[John]

Zero to One, by Peter Thiel

Around 6 months ago I finally got around to reading Zero to One, after having seen it recommended by so many over the years.

It's generally about the business of doing new things and better ways of doing things, with a focus on technology & startups.

0 to 1 = technolgical progress
1 to n = competition and globalization of existing tech

Thiel recommends that people have a laser focus on their strengths, on what they are good at. Although sometimes difficult in practice, this is something I agree with. When looking back on my time in high school & college that tends to be one of the main conclusions I have in hindsight.

In regards to tech developers building new things, he points out how there's often little to no focus on distribution / sales / marketing. But he stresses how important that part is.

Something I'm not so sure I agree with is his aversion to suits. At his investment fund they apparently had a blanket rule to pass on any company whose founders dressed up for the pitch meetings. A quote from the book is "Never invest in a tech CEO that wears a suit." I almost rarely ever wear suits. As long as I can deeply focus on what I'm working on is really what matters most to me. However, I think there are times when suits are appropriate and even necessary. Such an extreme anti-suit stance seems to be a bit excessive to me.

Thiel's stance regarding college is, at least in part, that colleges reassure students that what they do is not as important as how well they do it. He says that's completely false. This is where he says you should focus relentlessly on something that you're good at doing after analyzing whether it will be valuable in the future.

Regarding computers, Thiel writes that they will complement people as opposed to replacing them. However, Zero to One was published in 2012 and that happens to be the same year when Geoffrey Hinton revolutionized artificial intelligence.