Lecture 5 - Competition is for Losers (Peter Thiel)

Still as fresh and valuable today. Who else is watching this in 2024, I hope people still appreciate this lecture series and are equally amazed to see how these great insight from big entrepreneurs is available to everyone for free.

the summary of zero to one book, really worth watching especially if you didn't read the book.

Sam Altman cameo for the intro.

If you haven't read Zero to One, then get the book. It's a deep elaboration on this lecture. It's discussion of the success of 1950s America (from an innovation standpoint) is fascinating.

This one is a gem of a lecture. Needed to watch it twice, to take home 10% of the lecture with the speed at which Peter thinks and speaks!

A lecture worth a million dollars

Incredible talk, very honest, critic, and complete in his perceptions.

The scientists' work is their reward Mr. Thiel. For a man of your intelligence, it's amazing how dense you are to the possibility that value can be measured in units other than currency!

I re-visit this lecture over and over again as I'm building my startup. So much gold each time. One of the best vids on the internet for startup success 💯💰

Zero to one in 50 minutes :)

00:21 single idee fixe, monopoly, wants always avoid competition 00:55 capturing value, simple formula, A business creates X dollars of value and captures Y % 03:44 perfect competition, econ 1, profit margin, revenue, market capitalization 04:35 monopoly 05:37 lies 07:02 narratives 07:57 restaurants 09:30 intersection 10:15 the opposite lie 11:30 technology company, global consumer technology 12:40 narrow market, cash 13:37 how to build monopoly, small market 15:34 PayPal, eBay 17:01 cleantech, massive market 18:41 characteristics of monopoly, 10 times better, in some order of magnitude 24:00 growth, durability 28:05 history of innovation 37:03 psychology of the competition, losers 42:26 questions, what's the narrative of the market

Can’t believe this lecture was 9 years ago. Still relevant today. Btw, the first dude is Sam Altman of OpenAI.

Peter: "Scientist believe we live in a just world in which they will be rewarded for their inventions by society....this is probably the fundamental delusion of scientists in our society" Crowd: laughter Peter: dead fucking serious

Thank you Peter, thank you Y combinator for making this happen.

Another great lecture, I'm loving this series on a Friday afternoon

This is the most powerful lecture of the series.

Very clear explanation. Totally agree. World rishest people think in the same way. They build o buy monopolies and then they fill they pockets. The only way to get ahead in business is to be different. People will tell you are crazy to do different things, you will be crazy but but you willl not be stupid.

Thank you very much for this nice conversation, Peter.

Funny that this presentation has started in a "small market" (Stanford students) and led to a bigger market (Zero to One-Buyers) - nice Peter ;)

Incredible and insightful lecture. Well delivered.