Zero To One - Peter Thiel's new book on Startups

for those who haven't seen this @peterthiel AMA -- must-read: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/com...

This is bar none the best book on startups ever written.

I didn't agree with Peter's stance and thinking on all aspects. E.g. early specialization early in education.

But I think that's cool. Even the things I didn't agree with made me think and stretched my mind too.

If you are thinking about a startup or innovation, read this book.

Pros:

The advice on co-founders knowing each other from past experieneces.

Cons:

I think it is good as it stands. "Creativity, Inc" is a cracking book too.

This looked like an interesting book. However when you analyze companies and products in hindsight, its always easy to find the results that match your thesis. So looking forward to seeing what they came up with. (This was also a selection for our bookbuzz.email newsletter this week.)

@eriktorenberg déjà vu http://www.producthunt.com/posts... ;)

"After reading this, you'll have no need for books again. Period." -Abraham Lincoln ... Just kidding. I think it's probably an extraordinary book. Perhaps the quotes from famous people are a little much. Looks like an exciting story.

Extremely solid so far. A must read for startups.

Just finished the audiobook this weekend. It really is worthwhile. No BS. The audio version is narrated by Blake Masters (co-author) and gives a very personal feel. It's not verbose, and the points / concepts are unique. Definitely (definitely) worth the time!

I enjoyed this book for its big ideas and bold, unapologetic points of view, with one huge caveat: I think it's mostly useful only for entrepreneurs who are truly swinging for the fence and want to change the world in big, breakthrough ways. Thiel, a venture capitalist, is really only interested in massive disruptors. Most entrepreneurs, even the successful ones, do not create massive, world-changing disruptions; instead, they provide the world with incremental innovation and progress. VCs like Thiel depend on giant wins to pay for their losses, whereas many entrepreneurs attempting small things -- while in aggregate are important and world-changing -- are of little interest to Thiel because VCs' business model necessarily views small successes as failure. I didn't care for Thiels's judgmental, dismissive tone toward these smaller fish. Not only do I think he's just wrong (because the world needs these thousands of incremental gains), I actually think his words could be demoralizing to a lot of people attempting to do good, innovative things. Most entrepreneurs won't be helped by this, though they may be helped by some of what he has to say. And a few will take his words to heart and decide instead to attempt something really difficult. For this reason, on the whole, I recommend it.

The most important book you can read on building transformational startups that build and then bring generational technology to the world and live changing returns to teams and investors.

This book is focused on wisdom and frameworks for Type A companies and teams, those with extremely large missions and top talent. I love this book and try to reread once a year. As a disclaimer, it's not geared toward iterative entrepreneurs developing linear solutions to problems, and in fact, calls that out in the book, so be warned :) It will undoubtedly leave anyone who picks it up inspired and ready to get to work.

Pros:

The seminal book on building once-in-a-generation technology companies.

Cons:

None, but see below my disclaimer.