Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Even though this book is made for the start-up founder, I found it applicable to many other aspects of life. I read this book not planning to open up a start-up for myself, but to gain a perspective into Thiel's thinking style. By nature, I am skeptical of the self-made entrepreneur stories and success stories. You hear of the success stories but never of the ones who failed. Even after they followed the "right" footsteps. Yet, Peter Thiel has built a successful start-up not once, but several times. The "PayPal Mafia" have even built several successful start-ups. So Thiel and the rest of the PayPal Mafia may be on to something. Thiel does spend a significant amount of time on philosophy. He talks of what he believes encompasses a successful start-up. And I agree with him. Too often, we hear what of the "next Uber of [insert something here]" or how rich you can become if you capture an "x%" of a certain market. If anything, this book helps you separate the wheat from the chaff. The book does go against conventional wisdom. Thiel doesn't waste time talking about his theory on why competition is bad, being a specialist instead of a generalist, among other things. It's always nice to hear a contrarian viewpoint. Thiel's writing style is short, sweet, and concise. The book itself was quite a breeze to read through. You can finish this in a weekend if you put yourself up to the task. I give this book a 4/5. It's a nice read, Thiel wastes no time getting into the topic of the book. But I find that he does generalize a lot. For the sake of simplicity, I can accept. But some viewpoints could have been better elaborated or not as generalized.