Zero to One

Monopolists can afford to think about things other than making money; non-monopolists can’t.

Founders should share a prehistory before they start a company together—otherwise they’re just rolling dice.

startups’ obsession with disruption means they see themselves through older firms’ eyes.

THE ENGINEERING QUESTION

A board of three is ideal. Your board should never exceed five people, unless your company is publicly held. (Government regulations effectively mandate that public companies have larger boards—the average is nine members.) By far the worst you can do is to make your board extra large.

However, anyone who doesn’t own stock options or draw a regular salary from your company is fundamentally misaligned.

1. The Engineering Question Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements? 2. The Timing Question Is now the right time to start your particular business? 3. The Monopoly Question Are you starting with a big share of a small market? 4. The People Question Do you have the right team? 5. The Distribution Question Do you have

Conventional beliefs only ever come to appear arbitrary and wrong in retrospect; whenever one collapses, we call the old belief a bubble. But the distortions caused by bubbles don’t disappear when they pop. The internet craze of the ’90s was the biggest bubble since the crash of 1929, and the lessons learned afterward define and distort almost all

how to build companies that create new things.