Business Strategy and Monopoly Theory

Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal, Palantir, and Founder Fund describes business strategy and monopoly theory for startups.

Notes

0m52s – competition is for losers
0m57s – outline
0m58s – # Capturing Value – X and Y% are independent variables
3m50s – Perfect Competition
4m37s – Monopoly
5m38s – # Lies that people tell
12m48s – Narrow markets
13m28s – # How to Build a Monopoly – start small and monopolize
18m42s – # Last Mover Advantage – order of magnitude better (massive delta), network effect, economies of scale, branding
27m55s – # History of Innovation
33m00s – Success Cases, vertically integrated complex monopolies (capital intensive)
37m01s – # Psychology of Competition
42m25s – # Q&A
42m45s – find true size of market
43m10s – how does google excel at software effects (network effects ad words, proprietary technology of search algorithm, economies of scale of storing data, and google brand)
44m33s – lean startup and risk
46m46s – google, facebook last in their field (search, social network) but first in 1 key dimension (page rank, real identity)
47m58s – competition recap

Additional Reading

• Chapter 3-5 of Zero to One by Peter Thiel
• Transcript

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