Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Every moment in business happens only once.

— Peter Thiel, Blake Masters, amazon.com

Like acting, sales works best when hidden. This explains why almost everyone whose job involves distribution— whether they're in sales, marketing, or advertising— has a job title that has nothing to do with those things. People who sell advertising are called 'account executives.' People who sell cu…

— Peter Thiel, amazon.com

Advertising Business Personal Sales Sales Selling

In 2009, Blake sold a small Box account to the Stanford Sleep Clinic, where researchers needed an easy, secure way to store experimental data logs. Today the university offers a Stanford-branded Box account to every one of its students and faculty members, and Stanford Hospital runs on Box. If it ha…

— Peter Thiel, amazon.com

Box Box.com Growing A Business Inc.Personal Sales

The perfect target market for a startup is a small group of particular people concentrated together and served by few or no competitors.

— Peter Thiel, amazon.com

Business Evolution Iteration Start Small Startup Target Markets

As a good rule of thumb, proprietary technology must be at least 10 times better than its closest substitute in some important dimension to lead to a real monopolistic advantage. Anything less than an order of magnitude better will probably be perceived as a marginal improvement and will be hard to…

— Peter Thiel, amazon.com

Innovation Investment Technology

If you focus on near-term growth above all else, you miss the most important question you should be asking: will this business still be around a decade from now? Numbers alone won't tell you the answer; instead you must think critically about the qualitative characteristics of your business.

— Peter Thiel, amazon.com

Growing A Business Growing Up Long-Term Thinking Number

Inside a firm, people become obsessed with their competitors for career advancement. Then the firms themselves become obsessed with their competitors in the marketplace. Amid all the human drama, people lose sight of what matters and focus on their rivals instead.

— Peter Thiel, amazon.com

Business Carrers Competition Drama

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