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# Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future

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Review: A Propely Prescribed pair of Specacles that puts the world in focus - This book is like a pair of Prescription Spectacles that put the Innovation Startup Business world, into Sharp Focus. When I first saw the price I almost hit exit. However, I thought “If this guy has the balls to ask this price, this book had better be good”. Else I'm going to roast him in my desertcart review. I ain't roasting!! As usual I attacked reading this book in concept extraction mode for my normal initial scan read. Chapter 6, You are not a Lottery Ticket, hit me with a Baseball bat right between the eyes. and slowed my reading pace down to almost snails'. Despite this slow first read, this Chapter deserved a re-read, at almost letter by letter speed. Almost every word or phrase brings an idea from the past, often vague, to the fore and into sharp focus. When I finished my first highlighting trip, almost every word in this chapter was lit. I had to choose and eliminate some of them. In Zero to One, Thiel explores the world of New Business Creation. I would have loved using the word entrepreneurship but excessive and inappropriate use by “experts” have stripped this word of it's true meaning. We even invented a new version in South Africa under the ANC – Tenderpreneur. True entrepreneurship from basics is the creation of a New business that facilitates Economic Development by providing an Inventive New Product creating a New Market Sector that facilitates New Consumer Productivity enhancing opportunities. In Thiel's thesis, basic human attitudes can be split into a 2x2 matrix. I also tend to think in 2x2 matrixi. So this chapter fitted my mind. But Wow did he blow my mind with his various Definite vs Indefinite and Optimistic vs Pessimistic discussions. Despite many years in multinational business I could not fault the Author on any of his explanations. He clarified a lot for me. One of them “strategically humble” is certainly a new, yet valid descriptor for a company with a profitable monopoly. Yet in their Financial market press releases, they deliberately select a market description that yields for them a minority market share in a large market and not their true market share in the niche they dominate totally. (Are they hiding from Monopoly acuzations?) A few key quotes. ”In the 1950's, Americans thought big plans for the future were too important to be left to experts”. (San Francisco Dam) Ralph Waldo Emmerson is quoted as saying “Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances …...... Strong men believe in cause and effect.” “you should do what you could, not focus on what you couldn't” Is to my mind the Quote of the Year. Another hand clapper was “No one pretended that misfortune didn't exist, but prior generations believed in making their own luck by working hard” I consider the following a nice funny; When Peter had to use either the words he or she in his text he seemed to consistently use she. I suppose this enables him to duck accusations of Sexism. Showing signs of being scared of Indefinite Pessimists? “We have to find our way back to a definite future, and the Western World needs nothing short of a cultural revolution to do it.” “ A startup is the largest endeavor over which you can have definite mastery. You can have agency not just over your own life, but over a small and important part of the world. It begins by rejecting the unjust tyranny of Chance” The rest of the book is devoted to discussing the practicalities of founding Innovative Startups successfully. These are focused at exploiting what is commonly considered a secret simply because nobody has really explored it before. Their uniqueness create innovative monopoly opportunities - the key source of profit. One of the issues discussed is; Power Law; We all know the Pareto principle is valid and 80-20 describes the unequal distribution of results in everything. Peter adds these considerations; “It defines our surroundings so completely that we usually don't see it”. He continues with; “but everyone needs to know exactly one thing that even venture capitalists struggle to understand: we don't live in a normal world; we live under power law.” In this way many other facets of Startup founding are discussed practically. In the end I came away with the following thought pattern; A potential successful startup founder is someone who is a Definite Optimist with a long term perspective, prepared to take risks. Who has a mind open enough to identify factual or human secrets that need illumination. Who is prepared to do the hard work necessary to acquire the factual knowledge needed to explore this secret and find a way to change this mystery into a solution. Who is capable of funding this idea or selling it to Venture Funders to acquire funding. Who is prepared to expend the effort to develop the idea into a useful practical end product that solves something significant for a new market sector. AND; Who then has the flexibility to turn around from dreaming, research and creativity. To then display the tenacity to knuckle down to make this idea work in practice, prepared to live through the low personal income initial loss making era, building the practical business. Thanks – A stimulating read, well worth the time and money – even for retired me!
Review: Novel and Insightful - Overall this was an excellent book that made numerous interesting points. My favourite point being the arguments for monopoly over competition although I can’t bring myself to fully agree with his argument the mind-set that this type of thinking encourages should prove beneficial to me in the future. Perfect competition is abhorrent for anybody actually competing in such a market and his argument is sound when applied to companies like google , desertcart that are constantly innovating to maintain their competitive advantage. Monopoly’s only become truly dangerous when the barriers to entry become too high to encourage adequate competition and consumers are price gouged. There have been numerous examples of companies colluding to fix prices to screw over consumers and I don’t think this practice has been eradicated yet. I also liked the matrix on the role of optimism and a clear outline of the future, again it’s not something I would 100% agree with but it was certainly though provoking. I don’t believe that today’s society is as apathetic towards the future as described and I think there are a lot of people that have visons of the future and are working to create products that will prosper in this future environment although even as I write this it occurs to me that I would find I very difficult to predict anything in the future past the next ten years and even then you really are shooting in the dark. I also found the section on the Unabomber especially interesting as it wasn’t a viewpoint I had ever heard before. Overall I would give this a book four stars. The book was filled with some very interesting concepts from a person that has actually been there and done it. It is an excellent book and a must read for any aspiring entrepreneur.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #212,823 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #7 in Entrepreneurship (Books) #36 in Business & Organizational Learning |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 39,735 Reviews |

## Images

![Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71doP+hSREL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Propely Prescribed pair of Specacles that puts the world in focus
*by P***W on December 2, 2016*

This book is like a pair of Prescription Spectacles that put the Innovation Startup Business world, into Sharp Focus. When I first saw the price I almost hit exit. However, I thought “If this guy has the balls to ask this price, this book had better be good”. Else I'm going to roast him in my Amazon review. I ain't roasting!! As usual I attacked reading this book in concept extraction mode for my normal initial scan read. Chapter 6, You are not a Lottery Ticket, hit me with a Baseball bat right between the eyes. and slowed my reading pace down to almost snails'. Despite this slow first read, this Chapter deserved a re-read, at almost letter by letter speed. Almost every word or phrase brings an idea from the past, often vague, to the fore and into sharp focus. When I finished my first highlighting trip, almost every word in this chapter was lit. I had to choose and eliminate some of them. In Zero to One, Thiel explores the world of New Business Creation. I would have loved using the word entrepreneurship but excessive and inappropriate use by “experts” have stripped this word of it's true meaning. We even invented a new version in South Africa under the ANC – Tenderpreneur. True entrepreneurship from basics is the creation of a New business that facilitates Economic Development by providing an Inventive New Product creating a New Market Sector that facilitates New Consumer Productivity enhancing opportunities. In Thiel's thesis, basic human attitudes can be split into a 2x2 matrix. I also tend to think in 2x2 matrixi. So this chapter fitted my mind. But Wow did he blow my mind with his various Definite vs Indefinite and Optimistic vs Pessimistic discussions. Despite many years in multinational business I could not fault the Author on any of his explanations. He clarified a lot for me. One of them “strategically humble” is certainly a new, yet valid descriptor for a company with a profitable monopoly. Yet in their Financial market press releases, they deliberately select a market description that yields for them a minority market share in a large market and not their true market share in the niche they dominate totally. (Are they hiding from Monopoly acuzations?) A few key quotes. ”In the 1950's, Americans thought big plans for the future were too important to be left to experts”. (San Francisco Dam) Ralph Waldo Emmerson is quoted as saying “Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances …...... Strong men believe in cause and effect.” “you should do what you could, not focus on what you couldn't” Is to my mind the Quote of the Year. Another hand clapper was “No one pretended that misfortune didn't exist, but prior generations believed in making their own luck by working hard” I consider the following a nice funny; When Peter had to use either the words he or she in his text he seemed to consistently use she. I suppose this enables him to duck accusations of Sexism. Showing signs of being scared of Indefinite Pessimists? “We have to find our way back to a definite future, and the Western World needs nothing short of a cultural revolution to do it.” “ A startup is the largest endeavor over which you can have definite mastery. You can have agency not just over your own life, but over a small and important part of the world. It begins by rejecting the unjust tyranny of Chance” The rest of the book is devoted to discussing the practicalities of founding Innovative Startups successfully. These are focused at exploiting what is commonly considered a secret simply because nobody has really explored it before. Their uniqueness create innovative monopoly opportunities - the key source of profit. One of the issues discussed is; Power Law; We all know the Pareto principle is valid and 80-20 describes the unequal distribution of results in everything. Peter adds these considerations; “It defines our surroundings so completely that we usually don't see it”. He continues with; “but everyone needs to know exactly one thing that even venture capitalists struggle to understand: we don't live in a normal world; we live under power law.” In this way many other facets of Startup founding are discussed practically. In the end I came away with the following thought pattern; A potential successful startup founder is someone who is a Definite Optimist with a long term perspective, prepared to take risks. Who has a mind open enough to identify factual or human secrets that need illumination. Who is prepared to do the hard work necessary to acquire the factual knowledge needed to explore this secret and find a way to change this mystery into a solution. Who is capable of funding this idea or selling it to Venture Funders to acquire funding. Who is prepared to expend the effort to develop the idea into a useful practical end product that solves something significant for a new market sector. AND; Who then has the flexibility to turn around from dreaming, research and creativity. To then display the tenacity to knuckle down to make this idea work in practice, prepared to live through the low personal income initial loss making era, building the practical business. Thanks – A stimulating read, well worth the time and money – even for retired me!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Novel and Insightful
*by S***Y on November 16, 2015*

Overall this was an excellent book that made numerous interesting points. My favourite point being the arguments for monopoly over competition although I can’t bring myself to fully agree with his argument the mind-set that this type of thinking encourages should prove beneficial to me in the future. Perfect competition is abhorrent for anybody actually competing in such a market and his argument is sound when applied to companies like google , Amazon that are constantly innovating to maintain their competitive advantage. Monopoly’s only become truly dangerous when the barriers to entry become too high to encourage adequate competition and consumers are price gouged. There have been numerous examples of companies colluding to fix prices to screw over consumers and I don’t think this practice has been eradicated yet. I also liked the matrix on the role of optimism and a clear outline of the future, again it’s not something I would 100% agree with but it was certainly though provoking. I don’t believe that today’s society is as apathetic towards the future as described and I think there are a lot of people that have visons of the future and are working to create products that will prosper in this future environment although even as I write this it occurs to me that I would find I very difficult to predict anything in the future past the next ten years and even then you really are shooting in the dark. I also found the section on the Unabomber especially interesting as it wasn’t a viewpoint I had ever heard before. Overall I would give this a book four stars. The book was filled with some very interesting concepts from a person that has actually been there and done it. It is an excellent book and a must read for any aspiring entrepreneur.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ while it was highly recommended, my primary reason for reading the book was ...
*by R***D 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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