Zero to One
By Peter Thiel
Summarized by Steve O. Courage and voiced
by UyohUyoh
Couples of years ago when I got to understand
how I could use the internet to promote my
business, there came immediately a temptation
to sell to the entire world.
Since you can actually reach the whole world
through the internet, why not try and sell
to the whole world?
Instead of trying to sell to the entire world,
I decided to look for a small market I could
easily dominate, a market where I could monopolized.
One of the most important lessons in Zero
to One is;
Design Your Business to Be a Monopoly.
By the way, if this is your first time on
our channel, welcome and consider subscribing
because we’ll help you to read all the world’s
best books under 7 minutes.
Let’s move to the second lesson.
Now, I heard you saying, “But monopoly isn’t
a good thing for the market”
Hahahaha…
I’ll answer you by saying, “But competition
isn’t a good thing for businesses”
Let’s face it!
Most businesses are either losing money or
breaking even.
According to an online source as at the time
of making this video,there are about 32 million
businesses in the United States, among which
over 22 million of them are making no significant
profit.
Now the question you may want to ask is;
Why are most businesses not making money?
Low profit margin.
Low profit margin.
Low profit margin is the reason why most businesses
make no significant profit and competition
is the reason for low profit margin.
If you’re a consumer, it’s a good news
for you to know that most businesses you patronize
aren’t making any profit from you.
However, if you’re an entrepreneur, that’s
a bad new because no one wants to build a
business without making reasonable profit.
So, what’s the way out?
Be unique.
Be Different.
Be a monopoly.
For your business to make a lot of money,
you must be able to sell your product at a
good price.
In other words, YOU must be able to determine
the price, not your competitions.
The only way you can ever do that is to be
the king in the market.
How on Earth can you be the king in your market?
Your offer must be ten times better than that
of your competitors or very much unique from
what they bring to the market.
Your business must be so different from the
competition that the market perceives you
as the king.
The second most important lesson in Zero to
One is;
Have a Far Better Technology or a Very Unique
Offer or Position
(leave 1 second)
Amazon got started in the year 1996 with just
books.
Because the company concentrated on the bookstore
business alone, it was able to become the
world’s biggest book store within a short
period of time.
But that was just the beginning.
The company has to move from there to become
the world’s biggest e-commerce company.
What is the lesson here?
To build a really successful company, you
must start with a small market you can easily
dominate and then scale up from there to another
territory and another market, till you become
the giant you really want to become.
That’s why Facebook started with just the
Harvard University’s students and that’s
why Google started with only search engine.
The third important lesson in the Zero to
One is;
Start with a small market that you can easily
dominate, before you eventually become a giant
monopoly.
 
Someone watching this video would think, ”But,
government doesn’t like monopoly”
You’re right, government doesn’t like
monopoly because it’s believed to be a business
model that discourages creativity and good
price.
However, almost every successful business
in the world is a monopoly in disguise.
Just as Standard oil, Ford Motors and Carnegie
Steel were monopoly for many years, today,
Google is a monopoly, Facebook is a monopoly
and Apple is a monopoly.
But if monopoly is considered a sin by the
government, how do these companies get away
with it?
These giant companies get away with monopoly
because they have learned how to disguise
their real businesses.
For example, Google calls itself a technology
company while it’s actually a Search Engine
company.
Calling itself a search engine company would
have exposed Google for having about 64% of
the search market but by calling itself a
technology company, Google looks ridiculously
small.
One of the questions congress men asked Mark
Zuckerberg while he was battling with his
company’s data scandal was; “Is Facebook
too big?”, to which Mark answered, “We
only have about 100 million users in the U.S”
The fourth lesson in Zero to one is;
Disguise your monopoly status so you’ll
not be crusshed
I’ve been in the business world fully since
2008 and here I am, yet to build the national
brand I promised everyone I wanted to build.
Am I a failure?
Not yet.
You see, building a great company takes a
lot of time, focus and determination.
If entrepreneurship is what you are willing
to do with your life, then, get prepared for
a long journey.
Yes, it’s rewarding and exciting, but it’s
not what most people think it’s.
While you can go get a job today and start
earning money almost immediately, if you starta
business today, you may not make any profit
for many months to come.
Alibaba wasn’t making money for many years.
Amazon wasn’t making money for a long time.
PayPal (co-founded by Peter Thiel himself)
wasn’t making money for years.
If you can’t wait, you can’t build a company.
The fifth major lesson in Zero to One is;
You Must Be Willing to Wait, for A Long Time,
if you want to build a successful business
Now, Let’s Discuss
What lessons do you think I missed in this
book?
What points would you like to add?
Which other good books would you like our
team to summarize next?
We love to receive your comments.
If you love this summary, our team will be
VERY happy if you can like this video and
share it with your friends on social media.
And if you’ve not subscribed to our channel,
subscribe now and turn on the notification
because we’ll help you to read all the best
books in the world, within 7 minutes.
We Love You!
