The "How to Start a Startup" series of lectures from Stanford University are quite interesting to watch and follow, however, the talk from Peter Thiel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_0dVHMpJlo is quite in contrast with the other lectures and very thought provoking. Thiel is indeed a very interesting person.
The basis for that lecture is that if you are doing something where there is serious competition, then you are doing it wrong and it is best to pursue journeys where no one else is engaged in, in order to gain monopoly. It is s a very aggressive mindset for doing business and developing projects and ideas. He describes very well how our whole culture is fixed on cheering people to enter specific competitions and hope they succeed, which in reality a tiny fraction of them will and most will not. He believes the sole reason there is serious competition there means the odds for success are very low.
The whole startup hype these days is around the idea of Lean Startups and he is against the whole idea and believes that the best businesses show quantum leaps and not incremental improvements to existing ideas.
The basis for that lecture is that if you are doing something where there is serious competition, then you are doing it wrong and it is best to pursue journeys where no one else is engaged in, in order to gain monopoly. It is s a very aggressive mindset for doing business and developing projects and ideas. He describes very well how our whole culture is fixed on cheering people to enter specific competitions and hope they succeed, which in reality a tiny fraction of them will and most will not. He believes the sole reason there is serious competition there means the odds for success are very low.
The whole startup hype these days is around the idea of Lean Startups and he is against the whole idea and believes that the best businesses show quantum leaps and not incremental improvements to existing ideas.
