a book
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Peter Thiel · 2014 · 195 pages
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This book delivers completely new and refreshing ideas on how to create value in the world.”—Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta
“Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies, and Zero to One shows how.”—Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley. Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself.
Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. Tomorrow’s champions will not win by competing ruthlessly in today’s marketplace. They will escape competition altogether, because their businesses will be unique.
Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.
recommended by 54 people
sourced from public statements
Ryan Holiday
“The Millionaire Next Door The Black Swan Zero to One”↗
Andrej Karpathy
“There are several good parts in this book and I've felt some of my views shift as a result of reading the book (which is all you can ask for). A lot of Peter's arguments are supported with examples and anecdotes which is great because it grounds the discussion, but I also kept thinking that some seemed cherry picked. In a pool of 20 successful companies it seems it would be easy to always find the one that fits a narrative. Regardless, interesting read; These are useful ideas to be aware of.”
Naval Ravikant
“Start with The Beginning of Infinity. Then read Matt Ridley, Nick Szabo, David Deutsch, Nassim Taleb, Schopenhauer, Peter Thiel, Popper, Feynman, Art DeVany, Scott Adams, Jed McKenna. Recognize them when they challenge socially enforced mass-delusions with science and logic.”↗
Nassim Taleb
“When a risk taker writes a book, read it. In the case of Peter Thiel, read it twice. Or, to be safe, three times. This is a classic.”
Eric Weinstein
“If you really understand something that the rest of the world is confused about, and it’s an important truth, Zero to One says here are all the ways you might want to make that work.”↗
PewDiePie
“Next book we have, quite random actually, it's uh Zero to One by Peter Thiel. [...] I didn't really find myself like oh hey while reading it when I was writing down my thoughts on the book I... they all tended to be quite negative which, and i'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's just the overall culture around these type of things that probably makes me look at it and in an unfair light. I'm not saying this is a bad book by any means. [...] there's a lot of just random thoughts that I think he's interested in being shared. The main gist of this book is the idea that if you want to go from zero to one if you want a startup that really makes it and the banger you want to come up with something that isn't just replicating what other businesses are doing but something that's unique. It's not bad but I will have to rate it two out of five because, just because I think he's holding back and I think he is... it felt a bit random to be honest”
Patrick OShaughnessy
“If I could hand any five books to a would be entrepreneur, I’d pick 1. Positioning by Ries + Trout 2. Zero to One by Thiel 3. 7 Powers by Helmer 4. The Outsiders by Thorndike 5. Creativity, Inc. by Catmull Bonus: Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*T by Pressfield”↗
Matt Mullenweg
“This book was excellent.”↗
Max Levchin
“Q. - What's your favourite business book you'd advise to young entrepreneurs and why? M.L. -Some good ones from the "pure business" category: Zero to One, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, The Innovator's Dilemma, Good to Great, etc. Personally, I prefer less advice, more history. From my favorite business segment: Too Big To Fail, Ascent of Money, When Genius Failed, etc. Books on applied psychology (Influence, Predictably Irrational, etc) are another way to round out primarily technological education :)”↗
Bryan Johnson
“Just finished @peterthiel's Zero to One. A must read.”↗
Trevor Ncube
“This week I finished reading these two books. Grateful to @ChadMhako who recommended Zero to One - a must read for all thinking of starting a business. @staffordmasie recommended Life After Google - a tour de force. Please share what book you are reading for the benefit of others”↗
Vivek Mashrani
“✅ Must read book for all those who are crazy enough to build the future...🏗️🏗️ And have vision to change the world for BETTER..🌍🌏 Crisp and powerful read...worth your time.. #startup #Creator #Build #futuresteps”↗
Vladimer Botsvadze
“Some of my favorite business books, comment one book that changed your life”↗
Ameer Rosic
“Top 5 Must Read #Business Books of All Time #startup #mindset”↗
Lee Stranahan
“Zero to One is a great business book.”↗
Rupert Murdoch
“Enjoying brilliant, often provocative, Peter Thiel book, Zero to One. Will buy many and distribute to all senior execs.”↗
Luis von Ahn
“I love Zero to One.”↗
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