Zero to One – Peter Thiel

In a nutshell (195 pages), this book is about changing people’s perspective about what it means to build a truly ‘new’ business and to disrupt an industry. For example, Theil emphasizes that to be the new x is not new, it’s a variation. While there’s nothing wrong with this, it’s going from v.1 to v.2. What Theil wants to encourage people to do is go from 0 to v.1.

What I got out of it

While I have no intention to create a new industry or disrupt an existing one in an original way the thinking of the book is fascinating. It offers a new model of viewing businesses and possibly a new model of how to approach new products and even new customers or markets. The book can also provide clarity when thinking about a company, especially going through an IPO, which claims to be groundbreaking and completely disruptive when really their business model is only a variation.

What was difficult

Happily, there isn’t really anything bad or difficult about this book. There’s a fine line between being repetitive or pedantic and driving the point home intelligently. Theil stays on the right side of the line.

Recommendation

Anyone who thinks they are or are about to, launch a disruptive or completely new business should definitely read this book to adjust their thinking. Otherwise, anyone interested in business generally will enjoy the read and learn a lot. Definitely worthwhile.