Zero-to-One: Post #7--Thiel's Tips

Thiel Tips.  Keep corporate boards small—no more than 5 unless you’re publically

traded; avoid part timers—either people are on or off the bus; CEOs of early stage startups should never make more than $150K to encourage innovation; equity can align people, but should align it to risk—the more risk and future orientation, the more equity.  However, even then be judicial about giving equity away—you want people fiercely loyal to your mission; define roles and keep it simple—maybe focus on only one critical role per person; incorporate distribution into design of a product or it will fail; complex, large scale sales don’t require salespeople but rather the CEO or senior exec; a product is viral when users invite their friends; paying people moderately ($20) to sign up and invite friends works; poor sales rather than bad product is the reason businesses fail; need to sell company to the press through media; computers won’t replace but will complement people—the future will be about how computers can help humans solve problems.