Why Does Peter Thiel Say Competition Is for Losers?

David Senra, reading Peter Thiel and Blake Masters, says competition is for losers because a startup should avoid competition and aim to be the last mover, not the first. Moving first is a tactic, not a goal. What matters is generating cash flows in the future. Being first does no good if someone else comes along and unseats you. It is much better to be the last mover: make the last great development in a specific market and enjoy years or even decades of monopoly profits.

Thiel compares that choice to chess. To succeed, study the endgame before everything else. The same passage says a definitive person determines the one best thing to do and then does it, and strives to be a monopoly of one. Senra ties that to Apple, which imagined and executed multi-year plans to create new products and distribute them.