Peter Thiel

the initial markets are so small that they often don’t even appear to be business opportunities at all.

a good rule of thumb, proprietary technology must be at least 10 times better than its closest substitute in some important dimension to lead to a real monopolistic advantage. Anything less than an order of magnitude better will probably be perceived as a marginal improvement and will be hard to sell, especially in an already crowded market.

cutthroat competition means your profits will be zero.

So-called perfectly competitive markets achieve equilibrium when producer supply meets consumer demand.

So-called perfectly competitive markets achieve equilibrium when producer supply meets consumer demand.

own answer to the contrarian question is that most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization, but the truth is that technology matters more.

The essential first step is to think for yourself. Only by seeing our world anew, as fresh and strange as it was to the ancients who saw it first, can we both re-create it and preserve it for the future.

Of course, it’s easier to copy a model than to make something new. Doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But every time we create something new, we go from 0 to 1. The act of creation is singular, as is the moment of creation, and the result is something fresh and strange.

Today’s “best practices” lead to dead ends; the best paths are new and untried.

Today’s “best practices” lead to dead ends; the best paths are new and untried.