Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded PayPal, led it as CEO, and took it public; he made the first outside investment in Facebook, where he served as a director until February 2022; and he co-founded Palantir Technologies, where he continues to serve as chairman. He has provided early funding for LinkedIn, Yelp, and dozens of startups, many run by former colleagues who have been dubbed the “PayPal Mafia.” He is a partner at Founders Fund, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has funded companies including SpaceX and Airbnb. He started the Thiel Fellowship, which funds young entrepreneurs, and he leads the Thiel Foundation, which works to advance technological progress and long-term thinking including funding research into artificial intelligence, life extension, and seasteading. He is also the author of "Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" and "The Diversity Myth."

Thiel is also involved with a variety of philanthropic, academic, and cultural pursuits. He serves as a primary supporter of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a group that promotes press freedom worldwide; the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which seeks to foster the responsible development of advanced computing technologies; and the SENS Foundation, a medical charity dedicated to extending healthy human lifespans.

Thiel remains active at his alma mater, and has taught at Stanford Law School, in addition to serving on the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford. His class on startups at Stanford led to the publication of notes and essays that were highly influential. Thiel received a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School. He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from institutions like Universidad Francisco Marroquín and has been recognized for his accomplishments including being honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and receiving a TechCrunch Crunchie Award for Venture Capitalist of the Year.