These are the seven key questions Peter Thiel asks in his brilliant handbook for startupsZero to One — How to Build the Future:
1. The Engineering question: can you create breakthrough technology — 10x better, that offers “transparent superiority” — not incremental improvements? What will that look like
2. The Timing question: is now the right time to start your particular business?
3. The Monopoly question: are you starting with a BIG share of a small market?
Pointer:
“Customers won’t care about any particular tech unless it solves a particular problem in a superior way.”
“You can’t dominate a sub market if it’s fictional. Huge markets are highly competitive.”
4. The People Question: do you have the right team?
5. The Distribution question: Do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product?
6. The Durability question: will your market position be defensible 10, 20 years into the future?
7. The Secret Question: Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?
Useful pointers:
“Great companies have secrets: specific reasons for success that other people don’t see.”
“The best projects are likely to be overlooked, not trumpeted by a crowd; the best problems to work on are often the ones nobody else even tries to solve.”
“An entrepreneur can’t benefit from macro-scale insight unless his own plans begin on the micro-scale.”