It's largely a rehash of Tyler Cowen and Michael Porter (whether Thiel has read them or not I don't know, but he covers very similar ground). Some interesting ideas, but it's not going to change your life. One thing that bothered me about it was his assumption that the important problems he's so interested in aren't being solved due to lack of effort. The idea that certain problems just aren't economically feasible currently was not explored.
He says a lot of things that are going to make a lot of people mad because it goes against the things they want to be true. For example, he thinks competition between firms is wasteful and that business owners should seek to build a monopoly over something.
He substantiates this view with what's in my opinion quite lucid reasoning gleaned from his experience both founding Paypal and his later exploits like Palantir. But it will be insufficient to convince many.
I think it's one of the best business books I've ever read. I'd rank it about second, right below The Four Steps To The Epiphany. I picked it up off a shelf at Barnes & Noble the day after it came out, sat down in the cafe, and nearly read the entire book in one sitting. Went home, finished it, and then promptly started reading it a second time the next day. After that, I read it a third time. I plan to read it again.
Yeah, it's that good.
Now, that said, I am an unabashed Peter Thiel fanboy, so you may think that this is just my bias showing through. But I don't think so. I think Thiel hits on some very profound and significant insights in this book. It's not a manual or anything close to a TFSTTE style "paint by numbers" guide, but the seven questions that he presents in the chapter on Cleantech make a very solid framework for evaluating your own ventures, IMO.
The only caveat I'll offer is this: I don't presume to disagree with Thiel about anything, and there's nothing in the book where I'd say I think he's wrong in any objective sense. But I do think there are places where he glosses over some nuance and opts for the more hyperbolic presentation of an idea, in a way that can make certain bits seem self-contradictory.
He also comes off a slightly dismissive of the "lean startup" approach, seemingly because he sees evolutionary processes as only capable of creating incremental advances, as opposed to significant new creations. This is as close as I get to disagreeing with him, as I don't think there's anything about being a "lean startup" or doing Customer Development that mandates only working in the realm of incremental improvements. Now, as Steve Blank says, if you're inventing a cure for cancer, you don't need Customer Development. But there's some middle ground between "minor improvement in sharing cat pictures" and "a cure for cancer". This is where I think his more hyperbolic presentation and disregard of a certain level of nuance hurt the book a bit.
Another point to pay attention to is that Thiel may use definitions in a way that doesn't fit your pre-existing mindset, or he may make certain assumptions. Probably the main place this stands out to me is in how he seems to equate "competition" with "perfect competition", again ignoring the middle-ground. There's a similar issue with the way he uses "monopoly" where he clearly doesn't (necessarily) mean "the absolute only supplier for X" but is rather referring to a company that has achieved a level of dominance that allows it to profit in a radically significant way (beyond other related players, for example).
Overall, read it as a catalog of a number of Really Good Ideas for creating great startups, and I think you'll find it valuable. Don't assume any one thing he says is The Absolute Truth, but think about the gray area in between the poles. Don't take the hyperbole at face value, but read with a certain air of skepticism, and infer the in-between stuff.
That was my take anyway. Maybe after I read it for a fourth time my opinion will change. :-)
I did not regret the time that I spent reading this book. I thought it was very well laid out. He starts with some core ideas which I would say are relatively "contrarian." These ideas come together very well at the end to build an interesting model from which you can perceive the world through.
It's not necessarily a business book. His thesis is the one he articulates on his speeches: that we need a more deterministic, less statistically-oriented world. I found it to be very concise and interesting reading.
It's a fun, interesting read. If you're interested in globalization, or economics, you'd enjoy it. The stuff on startup practices is pretty standard and nothing new imo.
jeffreyrogers|11 years ago
akbar501|11 years ago
The thoughts conveyed in the book are clear and integrate well into a larger world view.
Even if you don't agree with Peter, at least you'll get a well articulated view of the world and one that'll make you question some of your beliefs.
adamzerner|11 years ago
vinceguidry|11 years ago
He substantiates this view with what's in my opinion quite lucid reasoning gleaned from his experience both founding Paypal and his later exploits like Palantir. But it will be insufficient to convince many.
mindcrime|11 years ago
Yeah, it's that good.
Now, that said, I am an unabashed Peter Thiel fanboy, so you may think that this is just my bias showing through. But I don't think so. I think Thiel hits on some very profound and significant insights in this book. It's not a manual or anything close to a TFSTTE style "paint by numbers" guide, but the seven questions that he presents in the chapter on Cleantech make a very solid framework for evaluating your own ventures, IMO.
The only caveat I'll offer is this: I don't presume to disagree with Thiel about anything, and there's nothing in the book where I'd say I think he's wrong in any objective sense. But I do think there are places where he glosses over some nuance and opts for the more hyperbolic presentation of an idea, in a way that can make certain bits seem self-contradictory.
He also comes off a slightly dismissive of the "lean startup" approach, seemingly because he sees evolutionary processes as only capable of creating incremental advances, as opposed to significant new creations. This is as close as I get to disagreeing with him, as I don't think there's anything about being a "lean startup" or doing Customer Development that mandates only working in the realm of incremental improvements. Now, as Steve Blank says, if you're inventing a cure for cancer, you don't need Customer Development. But there's some middle ground between "minor improvement in sharing cat pictures" and "a cure for cancer". This is where I think his more hyperbolic presentation and disregard of a certain level of nuance hurt the book a bit.
Another point to pay attention to is that Thiel may use definitions in a way that doesn't fit your pre-existing mindset, or he may make certain assumptions. Probably the main place this stands out to me is in how he seems to equate "competition" with "perfect competition", again ignoring the middle-ground. There's a similar issue with the way he uses "monopoly" where he clearly doesn't (necessarily) mean "the absolute only supplier for X" but is rather referring to a company that has achieved a level of dominance that allows it to profit in a radically significant way (beyond other related players, for example).
Overall, read it as a catalog of a number of Really Good Ideas for creating great startups, and I think you'll find it valuable. Don't assume any one thing he says is The Absolute Truth, but think about the gray area in between the poles. Don't take the hyperbole at face value, but read with a certain air of skepticism, and infer the in-between stuff.
That was my take anyway. Maybe after I read it for a fourth time my opinion will change. :-)
iMuzz|11 years ago
I'll definitely be reading it again.
chadk|11 years ago
http://www.chadkohalyk.com/blog/2014/09/28/zero-to-one/
return0|11 years ago
coryl|11 years ago
jakozaur|11 years ago