What Comes Before Zero to One When Building Startups?

Everyone in StartupLand has heard the phrase “zero to one”. Most know Peter Thiel’s book, Zero to One, and consider it a must-read.

While reviewing candidates for two CEO roles we’re hiring at Highline Beta (to build new startups), I see a lot of “0 to 1 experience”.

I was pleasantly surprised at how high a bar people set for hitting 1. Some included actual customer numbers and revenue targets.

But there was a fair bit of uncertainty and variance around the starting point. “When you have an idea…” has some consensus; what you do after is less clear.

You can start building without writing code—crafting a clickable prototype or scoping features in a product requirements document (PRD) is building. You’ve kicked off the process of developing a solution. That means you have a solution in mind.

Many people argue against the term MVP, but I still like it. My definition is simple (I think): you have a product that creates value and you can prove it.

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