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

The word monopoly invokes visions of cruel, selfish tycoons twisting their mustaches with delight as they dominate marketplaces with expensive, low-quality products and control governments through bribery. While this idea is rooted both in media and the history of industrial-era monopolists, Thiel offers a more contemporary concept of monopoly. His idea is a creative monopoly, one that brings vastly improved products which dominate their industries because their products are so much better than the available alternatives. This achievement requires hard, creative work, but it brings about a better world for customers. It also rewards companies and their investors with big earnings.

According to Thiel, most companies are satisfied to follow the crowd, copy what industry leaders are producing, offer it at a slightly lower price, and try to make a little profit. There’s no security in such a business plan; sooner or later, it becomes a recipe for failure as competitors match prices or offer slight improvements in their products. Companies that break this mold and encourage creative thinking among their workers to develop standout products can attract customers who are happy to pay extra for purchases that really make a difference in their lives. For Thiel, these companies redefine how a monopoly is created as the result of market meritocracy rather than brute force or coercion.