Zero to One

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Author Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
Country United States
Language English
Subject Business, Politics & Government
Publisher Crown Business
Publication date
September 16, 2014
Pages 224 (first edition)
ISBN 978-0804139298
Website Official website Edit this at Wikidata

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future is a 2014 book by venture capitalist, PayPal co-founder, and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel along with Blake Masters. It is a condensed and updated version of a highly popular set of online notes taken by Masters for the CS183 class on startups taught by Thiel at Stanford University in Spring 2012.[1][2][3]

Promotion

To promote the book, Peter Thiel sent out his first tweet ever on September 8, 2014, from a Twitter account that had been dormant for years. He was also interviewed by Alexia Tsotsis of TechCrunch.[4] On September 9, Thiel did a podcast with Timothy Ferriss for the latter's show.[5] On September 11, Thiel did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit.[6][7][8]

On September 13, Thiel appeared on NPR with host Wade Goodwyn to discuss the book.[9]

Reception

Book reviews

Publishers Weekly wrote of the book: "Thiel touches on how to build a successful business, but the discussion is too abstract to offer much to the next Steve Jobs—or Peter Thiel."[10]

Jason Shen reviewed the book, issuing a strong recommendation to readers to buy it.[11] According to Shen, the best part of the book was the idea that successful startups are based around secrets,[12] whereas the worst part of the book was Thiel's favoring startups that have a grand plan upfront.[13]

In November 2014, Timothy B. Lee reviewed the book for Vox.com, writing that although Thiel's book contained some good advice, he made the advice sound more contrarian than it really was, did not provide sufficiently concrete advice, and made some questionable claims.[14]

In The New Atlantis, James Poulos compares Thiel to Frederich Nietzsche and argues Thiel, "the most political and theoretical of the supernerds," writes esoterically in Zero to One, when he "raises the prospect of a remarkably comprehensive failure among our best and brightest."[15]

References

  1. "Zero to One". Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  2. Masters, Blake. "Notes Essays—Peter Thiel's CS183: Startup—Stanford, Spring 2012". Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  3. "What's the difference between Blake Masters' notes from CS183 and his book "Zero To One"?". Quora. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  4. Buhr, Sarah (September 8, 2014). "Peter Thiel Tweets". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  5. Ferriss, Timothy (September 9, 2014). "The Tim Ferriss Show: Interview with Peter Thiel, Billionaire Investor and Company Creator". Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  6. "Peter Thiel, technology entrepreneur and investor. AMA". Reddit. September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  7. "Peter Thiel Reveals His Favorite Rap Artist and More in a Reddit AMA". Slate. September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  8. Ferenstein, Gregory (September 11, 2014). "Peter Thiel goes after net neutrality, Uber, Bitcoin, and Hollywood (in 4 quotes)". VentureBeat. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  9. "Peter Thiel In 'Zero To One': How To Develop The Developed World". NPR. September 13, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  10. "Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future (book review)". Publishers Weekly. August 11, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  11. Shen, Jason (August 26, 2014). "The Best and Worst Parts of Peter Thiel's New Book: Zero to One". Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  12. Masters, Blake (May 11, 2012). "Peter Thiel's CS183: Startup - Class 11 Notes Essay". Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  13. Masters, Blake (May 20, 2012). "Peter Thiel's CS183: Startup - Class 13 Notes Essay". Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  14. Lee, Timothy B. (November 30, 2014). "How Peter Thiel repackaged conventional wisdom as bold contrarianism". Vox.com. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  15. "Competing to Conform". The New Atlantis. March 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
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