Peter Thiel's Fundraising Lessons from Zero to One

Peter Thiel is a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, and the first outside investor in Facebook. Through Founders Fund and other ventures, he’s backed dozens of high-growth startups. Here are five of the most important lessons on fundraising and pitching from his novel, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future: - Start with the Strength of Your Founding Team: “The single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places, and they do this by thinking about business from first principles instead of formulas.” - Understand the Hidden Influence in Persuasion: “You may think that you’re an exception; that your preferences are authentic, and advertising only works on other people. It’s easy to resist the most obvious sales pitches, so we entertain a false confidence in our own independence of mind.” - Aim to Dominate a Niche First: “The perfect target market for a startup is a small group of particular people concentrated together and served by few or no competitors. Any big market is a bad choice, and a big market already served by competing companies is even worse.” - Create Your Own Path: “You can’t escape the madness of crowds by dogmatically rejecting them. Instead ask yourself: how much of what you know about business is shaped by mistaken reactions to past mistakes? The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” - Show a plan that lasts: “A great business is defined by its ability to generate cash flows in the future.”