Zero to One: Notes on startups, or how to build the future

In 2012, Peter Thiel spoke to software engineers at Stanford, inspiring them to think boldly and try to carve out the future. He spoke of his own experiences, explaining the world of entrepreneurship from a personal point of view. Blake Masters was among the audience, and he recorded the lecture through detailed notes and posted them online. The posts went viral, and soon there was a need for a book which spoke more about Thiel’s ideas on entrepreneurship. In the current age, technology is beginning to stagnate. Information technology has grown at a rapid pace, but progress must not be limited to computers. Thiel explains that the next big entrepreneur will not have built an operating system or a search engine. Instead, tomorrow’s champions are going to be those who look at a unique business, roads which have not been taken. In doing so, they will discover that the roads which have been less travelled by will make all the difference between a zero and a one.

About the Authors

Peter Andreas Thiel is a German venture capitalist, hedge fund manager and entrepreneur. He is known for co-founding PayPal with Max Levchin and Elon Musk. He is currently the chairman of Palantir, which he also co-founded.

Thiel has co-written The Diversity Myth: ‘Multiculturalism’ and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford.

Blake Masters is an American entrepreneur and lawyer. Masters co-founded Judicata and is a graduate of Stanford.