A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Peter Thiel

1. “Great companies do three things. First, they create value. Second, they are lasting or permanent in a meaningful way. Finally, they capture at least some of the value they create.”   “More important than being the first mover is the last mover. You have to be durable.”  “The most critical thing for every startup is to be doing one thing uniquely well, better than anybody else in the world.” This set of statements in my view is about what Michael Porter calls “sustainable competitive advantage” (AKA, moats). Yes, you must create new value to be a great company. But unless you capture some of that value as producer surplus in a sustainable way, the only beneficiary is the customer. One of the best explanations of this value capture point is in Charlie Munger’s fantastic Worldly Wisdom essay:  “there are all kinds of wonderful new inventions that…