ZERO TO ONE NOTES ON STARTUPS

Refining and expanding on the lecture notes from his start-ups course at Stanford, Thiel says that progress comes in two forms: vertical and horizontal. Horizontal progress means copying or iterating on products, ideas, and solutions that already exist; vertical progress is building new ones from the ground up. Yet horizontal progress yields only incremental improvements and short-term profits that are quickly competed away. To create lasting value, we must strive for vertical progress: going from 0 to 1. Thiel urges innovators in all fields not to compete on well-trodden paths but rather to find a new frontier, plant their flag, monopolize, then scale up as quickly as possible. The next great company won't be another Microsoft or Apple--those have been done. Instead it will be something completely new that we have yet to dream up.