What’s your secret?

In his book Zero To One, Peter Thiel asks the question “What one thing do you know that no one else in the world knows?  What’s your secret?”

The answer to that question is the secret to starting a successful company.

What Thiel is suggesting is there are things in this world you observe, intuitively know and understand more than anyone else.  By peeling apart those layers and understanding where there could be value creation you will find the golden nugget.  Then it’s as simple as creating a new company, building the product and releasing it to the world.

What he is also illustrating here is that success comes from ingenuity and uniqueness, not copying others.  The world doesn’t need another anonymous messaging app or social network.

It needs your secret.

Do you realize there are things only you know about the world?  Most likely there things you continually notice about your everyday life, the city you live in or the technology you use that keep bugging you.  There are problems you continually encounter where you might be wishing someone fixes them.  Do you maybe see a better way to do them?  Do you keep getting frustrated at the same places and times each day?  There might be something you can do about it…

Once we come to grips with the magnitude of this reality starting a company becomes a lot different.  You now realize each and every one of us have the ability to create successful companies.  All it takes is a little focus and observation of the world around you, and then having the fortitude to create a scalable solution.

Today, think about what might not ever be created if you don’t build it?