I recently read Peter Thiel’s book Zero To One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. Great book for entrepreneurs. There are many reviews of the book, so I won’t bore you with another one here. It’s the questions he asks that I find intriguing, and something that’s super useful to ask them, every week, every year.
Every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.
I love the metaphor that a business is a conspiracy to change the world – the slightly activist bent to it fires me within. I believe startups can make profit and still do public good. It embodies the ethics and values of what meaningful work means to me. And it’s exactly how I feel about how working with a startup team of talented people I respect, by way of sharing a secret with them when asked these questions:
What important truth do very few people agree with you on? What valuable company is nobody building?
I’m keeping these questions in mind, as I try to find my fellow conspirators who would answer them the same way as I do.