Video · 14 min

Startups, Entrepreneurship and Unfair Advantages (TEDxSOAS)

Hasan Kubba · TED Free Beginner

A short, well told talk arguing success is never pure meritocracy, and showing how to find and ethically use the edges you have. A fast way to grasp the unfair advantage idea before deciding whether to read the book. Good for founders early in framing their own story.

  • Pure meritocracy is a myth, edges are always present
  • You can find and build unfair advantages deliberately
  • Under fifteen minutes to get the core idea

The question it answers

  1. How much does 'why you?' actually matter to investors and to success?

Read with it

  1. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  2. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
  3. Video · ~25 min How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas Jared Friedman
  4. Thiel makes the counterintuitive case that dominating a tiny market first is a feature, not a bug: every lasting monopoly... Penguin Random House India Book · ~224 pages Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
  5. Currier's whole argument is that founder-market fit is more than the one line on a resume that says 'domain expert'. He breaks... NFX Article · ~12 min read The 4 Signs of Founder-Market Fit James Currier
  6. Video · About 26 minutes How to Succeed with a Startup Sam Altman (Y Combinator)
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →