Superior sales and distribution by itself can create a monopoly, even with no product differentiation.

WHENEVER I INTERVIEW someone for a job, I like to ask this question: “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”

Non-monopolists exaggerate their distinction by defining their market as the intersection of various smaller markets:

“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”

Positively defined, a startup is the largest group of people you can convince of a plan to build a different future.

My own answer to the contrarian question is that most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization, but the truth is that technology matters more.

In the real world outside economic theory, every business is successful exactly to the extent that it does something others cannot. Monopoly is therefore not a pathology or an exception. Monopoly is the condition of every successful business.

The perfect target market for a startup is a small group of particular people concentrated together and served by few or no competitors.

1. The Engineering Question Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements? 2. The Timing Question Is now the right time to start your particular business? 3. The Monopoly Question Are you starting with a big share of a small market? 4. The People Question Do you have the right team? 5. The Distribution Question Do you have