There are only two kinds of businesses in this world: Businesses in crazy competition, and businesses that are one of a kind.

Every business is successful exactly to the extent that it does something others cannot.

Now it’s either about technology that doesn’t work or about technology that’s used in bad ways. The anthology of the top twenty-five sci-fi stories in 1970 was, like, ‘Me and my friend the robot went for a walk on the moon,’ and in 2008 it was, like, ‘The galaxy is run by a fundamentalist Islamic confederacy, and there are people who are hunting planets and killing them for fun.’

The developing world can just do things that are extensive or horizontal, that basically copy. The developed world needs to do things that are intensive or vertical, where we take our civilization to the next level.

If you focus on near-term growth above all else, you miss the most important question you should be asking: will this business still be around a decade from now?

Probably the most extreme form of inequality is between people who are alive and people who are dead.

Everybody has a product to sell—no matter whether you’re an employee, a founder, or an investor. It’s true even if your company consists of just you and your computer. Look around. If you don’t see any salespeople, you’re the salesperson.