2014 ZerotoOneNotesonStartupsOrHowto

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Subject Headings: Technology Entrepreneurship, Competitive Market, Capitalistic System, Creative Monopoly.

Notes

Cited By

2015

Quotes

The challenge of the Future

Whenever I interview someone for a job, I like to ask this question: “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”

This question sounds easy because it’s straightforward. Actually, it’s very hard to answer. It’s intellectually difficult because the knowledge that everyone is taught in school is by definition agreed upon. And it’s psychologically difficult because anyone trying to answer must say something she knows to be unpopular. Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius.

Most commonly, I hear answers like the following:

“Our educational system is broken and urgently needs to be fixed.”
“America is exceptional.”
“There is no God.”

Those are bad answers. The first and the second statements might be true, but many people already agree with them. The third statement simply takes one side in a familiar debate. A good answer takes the following form: “Most people believe in x, but the truth is the opposite of x.”

p.25 Americans mythologize competition and credit it with saving us from socialist bread lines. Actually, capitalism and competition are opposites. Capitalism is premised on the accumulation of capital, but under perfect competition all profits get competed away. The lesson for entrepreneurs is clear: if you want to create and capture lasting value, don’t build an undifferentiated commodity business.

References

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 AuthorvolumeDate ValuetitletypejournaltitleUrldoinoteyear
2014 ZerotoOneNotesonStartupsOrHowtoPeter Thiel
Blake Masters
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, Or How to Build the Future2014