Thiel's point is that real progress means building something that did not exist before, going from zero to one. Copying a thing that already works just adds one more company to a crowded market. He would rather you aim to be the only one doing what you do, and he keeps coming back to the same question. What important thing do you believe that almost nobody agrees with you on?
The book is very sure of itself and sometimes too clever for its own good. It still changed how I look at competition. Being in a fair fight for the same customers is not a sign that things are going well.