New Book: Zero to One by Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is one of the rare entrepreneur-scholars of our time. In the months of September and October, the Fearless Journeys book club is turning our attention to his seminal work, Zero to One.
In the months of September and October, the Fearless Journeys book club is turning our attention to Peter Thiel’s seminal work, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. If you do not yet have the book, you can order it here on Amazon. It comes in all formats: hard cover, paperback, Audible, and Kindle.
It’s a relatively short book with short chapters that are very informative, practical, and yet highly philosophical.
Peter Thiel is one of the rare entrepreneur-scholars of our time. A billionaire who was part of the “Pay Pal mafia” and the first outside investor in Facebook, he not only dedicates his time to building businesses and changing the world through technology, but he also is a serious intellectual who regularly teaches courses at Stanford University, where he once matriculated.
In fact, the entire book, Zero to One, was born out of his Stanford class after one of his then-students, Blake Masters, took diligent and detailed notes from class and spread them around the internet. Peter worked with Blake to take those class notes and put them together into a book.
Peter runs in very high intellectual circles and brings prominent people together behind closed doors. Though he would not remember me, I’ve even met him on a couple of occasions, as far back as 2009, and have had the privilege to hear him speak at a few private gatherings.
On October 28th, the Economic Club of Miami, where I serve as Executive Director, will be hosting Peter for a fireside chat with Bambi Francisco of Vator on the topic of Culture, Religion, and Technology. Given Peter’s intellectual interests, he and his team also encouraged us to host panels earlier in the day focused on national security & technology, and the future of education. Among other panelists, we will have with us the commissioners of education for Florida and Oklahoma.
This event in Downtown Miami is only open to members and sponsors of the club, as well as some of our general partners. Learn more here.
If you are interested in joining us on October 28th, please drop me a line and we can help you make arrangements.
In the meantime, I am grateful you have chosen to join our reading — together — of Peter Thiel’s book, Zero to One. Each week, you’ll get a short email like this summarizing the main points of that week’s readings.
Below is a suggested reading schedule to stay on pace with us. You’ll want to complete the chapters listed by the corresponding dates here:
By September 6: Read the Preface and Chapters 1 & 2
By September 13: Read Chapters 3, 4, and 5
By September 20: Read Chapters 6 & 7
By September 27: Read Chapters 8 & 9
By October 4: Read Chapters 10-11
By October 11: Read Chapters 12-13
By October 18: Read Chapter 14 & Conclusion
When we finish the book together, we’ll send you an invitation to come together in a live online Zoom call with Michael Gibson, co-founder & general partner of the 1517 Fund. Michael was the VP for Grants at the Thiel Foundation and oversaw the Thiel Fellowship for the first five years of its existence (2012-2017) He was working alongside Peter Thiel when Zero to One was published in 2014.
I first got to know Michael when he was a guest on my Agents of Innovation podcast in 2018. You can listen to that episode here. He is also featured in my book, The American Dream is a Terrible Thing to Waste. In early 2023, Michael joined me on stage for a discussion on entrepreneurship & innovation at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, where I was teaching a course on the subject. I’m also grateful to have attended one of this 1517 Fund summits last year, where I had the opportunity to interact more with him and his team, as well as all the great young innovators they are investing in and bringing together.
It is going to be a real privilege to have Michael lead our discussion over Zoom on Thursday, October 24th at 1:00 PM ET. Please mark your calendar and register here now to hold the date.
In the meantime, get reading! It’s time to take this venture from Zero to One. For us this week it means reading the preface along with Chapter One and Two. You will receive the first summary on these readings in your inbox next Friday morning.