Zero to One

All right, Kevin, tell me again why we're talking about this topic today.

I was reading this book called Zero to One by Peter Thiel.

It's about taking a new idea from no customers to the first customer, hence the zero to one.

One of the ideas that stuck out in the book was how important it is to avoid competition when you're going from zero to one.

It's difficult to move past zero if competition is melting away the advantages, and it can be very hard for you to get past zero.

So the example the book uses to prove the point is the airlines.

I mean, perfect competition is kind of carved out nearly any advantage the airline companies have.

Other than loyalty and some conveniences, air travel kind of comes down to price.

I would have never left voluntarily.

afterward i didn't sit around wondering what was happening at the old firm i didn't go back and visit i never look over my shoulder once finished gone life continues so that's from the beginning of the book that we talked about today which is the autobiography of michael bloomberg it is called bloomberg by bloomberg and he's describing the fact that getting fired was one of the best things that ever happened to him There's a great line by Steve Jobs that comes to mind where he says that sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick, but don't lose faith.

And so Bloomberg said, I didn't look back.

He was going to take the $10 million that he got from sale of the company and jump right back into the arena, this time as an entrepreneur.

He says, security trading and sales were considered second class occupations in those days.

Both involved getting your hands dirty by actually picking up the telephone and talking to customers.

So essentially what he's describing at this point in his life and this point in this book.

Essentially, he's learning the meta skill of sales.