{"id":65671,"date":"2022-05-02T06:19:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T10:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=65671"},"modified":"2022-05-15T10:49:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T14:49:44","slug":"starting-a-tech-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/starting-a-tech-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting a Tech Company That Makes a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the key to tech startup success? What are the key elements a tech startup needs to make a difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter Thiel believes that startups are the way to the future. It&#8217;s these new companies that will unleash new technologies we need to progress as a society. In his book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zero-to-one\/\">Zero to One<\/a><\/em>, Thiel shares five elements that a startup business must have if it wants to make this kind of impact: revolutionary technology, strategic timing, a great team, effective distribution, and enduring value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading for Thiel&#8217;s insights on starting a tech company that makes a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-starting-a-tech-company\">Starting a Tech Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thiel stresses the importance of creating new technologies, both for businesses and for society as a whole. But how do you actually do that? According to Thiel, you do it by starting a tech company. He observes that startups originate most new technologies, while established companies focus primarily on horizontal progress and individuals seldom have the resources to develop new technologies on their own.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thiel goes on to offer his advice on how to start a profitable business, listing what he considers the elements of a strong startup venture. If any of these elements are weak, the startup is likely to fail. But if you\u2019ve got all of them in good order, you\u2019re on your way to building a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/qualities-of-a-good-business\/\">great business<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Why New Technology Comes From Startups<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-innovator-s-dilemma\"><em>The Innovator\u2019s Dilemma<\/em><\/a>, Clayton Christensen elaborates on Thiel\u2019s observation that established companies seldom create revolutionary technologies. According to Christensen, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-innovator-s-dilemma#why-disruptive-innovations-are-disruptive-to-established-companies\">revolutionary innovations typically start out in markets that are too small to interest established companies<\/a>, though they can grow exponentially from there.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Meanwhile, to elaborate on Thiel\u2019s point that individuals don\u2019t usually have the resources to develop revolutionary inventions, financial consultants estimate that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gobankingrates.com\/money\/business\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-invent-something\/\">it takes a minimum of about $25,000 to develop a new invention<\/a>. This estimate includes only $2,000 for engineering, implying that your invention only requires about half a -week of engineering labor. And it does not include any cost for setting up production. So this estimate would be realistic for a product like a simple phone app that a software engineer can create in a few hours and costs nothing to manufacture, but physical products and more advanced software products would cost considerably more, putting them out of reach for most individual innovators.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-revolutionary-technology\">1. Revolutionary Technology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>First and foremost, Thiel asks whether you have an idea for a revolutionary technology to build your startup around. In other words, what great opportunity have you identified that everyone else has overlooked? As Thiel explains, there are two elements to answering this question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, have you <em>really<\/em> identified a great opportunity? Thiel cautions that making an incremental improvement to an existing technology is generally not a great opportunity. Instead, you need a breakthrough that provides fundamentally new capabilities, or, at the very least, increases existing capabilities by a factor of 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, are you <em>the only one<\/em> to identify this opportunity? If other people have already identified the same opportunity, then it\u2019s probably not worth pursuing, because competition will consume your profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-shortform-commentary-identifying-revolutionary-technology\">Shortform Commentary: Identifying Revolutionary Technology<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Thiel says you need an idea for technology that can provide unique, revolutionary capabilities. In<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/blue-ocean-strategy\"> <em>Blue Ocean Strategy<\/em><\/a>, Kim and Mauborgne make a similar assertion and go on to describe analytical tools for assessing just how unique your idea is. One tool that helps you see at a glance just how unique your proposed product would be is their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/blue-ocean-strategy#how-to-visualize-blue-ocean-innovation\">strategy chart<\/a>. It consists of a two-dimensional line graph:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>On the horizontal axis, you list the characteristics or capabilities that your proposed product would provide.<\/li><li>The vertical axis represents how much of each characteristic your product provides.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To make your strategy chart, you plot the value of each characteristic on the graph as a point and connect the points to create a <em>strategy curve<\/em>, both for your proposed product and for the closest alternatives that customers currently have. A generic example might look something like this:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"610\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/f7cnRIvZ2WVtvIJ8XvvxrQZIMCrf_Tc-BeyVrAx-ou1HqRPuJBK2uez0GLupyR5MqWFiKDTB7Ix9q8kkKv13b7XrSU5rNYVRVOmfzUygTqsuBqNTNYDwVDkfrlVxwfo3T5OFSHw\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Kim and Mauborgne point out, if your product\u2019s path closely follows another product (like Product X and Product Y in our example graph) then your proposed product is not unique enough to create an uncontested market. They also advise that if your proposed product curve is very flat (like Product Z), your offering may not be focused enough: You\u2019re trying to be all things to all customers, and you\u2019ll end up being a poor alternative for all of them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In light of Thiel\u2019s discussion, your proposed product also needs to score at least 10X higher than any other product on at least one characteristic. This is visible on the vertical axis of the graph, so Kim and Mauborgne\u2019s strategy chart provides a way to visualize the uniqueness of your idea in terms of the value it provides to customers. This can help you determine if it is truly revolutionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-strategic-timing\">2. Strategic Timing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you\u2019re the first to invent a revolutionary technology, Thiel asks you to consider whether it\u2019s the right time to produce and market it. To illustrate his point, he contrasts the microprocessor market of the 1970s with the solar energy market of the early 2000s. Beginning in the 1970s, the capabilities of microprocessors increased exponentially, as did the market for them. The time for microprocessors to disrupt the market had come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, in the early 2000s, there was a surge of interest in solar energy, but the capabilities of solar cells improved only slightly during this time. Eventually, the investment bubble burst and many solar companies failed. It was not the time for solar to disrupt the global energy market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Timing and Technology<\/strong><br><br>Is timing really separable from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/technological-maturity\/\">technological maturity<\/a>?&nbsp;<br><br>Thiel presents the solar energy bubble of the early 2000s as an example of failed timing, but it seems like the only reason that it wasn\u2019t the right time for solar was that the technology wasn\u2019t ready or wasn\u2019t advancing quickly enough. Hypothetically, if a solar energy company had been able to double the efficiency of their solar panels each year from 2006 to 2010, they would have been able to take advantage of all the loans, grants, and investment capital available at the time to expand their production capabilities, and they would probably have done very well. As such, Thiel\u2019s example seems to blur the distinction between timing and technological maturity.<br><br>Nevertheless, timing <em>can<\/em> affect the success of your startup even if your core technology is solid. For example, as Thiel points out, both the technology and the timing were right for the microprocessor industry in the 1970s. But imagine what would have happened if Benjamin Franklin had invented a microprocessor in the 1770s. Even if it was a good processor, it would have gone nowhere at that time: The production costs would have been astronomical, because silicon processing infrastructure didn\u2019t exist\u2014he would have had to pay individual artisans to produce pure silicon in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/small-batches-in-management\/\">small batches<\/a>, and other artisans to make chips from the silicon, a few at a time. And marketing would have been extremely difficult, because nobody was interested in microprocessors at the time\u2014society hadn\u2019t yet realized the usefulness of <em>electricity<\/em>, let alone electronic <em>computers<\/em>.<br><br>Thus, timing is related to technological maturity, but in a broader sense. Your product <em>needs<\/em> to be revolutionary in its time (solar cells weren\u2019t revolutionary in 2000), but not <em>too far <\/em>ahead of its time to be practical and attract interest (like a microprocessor in the 1700s).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-a-great-team\"><strong>3. A Great Team<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When you\u2019re starting a company, Thiel says your team should be unified by your company\u2019s unique mission. He also says it\u2019s important to choose leaders who know each other well enough to be sure that both their technical skills and their personalities are complementary. A great combination of technical skills on your team won\u2019t get you anywhere if the team members can\u2019t get along. Thiel emphasizes that you also need a structure and clearly defined roles so everyone is aligned to move the organization forward. He explains that to establish this structure, you must make three decisions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Equity: <\/strong>Who will legally own the company? It\u2019s not unusual for founders, investors, and employees all to have a share of ownership in a startup.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Direction: <\/strong>Who will make the high-level decisions about what the company will do? In many startups, a board of directors consisting of the founders and investors fulfills this function.<\/li><li><strong>Operation:<\/strong> Who will figure out <em>how<\/em> to accomplish the company\u2019s high-level objectives and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/accepting-responsibility\/\">take responsibility<\/a> for getting the work done? Sometimes a founder assumes this responsibility, sometimes the company hires a chief executive officer (CEO) to do it, and sometimes this function is distributed among employees.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, as you hire additional employees, Thiel emphasizes the importance of articulating your company\u2019s mission to them. He advises hiring people who find your company\u2019s unique mission compelling and want to work with the kind of people who are already on your team\u2014not people who are just looking for money or special perks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In particular, Thiel cautions you not to overpay your CEO. In his view, paychecks motivate people only in the short term because pay is derived from the <em>present<\/em> value of the company, not its <em>future<\/em> value. This can be especially problematic at the executive level since it\u2019s crucial to have a CEO with a vision for building the company\u2019s future. Paying your CEO too much can undermine her motivation to do whatever it takes to reach the company\u2019s long-term goals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the CEO pay sets the standard for the rest of the company: If she draws a fat paycheck, her subordinates will expect proportionally high compensation. If she covers up problems to make the current situation look better and thereby protect her short-term interests, her subordinates will do likewise. But if she addresses problems head-on and works for the company\u2019s growth in hopes of <em>future<\/em> rewards, this may inspire her subordinates to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Hiring a Great Team<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things\"><em>The Hard Thing About Hard Things<\/em><\/a>, Ben Horowitz offers advice on hiring employees that both corroborates Thiel\u2019s perspective and provides additional insight.<br><br>Like Thiel, Horowicz emphasizes that your company\u2019s unique mission should serve to unify and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/simon-sinek-motivation\/\">motivate your team<\/a>. He prefers to call this mission your \u201cvision,\u201d and describes it as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things#know-what-to-do\">the story of what your company is capable of doing<\/a>, why it matters, both to you and to the world, and how it sets you apart from every other company out there.&nbsp;<br><br>When it comes to hiring employees, Horowitz echoes Thiel\u2019s admonition to find people who see the success of the company as their route to personal success, not people whose personal ambitions run contrary to the company\u2019s best interests. Additionally, he explains the importance of hiring for the particular strengths that will allow the new hire to excel in her role, rather than weeding out all the candidates who have weaknesses of any kind and hiring whoever is left.&nbsp;<br><br>Of course, to do this you need to understand each role that you\u2019re hiring for. This, in turn, requires clearly-defined roles and responsibilities, reinforcing Thiel\u2019s point that everyone on the team should have a unique role.&nbsp;<br><br>When it comes to dividing up equity, high-level direction, and day-to-day operation of the company, Horowicz argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things\/chapters-1-3#early-life-to-college\">it\u2019s crucial for the founders to take an active role in directing and operating the company<\/a>. In his experience, the founders are the ones who really understand the company\u2019s unique mission. They are the ones who can best articulate the mission to new hires and best translate it into tangible actions for people to work on. Without them, a startup will stumble off track.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-effective-distribution\">4. Effective Distribution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Thiel asserts that <strong>planning how to <\/strong><strong><em>distribute <\/em><\/strong><strong>your product is an integral part of <\/strong><strong><em>designing <\/em><\/strong><strong>your product<\/strong>. He explains that there are two considerations for planning your sales strategy:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Customer lifetime value<\/strong> or CLV is the profit you earn over the course of your relationship with a customer. For example, if you sell automobiles at a profit of about $5,000 per car, and your average customer buys a new car once every 10 years for about 40 years, then your CLV is $20,000. Or, if you sell vitamins that a customer would take every day at a profit of $0.05 per tablet, and the average customer takes your vitamins for forty years, then your CLV is $730.<\/li><li>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/easy-guide-to-ltv-and-cac-startups\/\">customer acquisition cost<\/a><\/strong> or CAC is the amount you spend to acquire a customer. For example, if you spend $1 million on marketing, and you get 5,000 new customers, your CAC is $200 per customer.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The terms CLV (customer lifetime value) and CAC (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/customer-acquisition-plan\/\">customer acquisition<\/a> cost) appear to have been coined by Robert Shaw and Merlin Stone in their 1988 book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/056602733X\"><em>Database Marketing<\/em><\/a>. CLV is also abbreviated LCV (lifetime customer value) or LTV (lifetime value) instead of CLV by other sources.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thiel explains that your CLV determines what types of marketing you can consider because your CLV needs to be greater than your customer acquisition cost for you to make a profit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Other sources amplify this assertion, saying that for a product or service to be viable, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monash.edu\/business\/marketing\/marketing-dictionary\/c\/customer-acquisition-cost-cac\">CAC should not exceed 30% of the CLV<\/a>.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thiel discusses four types of marketing with different customer acquisition costs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/viral-marketing-strategy-zero-to-one\/\">Viral marketing<\/a> is the least expensive<\/strong> type of marketing. It involves inviting just a few people to try out your product, typically via email or social media, and then relying on these first customers to spread the word. It is ideal for low-cost (or free) products that have a low CLV because it costs almost nothing and enables your customer base to grow exponentially.<\/li><li><strong>Mass advertising (such as television ads)<\/strong> <strong>can be expensive but has a low customer acquisition cost <\/strong>because it allows you to reach many potential customers at once. This makes it the method of choice for most consumer products.<\/li><li><strong>Direct sales<\/strong> <strong>are more expensive because your sales reps have to meet each customer personally.<\/strong> But for individual sales ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 in value, this personal attention is justifiable and may be necessary to build your customers\u2019 confidence by showing them how your product can solve their particular problems.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/complex-sales-zero-to-one\/\">Complex sales<\/a> are the most expensive<\/strong> because they require the personal involvement of your CEO to coordinate with multiple stakeholders on high-value sales (typically over $1 million) that your customer may perceive as high-risk.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>A Second Opinion on Distribution Channels<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/crossing-the-chasm\"><em>Crossing the Chasm<\/em><\/a>, business and marketing consultant Geoffrey Moore discusses marketing and distribution channels for startup companies much like Thiel does.&nbsp;<br><br>Thiel presents viral marketing as the cheapest marketing channel, suitable for products with low CLV. Conversely, Moore doesn\u2019t treat viral marketing as a separate marketing channel. Instead, he argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/crossing-the-chasm\/part-2-chapter-3#strategy-for-crossing-the-chasm\">word-of-mouth (which is the basis of viral marketing) is <em>always<\/em> crucial for sales success<\/a>, and the purpose of your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-create-a-successful-marketing-campaign\/\">marketing campaign<\/a> is just to get word-of-mouth circulating.<br><br>If you need to keep the CAC to a minimum, Moore recommends distributing your product via web-based self-service and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/crossing-the-chasm\/chapter-7#end-users\">using targeted advertising<\/a> to get the word out about your product. He points out that digital advertisements targeted at the people whose interests and demographics are the best match for your product provide a much lower CAC than un-targeted mass advertising.&nbsp;<br><br>Unlike Thiel, Moore doesn\u2019t recommend using mass advertising, at least not for startups. A key part of his strategy is targeting a specific niche market that\u2019s small enough for your startup to dominate. Mass advertising puts your product in front of a broad audience, but if your product is designed specifically for a small group of target customers, this is counterproductive.<br><br>Moore\u2019s advice on direct and complex sales is similar to Thiel\u2019s but with a few additional nuances. Most notably, he describes a special type of complex sale in which a company is looking at using your product as a component in their product. For example, maybe you invent a better type of transmission and an automaker is interested in using it in their vehicles.&nbsp;<br><br>In this case, the first people you need to win over to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-a-sale-2\/\">make the sale<\/a> are the customer\u2019s engineers, so you should post technical information about your product online, where engineers can find it\u2014and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/crossing-the-chasm\/chapter-7#engineers\">stick to hard facts because engineers don\u2019t respond well to promotional marketing<\/a>. Offer to provide demonstrations or additional information so you can make contact with their engineers. Once you\u2019ve convinced the engineers that your product is a good fit for their technical objectives, they can put your salespeople in touch with the executives who have actual purchasing authority.<br><br>Moore also describes a few channels that Thiel doesn\u2019t mention, including value-added resellers (VARs) and \u201cSales 2.0\u201d. He says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/crossing-the-chasm\/chapter-7#small-business-owner-operators\">VARs are particularly useful for marketing hi-tech products to people who aren\u2019t particularly tech-savvy<\/a>, because the VAR provides local, personal training and support.&nbsp;<br><br>Sales 2.0 represents an intermediate step between direct sales and online self-service: You have a website that provides general information up front, but when the user expresses interest by clicking on a link, the website connects her with a live sales representative. This hybrid system can be ideal for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/crossing-the-chasm\/chapter-7#department-managers\">situations where the CLV is in between<\/a> the level where you would use a direct <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-model\/\">sales model<\/a> and the level where you would turn to mass marketing.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-enduring-value\">5. Enduring Value<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Your goal is to build a monopoly that will generate long-term profits by introducing a revolutionary product that no one else can match. Thiel observes that to do this, <strong>you need to be the first to introduce your product<\/strong>. That said, he also cautions that moving first is just a means to an end, not an end in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Can You Forecast Enduring Value?<\/strong><br><br>To assess whether your product has the potential to dominate the market 10 or 20 years down the road, you need to make predictions about the future. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/superforecasting\"><em>Superforecasting<\/em><\/a>, Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner discuss the art and science of making predictions, focusing on the traits of \u201csuperforecasters,\u201d people whose predictions are correct more often than random guesses.&nbsp;<br><br>Superforecasters tend to consider everything from a variety of perspectives and are careful to avoid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/cognitive-bias-definition\/\">cognitive bias<\/a>. They also tend to think about everything in terms of probabilities rather than absolutes, and they place more weight on aggregate statistics than on the details of any particular case. But most of all, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/superforecasting#superforecasters\">superforecasters avoid making predictions more than one year in advance<\/a> because studies show that even the best forecasters can\u2019t accurately predict the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-state-of-the-world-today\/\">state of the world<\/a> several years from now.<br><br>The one-year horizon implies that making accurate, detailed predictions about the market for your product 10 or 20 years in the future is probably not possible. Ultimately, you\u2019ll discover whether or not your product has enduring value over time, but you can\u2019t predict it up front. That said, it\u2019s still prudent to avoid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/common-biases\/\">common biases<\/a> and analyze your product\u2019s market from as many perspectives as possible. In the end, your prediction may just be a guess, but at least it will be an educated guess.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the key to tech startup success? What are the key elements a tech startup needs to make a difference? Peter Thiel believes that startups are the way to the future. It&#8217;s these new companies that will unleash new technologies we need to progress as a society. In his book Zero to One, Thiel shares five elements that a startup business must have if it wants to make this kind of impact: revolutionary technology, strategic timing, a great team, effective distribution, and enduring value. Continue reading for Thiel&#8217;s insights on starting a tech company that makes a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":65676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,79,14],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-65671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneurship","category-management","tag-zero-to-one","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Starting a Tech Company That Makes a Difference - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Peter Thiel believes startups are the way to the future. 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