—
Doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar.
—
Zero to One is about how to build companies that create new things.
—
Competition is an ideology—the ideology—that pervades our society and distorts our thinking.
—
It’s much better to be the last mover—that is, to make the last great development in a specific market and enjoy years or even decades of monopoly profits.
—
You can do more than create a valuable company: you can steer its distant future toward the creation of new things instead of the stewardship of inherited success.
—
If humans and computers together could achieve dramatically better results than either could attain alone, what other valuable businesses could be built on this core principle?
—
A bad plan is better than no plan.
—
If nothing about our society changes for the next 100 years, then the future is over 100 years away.
—
Creative monopolists give customers more choices by adding entirely new categories of abundance to the world.
—
Every business is successful exactly to the extent that it does something others cannot.
—
True heroes take their personal honor so seriously they will fight for things that don’t matter.
—
Our task today is to find singular ways to create the new things that will make the future not just different, but better—to go from 0 to 1.
—
Competitive markets destroy profits.
—
Sales matters just as much as product.
—
Creative monopoly means new products that benefit everybody and sustainable profits for the creator.
—
Disruptors are people who look for trouble and find it.
—
A company has a monopoly on its own brand by definition, so creating a strong brand is a powerful way to claim a monopoly.
—
The first step to thinking clearly is to question what we think we know about the past.
—
Every monopoly is unique, but they usually share some combination of the following characteristics: proprietary technology, network effects, economies of scale, and branding.
—
The lesson for entrepreneurs is clear: if you want to create and capture lasting value, don’t build an undifferentiated commodity business
—
Citation: Thiel, P., & Masters, B. (2014). Zero to one: Notes on startups, or how to build the future. Crown Business.
Leave a Reply