Notes on distribution from Peter Thiel’s CS183

Notes from Peter Thiel's CS183 class argue that distribution is the least understood part of building a company and that the best product does not automatically win. They cite Edison, who started GE, with a business edge over Tesla, whose alternating current system was technically better, and Marconi, who won a Nobel Prize for radio ideas Tesla had developed. The notes also give figures: about 610,000 people work in the U.S. ad industry, a $95bn market, and some 3.2 million work in sales, a $450bn industry.