As part of this course, I’ll be reading and reflecting on books related to entrepreneurship and innovation. Rather than summarising them chapter by chapter, I want to use this blog to capture the ideas that stay with me — the ones that challenge how I think, or quietly shift the way I look at the work we’re doing in the course.
The first book I’ve finished is Zero to One by Peter Thiel. It’s actually the first book of its kind that I’ve read, and I didn’t expect it to resonate with me as much as it did.
At its core, the book is about the difference between going from zero to one versus going from one to many. Thiel argues that real innovation happens when something entirely new is created, not when existing ideas are simply improved or scaled. That immediately made me pause. How often do we call something innovative when it’s really just optimisation? And how comfortable are we, actually, with starting from nothing?
One idea that stood out to me is how strongly the book emphasises clarity of vision and long-term thinking. Thiel presents entrepreneurship as an intentional act driven by strong beliefs about the future rather than constant iteration alone. He also talks about the value of starting with a small, very clear market, fully owning it, and only then expanding. There’s something grounding in that approach. It removes some of the pressure to do everything at once.
At the same time, this way of thinking creates a bit of tension for me. Much of the work we do in design and innovation is rooted in uncertainty testing, learning, adjusting along the way. From a work-in-progress perspective, innovation seems to live somewhere between conviction and adaptability. Between knowing what you believe in, and being willing to let ideas change when reality pushes back.
Another part of the book that stayed with me is the idea that strong business ideas are often built on truths that very few people see, or don’t yet believe in. Thiel connects this to progress itself that it only happens when we dare to think differently. This is something I deeply relate to from my studies at the art academy, where we were constantly pushed to think outside the box. That’s where things started to feel alive. That’s where the magic happened.
Towards the end, Thiel talks about how people, teams, and culture matter more than almost anything else. I find myself fully agreeing with that. Having a shared vision one that’s clear and understood by everyone involved makes a real difference, regardless of the scale of what you’re building.
Sitting with the book as a whole, Zero to One feels like a useful starting point for this course. Not because it offers clear answers, but because it encourages me to question what kind of innovation I’m actually aiming for whether I’m trying to create something fundamentally new, or simply improve what already exists. And maybe just as importantly, why.