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

by Blake Masters

In the most dysfunctional organizations, signaling that work is being done becomes a better strategy for career advancement than actually doing work (if this describes your company, you should quit now).

Nietzsche wrote (before he went mad). If you can identify a delusional popular belief, you can find what lies hidden behind it: the contrarian truth.

Companies are like countries in this way. Bad decisions made early on—if you choose the wrong partners or hire the wrong people, for example—are very hard to correct after they are made.

All salesmen are actors: their priority is persuasion, not sincerity.

The Engineering Question Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements?

The Timing Question Is now the right time to start your particular business?

The Monopoly Question Are you starting with a big share ...

The People Question Do you have th...

The Distribution Question Do you have a way to not just create but ...

The Durability Question Will your market position be defensible 10 and 20...

The Secret Question Have you identified a unique opportunity th...