Founders #31 Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue and Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Founders as Event Shapers
- Founders deviate from the norm, shaping events.
- They create and dictate, unlike employees who are shaped by events.
The Contrarian Question
- Ask yourself Thiel's contrarian question: "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
- Consider if we need more conspiracies/scheming and boldness.
Mimetic Nature and Learning
- We are mimetic creatures, influenced by our environment.
- Be mindful of your exposure, prioritizing learning over endless entertainment.
What I learned from reading Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue and Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
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Culture Eats Strategy [1:45]
Conspiracy as a metaphor for a company [3:56]
It is a story of poetic justice on a grand scale plotted silently for nearly a decade [6:02]
Something in these pages planted itself deep into Thiel's mind when he first read it long ago [15:25]
It was ruthless efficiency and hyper-competence. [21:40]
You were driven to entrepreneurship because it was a safe space from consensus and from convention. [34:36]
What if I do something about this? What might happen? What might happen if I do nothing? Which is riskier, to act or to ignore? [38:52]
Sometimes these books teach us what not to do. [59:06]
Unknown unknowns > known knowns [1:11:10]
How you do one thing is how you do all things. [1:25:47]
He had always been aggressive. He wouldn't have gotten where he was in life if he wasn't. [1:30:35]
Companies routinely focus on silly things. [1:32:38]
The greatest sin of a leader.[1:37:17]
How resourceful is Peter Thiel?[1:41:37]
Just keep asking why.[1:47:29]
Gentlemen: You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you for the laws too slow. I'll ruin you. Yours truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt. [1:53:37]
Brilliant thinking is rare but courage is even in shorter supply [1:58:50]
The business version of our contrarian question is: What valuable company is nobody building? [2:01:39]
This Twisted logic is part of human nature, but it's disastrous in business. If you can recognize competition as a destructive force instead of a sign of value, you're already saner than most. [2:16:11]
Steve Jobs saw that you can change the world through careful planning. Not by listening to focus groups feedback or copying others success. [2:19:53]
You can have agency not just over your own life, but over a small and important part of the world. It begins by rejecting the unjust tyranny of chance. [2:21:05]
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