Zero to One What can you create from nothing?

I wanted a flying car, but all I got was 140 characters. "If we're serious about long-term human development, we have to think beyond 140 characters or 15 minutes of eternity. "ZERO to ONE" is a book that uses Silicon Valley as a textbook to help us overcome challenges and build great things never before seen." by Peter Thiel

For example, while Japan is experiencing what's known as its "lost 20 years," it's the United States, particularly Silicon Valley on the West Coast, that's driving global innovation. While names like Apple and Facebook immediately come to mind, it's also a world where countless startups are formed and then disappear. Amid this, there's a group of entrepreneurs who are launching one successful company after another. Known as the "PayPal Mafia" for their deep ties as early members of the online payment service PayPal and their immense influence in Silicon Valley, these individuals have launched a number of notable companies, from the well-known YouTube to electric car maker Tesla Motors, private space development company SpaceX, and internet services like Yelp! and Yammer.

This book is the long-awaited transcript of a lecture on entrepreneurship given by Peter Thiel, the PayPal Mafia leader, at his alma mater, Stanford University.

■Simultaneous release in Japan and the US■ Peter Thiel with Blake Masters (author)

Translated by Miwa Seki

Recommended for the Japanese translation of "I Want to Hand You Weapons," winner of the Business Book Award.

It's easier to copy what already exists than to create something new.

Repeating familiar methods increases the familiar—one becomes n.

But every time we create something new, zero becomes one. Humans don't choose what to create from a thick catalogue given to them by heaven. Rather, we reshape the world by creating new technologies. This is something we learn in kindergarten, but it's been completely forgotten in a world where we just copy past achievements. This book is about how to start a company that creates something new.