nature are explainable, there is a different characteristic of a secret about people. Sometimes people simply don’t know the secrets about themselves, and sometimes they hide it, so that others don’t know. So, when starting out a company or building another product, navigate yourself with questions such as: “What secrets is nature not telling you? What secrets are people not telling you?”. The best place to find a secret is to look where nobody is looking.
Beginnings are special.
The opportunity to set the foundations right is given only once. Well, there are numerous decisions to be made when starting out, however still the founders better make concrete and accurate decisions at the initial stage. The most meaningful one is whom to take on board and which roles. The author argues that it is critical cofounding teams know each other well and have some prehistory before they determine to build something together. Startups have many fluctuations in the early period, and in order to survive, everyone in the founding team has to undergo challenges with full trust towards each other. Everyone in the founding team has to be full-time, with absolute devotion, so it is either “on the bus or off the bus”. The people who work in the beginning have to be clearly distinguished in terms of their roles and feel they are given the opportunity to do the irreplaceable job.
Since this is only a review, there are many things uncovered and many examples missed, to which I strongly recommend just read the book, since it will give you a more detailed and clear understanding. However, to summarize it here, I will just copy-paste (because it is already perfectly simple) the author’s seven principal questions to which founders have to prepare their own, clear defined answers before starting a company. (source1)
WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK
The book is simple to digest, without overwhelming terminology and economic/business concepts. At the same time, the great entrepreneurial wisdom is plain to observe. The author provides real-world examples, going smoothly from macro to micro, and micro to macro scales to explain.
Here are the few things that I loved:
- Importance of Monopoly
- Copying things usually do not end well
- Successful companies are built on secrets
- Cash Flow
- Luck vs Determination
- The Last Mover
I felt very excited and comfortable throughout the whole book.
MY OPINION
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