Under perfect competition, in the long run no company makes an economic profit. Peter Thiel More Quotes by Peter Thiel More Quotes From Peter Thiel You want to be the last company in a category. Those are the ones that are really valuable. Peter Thiel categorieslastswant Every time we create something new we go from zero to one. Peter Thiel something-newzero American government is not dominated by engineers, it is dominated by lawyers. Engineers are interested in substance and building things; lawyers are interested in process and rights and getting the ideology correctly blended. And so there is sort of no really concrete plan for the future. Peter Thiel building-thingsgovernmentrights Superior sales and distribution by itself can create a monopoly, even with no product differentiation. The converse is not true. No matter how strong your product-even if it easily fits into already established habits and anybody who tries it likes it immediately-you must still support it with a strong distribution plan. Peter Thiel supportstrongtrying Never invest in a tech CEO that wears a suit. Peter Thiel ceosuits Moving first is a tactic, not a goal. Peter Thiel tacticsgoalmoving If people were super-optimistic about technology there would be no reason to be pessimistic about the future. Peter Thiel optimistictechnologypeople Probably the most extreme form of inequality is between people who are alive and people who are dead. Peter Thiel formalivepeople In the most dysfunctional organizations, signaling that work is being done becomes a better strategy for career advancement than actually doing work (if this describes your company, you should quit now). Peter Thiel advancementcareersorganization Beginning with brand rather than substance is dangerous. Peter Thiel brandsdangeroussubstance Darwinism may be a fine theory in other contexts, but in startups, intelligent design works best. Peter Thiel design-workintelligentmay By the time a student gets to college, he's spent a decade curating a bewilderingly diverse résumé to prepare for a completely unknowable future. Come what may, he's ready-for nothing in particular. Peter Thiel studentscollegemay There are quite a lot of people who think my aspirations are not possible. That's a good thing. We don't need to really worry about these people very much, because since they don't think it's possible they won't take us very seriously- and they will not actually try to stop us until it's too late. Peter Thiel worrypeoplethinking Recruiting is a core competency for any company. It should never be outsourced. Peter Thiel outsourcedcompanyshould I'm in favor of free trade, but I think if you had to make a choice between having technological progress versus free trade, you had one or the other, you should always pick technological progress. I think it's an incredibly important variable for creating more prosperity. Peter Thiel creatingchoicesthinking It is sort of a bit of a caricature of capitalism, that it's always this zero-sum game where you have winners and losers. Silicon Valley, the technology industry at its best, creates a situation where everybody can be a winner. Peter Thiel technologyzerogames Long-term planning is often undervalued by our indefinite short-term world. Peter Thiel planninglongworld Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women - two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians - have rendered the notion of "capitalist democracy" into an oxymoron. Peter Thiel libertariandemocracytwo The biggest secret in venture capital is that the best investment in a successful fund equals or outperforms the entire rest of the fund combined. Peter Thiel venturesuccessfulsecret Most people are average. Founders are not. Founders' traits seem to have an inverse normal distribution to them. Peter Thiel normalaveragepeople
