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

by Peter Thiel

Non-monopolists exaggerate their distinction by defining their market as the intersection of various smaller markets:

Monopolists, by contrast, disguise their monopoly by framing their market as the union of several large markets:

The perfect target market for a startup is a small group of particular people concentrated together and served by few or no competitors. Any big market is a bad choice, and a big market already served by competing companies is even worse. This is why it’s always a red flag when entrepreneurs talk about getting 1% of a $100 billion market.

The most successful companies make the core progression—to first dominate a specific niche and then scale to adjacent markets—a part of their founding narrative.