Pattern Breakers

Instant USA Today Bestseller
Axiom Gold Medalist
Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Awards in Innovation & Creativity

“Entrepreneurship and innovation play a critical role in shaping a better future, and Messrs. Maples and Ziebelman provide helpful guidance. But to truly benefit from innovations, founders, citizens and policymakers all need to think about the inflection points on the horizon and how to create broad societal benefits while seeking to understand and minimize societal harms.”
 —Wall Street Journal

“Straightforward advice on launching a startup… aspiring entrepreneurs will find some sensible suggestions.”
 —Publishers Weekly

“A useful, accessible package for those seeking a revolutionary path… The authors make their case with conviction and intelligence, bringing new thinking to an old problem.”—Kirkus Reviews

"The most important start-up book of the last ten years."—Steve Blank, co-creator of the Lean Startup movement

“Luck in a start-up might actually be a strategy hiding in something others haven’t seen clearly enough. Pattern breaking often involves the hard work of seeing inflection points before others do.”
 —Seth Godin, author of This Is Marketing

“Mike Maples Jr. and Peter Ziebelman explain what founders need to know to build billion-dollar businesses: how to break through patterns of conventional thinking and spot the biggest ideas. Told through entertaining case examples based on their firsthand experience working with some of the most innovative tech companies, Pattern Breakers is an indispensable guide to start-up success.”
 —Safi Bahcall, author of Loonshots

“Pattern Breakers flips the narrative on uncertainty, transforming it from a daunting obstacle to an offensive weapon. This strikingly different book reveals how elite founders don’t just navigate uncertainty—they harness it to redefine what's possible.”—Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

"Mike Maples and Peter Ziebelman are on a relentless pursuit to understand start-up outliers beyond anyone else."—Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram

"Pattern Breakers shows why the only path to breakthrough results is to break the mold and be non-consensus, not just right. Maples and Ziebelman offer concrete examples from some of the most impactful start-ups of our time and practical advice that founders can use in their own efforts to change the future."
 —Andy Rachleff, co-founder of Benchmark Capital and Wealthfront