The following is a summary of Zero to One: Notes on Startups or How to Build the Future. I do not claim to own any of the book's original work, the following is simply a bulleted summarization with a few direct quotes. All copyrights and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Chapter 13 - Seeing Green:

• At the start of the 21st century everyone agreed clean tech. was the next big thing
  • Clean tech. failed creating a bubble
    • 40 manufacturers filed for bankruptcy in 2012
  • Most failed because they didn’t answer the following vital questions in business:

1. The Engineering Questions:
   1. Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements?
      1. Need 10x improvement on current technology
         1. Anything else will just be incremental and you will not capture a large enough market share
2. The Timing Question:
   1. Is now the right time to start your particular business?
3. The Monopoly Question:
   1. Are you starting with a big share of a small market?
      1. Customers do not care about a product unless it can solve a product in a better way
      2. You can’t dominate a market if its fictional
4. The People Question:
   1. Do you have the right team?
5. The Distribution Question:
   1. Do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product?
      1. Distribution is as important as the product
6. The Durability Question:
   1. Will your market position be defensible 10 and 20 years into the future?
      1. Plan to be the last mover in your market
7. The Secret Question:
   1. Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?

• A great business plan must address everyone of these 7 questions
• Thiel uses this chapter to slam clean tech. and praise Tesla, using both as examples

  If you've liked this summary, I highly recommend you get the full book here: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future < Previous Chapter | Overview | Next Chapter > - Alec Kriebel