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Book Review
“Zero to One” by Peter Thiel with Blake Master

Self-Declaration of “No Plagiarism”

 
I, Cdt. Azlan Ahmad Salmani certifies that this review is my work, based on my
reading and study of the book “Zero to One by Peter Thiel with Blake master”. I
also certify that this book review has not previously been submitted for assessment
in any other unit. I have not copied in any part or whole or otherwise plagiarized the
work of other students and/or persons. If any similarity is found, they do not
correlate with this review, and a verification step is needed.

Name: Azlan Ahmad Salmani (BT- 296)

Registration No.: 1806608026
Programme Name: B.Tech (Marine Engg.)
Campus Name: IMU, Mumbai port Campus
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Name: Azlan Ahmad Salmani

Registration No.: 1806608026
Programme Name: B.Tech (Marine Engg.)
Campus Name: IMU, Mumbai port Campus

Book Review

“Zero To One” by Peter Thiel with Blake Master

Introduction:
“Zero to One” by Peter Thiel gave a uniquely impressive perspective on
building a startup and future. Peter Thiel is one of the co-founders of PayPal and the
software company Palantir. He was the first outside investor of Facebook and an
early investor of many startups such as SpaceX, LinkedIn, Airbnb, etc. He was
ranked No. 4 on the Forbes List of 2014.
  In this book, Peter Thiel with his protégé Blake Master lends the lesson he
acquired from co-founding PayPal and draws our attention to some patterns of
successful companies without giving us any pre-defined success formula as it does
not exist. This book will challenge you to think for yourself on topics such as
technology versus globalization, business monopolies versus competitive markets,
and the mindset you need to make a difference in the world.
 
Summary:
 
The book starts with Contrarian truth Question. Try to answer a question such as
“What important truth very few people agree with you on?” It’s not that easy to
answer this question and that is where the opportunity lies. When most people
believe in ABC, but the truth is the opposite of ABC. When everyone agrees on
something then most of the time it creates a bubble-like 2000 Dot Com bubble and
in 2008 the real-estate bubble. But when very few people agree with you you create
something such as iPhone and build something like Uber. But, it doesn’t mean that
opposite ideas are always true.

Our society is obsessed by Competition, but you have to be away from competition
as more the competition less is the profit. To build a successful business, You
have to be a Monopoly. Peter Thiel says “ Competition is for losers”. Competition
is like a War where no one gains extensively. And as the author says “All failed
companies are same, they failed to escape competition”. While Microsoft and Google
were obsessed to compete with each other while Apple came along and overtook
them (500 billion $ Market capitalization Apple vs 467 billion $ of Google + Microsoft
combined). The sad part is that our education system preaches competition. The
student is made to feel inferior if they are not able to learn the same by sitting at
the still desk. While the “Elite students climb confidently until they reach a
level of competition sufficiently intense to beat their dreams out of them”.
Try to dominate a small niche market and scale it to adjacencies as Amazon did
by starting a monopoly online book store to catalogue every book in
the world to Every kind of thing in the world, Period.
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You have to believe in secret. Every correct answer to our contrarian question:
“What valuable company is nobody building”  must be secret. Every great business
is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. Inner workings of Google’s
PageRank algorithm, Apple iPhone in 2007, etc. The best place to look for secrets is
where no one else is looking, the hidden path to success.

Sales and Distribution is as important as the product itself. Whatever is your

career, sales ability distinguishes you from others. Elon musk is as good in sales as
in science. Musk, within a few years of launching SpaceX, persuaded NASA to sign a
billion-dollar deal. PayPal used its referral system to gain extraordinary
growth. Everybody has a product to sell- Look around. If you don’t see any
salespeople, you’re the salesperson.

Every great company needs to get their foundation right. As said by Thiel “A start-
up messed at the foundation cannot be fixed”. There are some basic things that a
start-up has to do right to have a strong foundation. From finding a co-founder to
ownership, possession and control of the company decides the foundation of a
company. Everyone involved in your company must a long term interest in it rather
than getting a paycheck every month. As a start-up, you need not pay a high salary
because you can give something better: A part of the company. You must distribute
equity carefully so that it does not create conflict in future. Having the right teams
sets the foundation of the company.

Conclusion: Personal opinion about the book

 
After reading this books, I understood that there is no formula for success. You have
to identify some pattern to start a successful business. Though, I don’t agree with
the authors view on monopoly as Monopoly is not the only path to profits but do
agree that competition destroys profit. As companies cannot start big from day one.
I strongly believe with following points and conclude that the company which can
answer the following questions right will have the highest chances of success.

Less Competition: Does your Business have less/more competition? How is the
profit pool?

Right Foundation: Do you have the right team to work with?

Sales and Distribution: Do you have a method to sell your product?

Solve a Secret: Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?