And now he's written a book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, with the goal of helping us “see beyond the tracks laid down” to ...MentalModelsDecisionMakingReadingBetterBestArticlesRandomArticleTagsBlogBooksEightThingsILearnedfromPeterThiel’sZeroToOneEightThingsILearnedfromPeterThiel’sZeroToOneReadingTime:8minutesPeterThielisanentrepreneurandinvestor.Heco-foundedPayPalandPalantir.HealsomadethefirstoutsideinvestmentinFacebookandwasanearlyinvestorincompanieslikeSpaceXandLinkedIn.Andnowhe’swrittenabook,ZerotoOne:NotesonStartups,orHowtoBuildtheFuture,withthegoalofhelpingus“seebeyondthetrackslaiddown”tothe“broaderfuturethatthereistocreate.”ZeroToOneisanexerciseinthinking—aboutquestioningandrethinkingreceivedwisdomtocreatethefuture.Andthinkingaboutthinkingiswhatwe’reallabout.HereareeightlessonsItookawayfromthebook.1.EachMomentHappensOnceLikeHeraclitus,whosaidthatyoucanonlystepintothesameriveronce,Thielbelievesthateachmomentinbusinesshappensonlyonce.ThenextBillGateswillnotbuildanoperatingsystem.ThenextLarryPageorSergeyBrinwon’tmakeasearchengine.AndthenextMarkZuckerbergwon’tcreateasocialnetwork.Ifyouarecopyingtheseguys,youaren’tlearningfromthem.Ofcourse,it’seasiertocopyamodelthantomakesomethingnew.Doingwhatwealreadyknowhowtodotakestheworldfrom1ton,addingmoreofsomethingfamiliar.Buteverytimewecreatesomethingnew,wegofrom0to1.Theactofcreationissingular,asisthemomentofcreation,andtheresultissomethingfreshandstrange.2.ThereisnoFormulaTheparadoxofteachingentrepreneurshipisthatsuchaformula(forinnovation)cannotexist;becauseeveryinnovationisnewandunique,noauthoritycanprescribeinconcretetermshowtobemoreinnovative.Indeed,thesinglemostpowerfulpatternIhavenoticedisthatsuccessfulpeoplefindvalueinunexpectedplaces,andtheydothisbythinkingaboutbusinessfromfirstprinciplesinsteadofformulas.3.TheBestInterviewQuestionWheneverIinterviewsomeoneforajob,Iliketoaskthisquestion:“Whatimportanttruthdoveryfewpeopleagreewithyouon?”Thisisaquestionthatsoundseasybecauseit’sstraigh