Book Review: Zero to One
Thiel, Peter. Zero to One: notes on start-ups, or how to build the future. Crown Business, 2014.
PayPal, the world’s largest online payments system, began in 1999, when a start-up named Confinity, founded by Peter Thiel and others, launched a money transfer service for Palm Pilot owners. At the same time, Elon Musk’s start-up, X.com, also built a person to person payment system using the Web and email. The companies battled hard to be the first to create the digital currency that would replace the U.S. dollar.
At both companies, customers were paid to join, a practice that was both expensive and unsustainable. In 2000, Confinity merged with X.com, but conflicts over culture and technology continued. As largest shareholder, Musk was named the first CEO, but by the end of the year, X.com’s board replaced Musk with Thiel, who rebranded the company as PayPal.
In Zero to One, Peter Thiel uses his own experience, as entrepreneur and venture capitalist, to explain how to create a successful startup. After discussing the nature of competition, he outlines the elements should be part of every business plan, such as engineering, people and distribution. Thiel explains that successful startups find value in unexpected places, create small monopolies and scale up. Thiel’s book offers no personal information about his life, but relates practical business advice from his experience at PayPal:
- Startups should make their early staff as personally similar as possible.
- Every startup should start with a very small market.
- In no case should a CEO of an early-stage venture-backed startup receive more than $150,000 per year in salary.
Zero to One is recommended for anyone interested in establishing, working in, or investing in a startup. A review of the book Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance will be posted on November 2.
Zero to One is also available as an audiobook on OverDrive, as an eBook on OverDrive, as an audiobook on CD, as well as on the Business Bestsellers Kindles in the Ford Library.
© Meg Trauner & Ford Library – Fuqua School of Business.
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