Zero To One
Peter Thiel
Summary
Should be required reading for everyone working in the innovation industry, whether as an entrepreneur or investor. Peter gives a great summary of how he understands businesses of the future
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Successful people find value in unexpected places and they do this by thinking from first principles
Most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization but the truth is technology matters more
Quest what you think you know about the past
The most continuous thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but think for yourself
Monopolists lie to protect themselves
Non-monopolists lie by saying ‘we’re in a league of our own’
All Rhodes scholars had a great future in their past
Rivalry causes us to over-compromise old opportunities and copy what has worked in the past
The value of a business is the sum of all of the money it will make in the future
Don’t focus on near term growth. Think will this business be around 10 years from now
Monopolies: proprietary tech, network effects, economies of scale and branding
To make a monopoly, your product needs to be 10x better than the closest competitor
For every start-up, start small with a small market
The most successful companies dominate a specific niche and then scale to adjacent markets
To succeed, you must study the endgame before everything else
Since tracked careers worked for boomers, they think it’ll work for you
Finance epitomizes indefinite thinking because it’s the only way to make money where you have no idea how to create wealth
Americans don’t save and companies leave cash on the balance sheet by not investing in the future
Long term planning is undervalued in our indefinite short term world
A business with a good definite plan will always be underrated in a world where people see the future as random
VCs follow a power law: a small handful of companies radically outperform all others
The best investment in a successful fund outperforms the entire rest of the fund combined
Only invest in companies that have the potential to return the value of the entire fund
You should focus relentlessly on something you’re good at doing but before that you must think hard of whether it’ll be valuable in the future
You can’t find secrets without looking for them. Belief in secrets is an effective truth
Secrets about people are under appreciated
You cannot build a great company on a flawed foundation. First get things right
Founders should share a pre-history before they start a company together
Every single member of your board matters. Ideally 3 but no more than 5
A company does better the less it pays it’s CEO
Hire people that actually enjoy working together
When hiring, talk about your mission and the team
On the inside, every individual should be distinguished by her work (defining roles reduces conflict)
The customer lifetime value (CV) must exceed the average amount to acquire a new customer (customer acquisition cost or CAC)
Focus on small present sales at the beginning before expanding
Nail down one mode of distribution for sales (power law applies)
The best companies will use computers and technology to make people better
Big data is usually junk data. You need a human to process it
Best companies will solve for: how can computer help humans solve big problems
7 breakthrough questions for huge companies
- Can you create breakthrough technologies instead of incremental improvements
- Is now the right time to start your particular business
- Are you starting with a big share of a small market
- Do you have the right team
- Do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product
- Will your market position be defensible in 10-20 years
- Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?
The best problems to work on are the ones nobody is trying to solve
***
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Free E-book download here
Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
***
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Free E-book download here
