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

2 " We are more fascinated today by statistical predictions of what the country will be thinking in a few weeks’ time than by visionary predictions of what the country will look like in 10 or 20 years from now. "

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

4 " Because globalization and technology are different modes of progress, it’s possible to have both, either, or neither at the same time. For example, 1815 to 1914 was a period of both rapid technological development and rapid globalization. Between the First World War and Kissinger’s trip to reopen relations with China in 1971, there was rapid technological development but not much globalization. Since 1971, we have seen rapid globalization along with limited technological development, mostly confined to IT.

This age of globalization has made it easy to imagine that the decades ahead will bring more convergence and more sameness. But I don’t think that’s true. [...] Most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization, but the truth is that technology matters more. Without technological change, if China doubles its energy production over the next two decades, it will also double its air pollution. If every one of India’s hundreds of millions of households were to live the way Americans already do—using only today’s tools—the result would be environmentally catastrophic. In a world of scarce resources, globalization without new technology is unsustainable. "

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

6 " ZERO TO ONE EVERY MOMENT IN BUSINESS happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them. "

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

8 " What important truth do very few people agree with you on? "

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

10 " Elite students climb confidently until they reach a level of competition sufficiently intense to beat their dreams out of them. Higher education is the place where people who had big plans in high school get stuck in fierce rivalries with equally smart peers over conventional careers like management consulting and investment banking. For the privilege of being turned into conformists, students (or their families) pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in skyrocketing tuition that continues to outpace inflation. Why are we doing this to ourselves? "

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

12 " Monopoly is the condition of every successful business. "

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

14 " Madness is rare in individuals—but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule, "

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

16 " If your goal is to never make a mistake in your life, you shouldn’t look for secrets. The prospect of being lonely but right—dedicating your life to something that no one else believes in—is already hard. The prospect of being lonely and wrong can be unbearable. "

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

18 " By the time a student gets to college, he's spent a decade curating a bewilderingly diverse resume to prepare for a completely unknowable future. Come what may, he's ready--for nothing in particular. "

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

20 " Customers won’t care about any particular technology unless it solves a particular problem in a superior way. And if you can’t monopolize a unique solution for a small market, you’ll be stuck with vicious competition. "

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