chowyonghan Author

10x better

(Excerpt from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) Companies must strive for 10x better because merely incremental improvements often end up meaning no improvement at all for the end user. Suppose you develop a new wind turbine...

September 21, 2019| Strategy Read More

7 questions every business must answer

(Excerpt from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) seven questions that every business must answer: The Engineering QuestionCan you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements? The Timing QuestionIs now...

September 21, 2019| Strategy, Tech Read More

Distribution dead zone for products priced between $100 and $10,000

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) In between personal sales (salespeople obviously required) and traditional advertising (no salespeople required) there is a dead zone. Suppose you create a software...

September 21, 2019| Marketing, Sales Read More

Distribution is king

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) Superior sales and distribution by itself can create a monopoly, even with no product differentiation. The converse is not true....

September 21, 2019| Marketing, Sales Read More

Advertising works on everyone

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) In Silicon Valley, nerds are skeptical of advertising, marketing, and sales because they seem superficial and irrational. But advertising matters because it works. It...

September 21, 2019| Marketing, Sales Read More

Attract talents based on mission and the team to work with, not perks

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) Talented people don’t need to work for you; they have plenty of options. You should ask yourself a more pointed version of the question: Why would someone join your...

September 21, 2019| People Read More

Hire people who like each other

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) They spent all day together, but few of them seemed to have much to say to each other outside the office. Why work with a group of people who don’t even like each...

September 21, 2019| People Read More

Allocating equity is tricky

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) for equity to create commitment rather than conflict, you must allocate it very carefully. Giving everyone equal shares is usually a mistake: every individual has...

September 21, 2019| People Read More

CEO of a startup should not receive more than $150,000 per year

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) For people to be fully committed, they should be properly compensated. Whenever an entrepreneur asks me to invest in his company, I ask him how much he intends to pay...

September 21, 2019| People Read More

Have a small board. 3 is good.

(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) Unlike corporate giants, early-stage startups are small enough that founders usually have both ownership and possession. Most conflicts in a startup erupt between...

September 21, 2019| Business, People Read More

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