I read 『ZERO to ONE（ゼロ・トゥ・ワン） 君はゼロから何を生み出せるか / Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future』by Peter Thiel, so I’d like to share the insights I gained from the book.

Background - Peter Thiel

I read this book because it was written by Peter Thiel.

Below are quotes from memorable passages and my notes.

Chapter 6: You Are Not a Lottery Ticket

Even in engineering-driven Silicon Valley, the buzzword of the moment is "lean startup" methodology. Aspiring entrepreneurs are told that they should "adapt" and "evolve" to an ever-changing environment. But "leanness" is a methodology, not a goal. Making small changes to things that already exist might lead you to a local maximum, but it won't help you find the global maximum.

Being lean is a methodology, not a goal.

Chapter 9: Foundations

"Cash Is King" Is Wrong

To properly align incentives, you need to get the compensation right. Whenever an entrepreneur asks me to invest in his company, I ask him how much he intends to pay himself. A company does better the less it pays the CEO—that's one of the single clearest patterns I've noticed from investing in hundreds of companies.

The less a company pays the CEO, the better it does.

High cash compensation teaches workers to claim value from the company as it already exists instead of investing their time to create new value in the future. A cash-poor executive, by contrast, will focus on increasing the value of the whole company.

High cash compensation is an incentive for maintaining the status quo.

Chapter 10: The Mechanics of Mafia

Taking Responsibility for One Thing

In a startup, everyone in the company must be distinctly excellent at her particular role.

The best thing I did as a manager at PayPal was to make every person in the company responsible for doing just one thing. Every employee's one thing was unique, and everyone knew I would evaluate him only on that one thing. I had started doing this just to simplify the task of managing people. But then I noticed a deeper result: defining roles reduced conflict. Most fights inside a company happen when colleagues compete for the same responsibilities. Startups face an especially high risk of this since job roles are fluid at the early stages. Eliminating competition makes it easier for everyone to build the kinds of long-term relationships that transcend mere professionalism. More than that, internal peace is what enables a startup to survive at all.

The best strategy is to assign one responsibility to each person.

Chapter 14: The Founder's Paradox

The lesson for business is that we need founders. If anything, we should be more tolerant of founders who seem strange or extreme; we need unusual individuals to lead companies beyond mere incrementalism. The lesson for founders is that individual prominence and adulation can never be enjoyed except on the condition that it may be exchanged for individual notoriety and demonization at any moment. Founders should be wary of the myth of the sole entrepreneur. The greatest thing founders can do is make their companies more successful by making themselves less necessary.

The required behavior and self-awareness for founders.

That’s all from the Gemba, looking to create something from zero.