Peter Thiel explains why entrepreneurship is not a good direct goal

“I don’t think there’s anything about entrepreneurship per se that is good.”

He recounts talking to a friend who said he wanted to be an entrepreneur in 5-10 years.

“That’s like saying I want to be rich or I want to be famous… It’s not good as a direct goal. If you have that as your sole goal, you’re unlikely to really succeed.”

In Thiel’s view, the right reason to become an entrepreneur is to work on an important problem nobody else is working on.

Full video: Forbes “How To Build The Next Billion Dollar Startup | Forbes” (Oct 2014)

P.S. We’ve put together a YouTube playlist with every Peter Thiel insight we’ve ever shared. You can watch it here: “Best startup advice from Peter Thiel”