Peter Thiel

PayPal · Palantir · Founders Fund · b. 1967

Born October 11, 1967

Entrepreneur, investor, and contrarian. Peter Thiel (born 1967 in Frankfurt, Germany, raised in the US) co-founded PayPal in 1998, taking it public and selling it to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. He co-founded the data analytics company Palantir in 2003, made the first outside investment in Facebook in 2004, and co-founded Founders Fund in 2005. He founded the Thiel Fellowship in 2010, which pays young people to drop out of college and start companies, and published Zero to One in 2014, a synthesis of his contrarian view that the best startups build monopolies rather than compete.

Covered 4× on Founders ↓

Which books are linked to Peter Thiel?

These are examples from the documented shelf. Each label describes the connection; a book on the shelf is not always a recommendation.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz — Publisher endorsement. Source
The American Challenge by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber — Recommendation. Source
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant — Positive review. Source

See the full shelf and source notes

Contents

Career highlights

1967Born 11 October in Frankfurt, Germany; the family moved to the United States when he was an infant.
1987Co-founded The Stanford Review, a conservative and libertarian campus newspaper, becoming its first editor-in-chief.
1989Earned a BA in philosophy from Stanford.
1992Earned a JD from Stanford Law School.
1996Founded Thiel Capital Management, returning to the Bay Area to work as a money manager.
1998Co-founded PayPal (originally as Confinity) with Max Levchin and Luke Nosek.
2002PayPal went public in February and sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in September; Thiel was CEO until the sale.
2003Co-founded Palantir Technologies with Alex Karp and others, becoming chairman.
2004Made the first outside investment in Facebook, putting $500,000 into a 10.2% stake.
2005Co-founded Founders Fund with Ken Howery and Luke Nosek.
2010Founded the Thiel Fellowship, offering $100,000 to young people under 23 to drop out of college and start companies.
2014Published Zero to One, with Blake Masters, arguing that the best startups build monopolies.
2022Left Meta's board to support pro-Trump candidates.

Lessons for founders

Competition is for losers; build a monopoly. Thiel's central argument is that the most valuable companies are those that create something so new that they have no real competitors — a monopoly in a niche they can defend. In a great market, the market pulls the product out of the startup; in a terrible market, no amount of talent saves you.
Start from a small niche and expand outward. The best startups begin with a small, specific market that they completely dominate, then expand over time. Thiel uses Amazon's trajectory — starting with books, then broadening — as the model. A monopoly usually starts in a small niche before taking over the mainstream.
Secrets are the raw material of great companies. Only a few things are important but remain counterintuitive and unclaimed. Founders should look for secrets — important truths that few people believe — and build companies around them. The most unique ideas are those that are still considered bad ideas by most people.
Own your distribution and your technology. Thiel argues that a company should strive to own a proprietary technology and its own distribution. The most defensible businesses combine a technology that is hard to replicate with a distribution channel that reaches the market directly.
Optimism is a founder's advantage. Thiel distinguishes definite optimism — the belief that the future can be built — from indefinite optimism. He argues that the most ambitious companies are founded by definite optimists who believe they can shape the future rather than merely react to it.
Ask what valuable company is nobody building. The best way to find a startup idea is to ask what a valuable company that nobody is building would look like. This question forces you to look past what exists and think about what is missing.
Improve your own capacity, not just your position. Thiel's 'personal improvement' stance is that the ability to learn and change yourself is more durable than any position or advantage you currently hold. Compounding your own capabilities is the most reliable long-term strategy.

On the Founders podcast

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Read about them

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

The publisher credits Peter Thiel and Blake Masters as the authors. source ↗

The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power

Max Chafkin

Thiel is the subject of Chafkin’s reported biography, which examines his business career, ideas and political influence. This connection does not imply that Thiel endorsed the book. source ↗

The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley

Jimmy Soni

Thiel is one of the entrepreneurs covered in Soni’s account of PayPal’s early years. This establishes his role as a subject of the history, without implying that he endorsed or read the book. source ↗

Conspiracy

Ryan Holiday

Holiday’s account follows Thiel’s role in supporting the Hogan lawsuit against Gawker. source ↗

The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth

Eric M. Jackson

Jackson’s insider account covers Thiel and PayPal’s early development, including the struggle for control. This is a subject connection, not a reading recommendation. source ↗