9. Are you motivated by competition?

Thiel argues capitalism and competition are opposites. 

Capitalism is premised on the accumulation of capital, but under perfect competition all profits get competed away. 

Because creating value is not enough, you also need to capture some of the val...

Competition narrows your focus on beating the other companies. While this makes you good at that which you are competing on, it doesn't guarantee success.

You risk losing sight of the big picture and of what is important for future growth, if you keep relat...

The importance of moving away from the idea of healthy competition is that competition means there will be no capital left for you. The rest of the capital ‘pie’ will be eaten by your competitors. Therefore, Peter emphasizes the importance of building a monopoly.