The core idea of this book is as follows.
1, the anti-mainstream thought is not to resist the trend, but not to abandon one's independent thinking in the trend;
2. Competition can't bring value promotion, but it is full of destructive power (involution);
3. Monopoly enterprises can not only benefit the public, but also bring long-term profits to creators;
4. Today's world environment is "uncertain but still optimistic about the future", and we should become "optimistic about the future";
The world we live in is not a normal world, but under the power law.
6. Any product needs to be sold.
People like peter teale, like Jobs, are still alive when they are dead. Why did they meet in a hurry when they were alive? Xu Xiaoping.
"We wanted a flying car, but we got 140 characters." (We wanted to fly a car, but now we get 140 characters (new media such as Twitter are limited to 140 characters))
Whatever you have, you should give it to him to satisfy him. Without it, even what he has will be taken away from him-Matthew
Venture capitalists have two very strange rules:
1. Only invest in potential companies whose profits can reach the total value of the whole investment fund.
Because the first rule is too strict, there is no need for other rules.
Everyone has something to sell-whether employees, founders or investors. This is true even if your company is composed of you and a computer. Look around. If you don't see a salesman, then you are.
Salespeople are all actors: their first task is persuasion, not sincerity.
All strugglers are more or less similar. Because there is nothing to argue about, it is not clear why they are fighting-Shakespeare.
In a world where everyone is confused about the future, companies with clear goals are always underestimated.
Question the existing ideas and re-examine the business you are engaged in from scratch.
0- 1 and 1-n enterprise comparison table
Three levels of enterprise management
The first layer: enterprises only manufacture products that meet the market demand. As long as there is a prototype, the industrial assembly line can make a large number of products copied and produced.
The second layer: enterprises have created good organizational genes, so they can keep pace with the times and realize vertical inheritance. The best product of an enterprise is the enterprise itself.
The third layer: enterprises have created social genes or ideological genes, which have crossed the boundaries of enterprises, affected the whole industry and even society, and achieved horizontal inheritance.
Two forms of progress
Grade progress: extensive progress, copying the experience of existing achievements, from 1 to n.
Vertical progress: make further progress and explore new paths, from 0 to 1.
Anti-mainstream thought
Anti-mainstream is not to resist the trend, but to have the ability to think independently in the trend.
For example, a bold attempt is better than mediocrity and conservatism, and a bad plan is better than no plan. It is difficult to make money in a highly competitive market, and marketing is as important as products.
Monopoly (solving a unique problem and providing products that other enterprises can't provide)
Advantages:
1, without competition, you can decide the supply and price by yourself to maximize the benefits.
2. To promote social progress, monopoly profit is a powerful driving force for innovation. They create more innovative products and give consumers more choices, which is the driving force for making society better.
Monopoly lie: Cover up their monopoly by describing their market as a combination of several big markets.
The lie of non-monopolists: exaggerating their uniqueness by defining their market as the intersection of smaller markets.
There are different reasons for the success of enterprises: the monopolist obtains monopoly position by solving a unique problem; The reason why enterprises fail is mostly the same: they can't escape the competition.
Competition (can't bring value promotion, but full of destructive power)
Competition is an idea-this idea spreads in the whole society and distorts our thinking. We promote competition, internalize the necessity of competition and promulgate the rules of competition; As a result, the competition is more and more fierce, and what we get is actually less and less. We got into trouble in the competition.
Disadvantages of competition
This is a high-cost business.
It makes people hallucinate and seize some nonexistent "opportunities" in vain.
It distracts people and enterprises and consumes too much energy.
It will make people fall into it and lose their ultimate goal.
The premise of monopoly establishment
Avoid competition
Create high value: the value of an enterprise today is the sum of future profits.
Sustainability of value: thinking about the sustainability of the value created by the company.
Characteristics of monopoly enterprises
Patented technology: Patented technology must be 65,438+00 times better than its nearest substitute in some aspects in order to have a real monopoly.
Network utility: The more people use it, the more valuable it is.
Economies of scale: After reaching the existing scale, the marginal cost of developing new products approaches zero.
Brand advantage: first build strength, then build brand.
Method of establishing monopoly
Occupy small market: start-ups must start from small market, rather small than big, and occupy a dominant position in the segmentation field.
Expand the scale: after leading a niche market, it is necessary to gradually enter a slightly larger related market.
Destructive innovation: introduce a product at a low price with science and technology, and gradually improve the product to replace the products produced by existing companies with old technology. If you are going to expand the neighboring market, don't make destructive innovations and try to avoid competition. )
Four attitudes towards the future
Ambiguous pessimism about the future: the requirements for the future are not high, and it is easy to be satisfied.
Get rid of pessimism about the future: you can copy what you already have.
Be definitely optimistic about the future: you can create the future you want.
Optimism about the uncertainty of the future: the status quo of most enterprises today
The role of long-term planning
? The power of planning explains the difficulty in evaluating the value of private enterprises. When a big company buys a successful startup, his bid is either too high or too low:
The founder of a start-up company will sell the company only if there is no clear plan for the company, and then the acquirer may pay a high price;
A founder with a clear plan for the future will not sell the company, indicating that the buyer's bid is not high enough.
Resist probabilistic domination
? Entrepreneurship is an opportunity for you to do your best. You have not only the right of agency in your own life, but also the right of agency in an important corner of the world. And all this starts with resisting unfair probability domination, because you are not a lottery whose fate is determined by probability.
Power Law (28th Law)
The world we live in is not a normal world, but under the power law.
Power law of venture capital: the best investment return of a successful fund is equal to or greater than the sum of all other investment objects.
One market may be better than all other markets.
One distribution strategy is usually superior to all other strategies.
The way to ensure future value-don't put all your eggs in one basket.
People who know power law will be more hesitant than others when starting a company-if you start your own business and own 100% of the shares, once the company goes bankrupt, you will have nothing; On the contrary, if you only own 0.0 1% of Google, you will find it incredible in the end.
Think carefully where each step will take you to the 28-rule.
Four social trends rationally disintegrate people's belief in the existence of secrets.
Progressivism: We have been taught since childhood that the correct way to do things is "one step at a time, a thousand miles a day"
Risk aversion: People are afraid of secrets because they are afraid of making mistakes.
Complacency: Why explore secrets when you can enjoy the fruits comfortably?
Flattening: With the advancement of globalization, people think that the world is a homogeneous and fiercely competitive market.
Believe in secrets
If you think difficult things can't be done, you won't try. Believing in secrets is the key to effective exploration.
Successful enterprises are built on open but unknown secrets, which are related to how the world works.
Thiel's law (every great enterprise is unique, and to do every business well, some things must be done well at the initial stage)
At the beginning, choosing a partner depends on the relationship, whether the cooperation is tacit, and whether there is a deep friendship.
Board of directors, as few people as possible. A three-person board of directors is ideal. Unless it has been listed, it is best not to have more than five directors.
The low-paid CEO is committed to creating more value for the company.
High cash compensation will make employees take away the existing value of the company instead of investing time to create new value for the future.
Although stock is not the best way to motivate employees, it is the best way for founders to keep the company united.
Stock returns are different-different people have different talents and responsibilities, and the opportunity cost is different;
As long as the company innovates, entrepreneurship is not over. Once innovation stops, entrepreneurship is over.
The relationship between computer and human beings
There are essential differences between what humans and machines are good at:
Human beings are conscious and good at making plans and decisions in complex situations, but they are not good at sorting out a lot of data.
Computers, on the other hand, are good at efficient data processing, but they cannot make basic judgments that humans can easily make.
Questions that every enterprise must answer.
Engineering question: Is your technology a breakthrough or just a slight improvement?
Timing: Is it a good time to start a business?
Monopoly: Was it originally to seize a large share in a small market?
Personnel question: Do you have the right team?
Sales question: Besides creating products, do you have any other methods to sell products?
Persistent question: Can you keep your market position in the next 10 and 20 years?
Secret question: have you found a unique opportunity that others have not found? ?
? I have read this book about three or four times. The logical line of the whole book is not strong, and there is no breakthrough idea. However, after reading it, I have some understanding of today's business environment, and my notes are incomplete. In the following chapters, the author studied enterprise management, founder personality and green energy market, but overall it was not as valuable as described above, so I didn't make too many excerpts.