

In 1998, while giving a small lecture at his alma mater, he met a young online security expert named Max Levchin. He then attended Stanford Law School, where he earned his doctorate in law in 1992. These interests paid off as a young adult, when he was accepted into Stanford University in 1985, where he first studied for a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. His early interest in math and science labeled him as a nerd, and he was bullied at school.

His family relocated to Foster City, California, when he was ten years old, where he learned to play Dungeons and Dragons and chess. The founder was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1967. But his childhood isn’t as beautiful as the present. Now, Theil is standing on his feet, on the strong foundation of what he’s been architecting. He’s been chastised for “normalizing” an administration whose policies many see as antithetical to the interests and values of the industry. During the 2016 election, Thiel emerged as one of Trump’s most ardent supporters among a group of mostly left-wing tech leaders. Founders Fund initially invested in genomic sequencing technology, aerospace, and life extension.īesides serving as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Peter Theil is also an active political activist. He also co-founded a number of other businesses, including Palantir Technologies, a data analytics firm that serves the US government and other large organizations.Īfter living the entrepreneurial life, Theil decided to start a new chapter in 2005, when he founded a venture capital firm that specialized in riskier investments and out-of-the-box ideas with moonshot prospects. Prior to launching Founders, Thiel co-founded and served as CEO of payment processing giant PayPal. That was the story of Founders Fund founder Peter Theil. If you’ve been an entrepreneur, you’ll gain a lot of credibility as a venture capitalist.

Be Careful When a Nerd Takes Revenge!Įntrepreneurs experimenting in venture capital is nothing new, and it can be a great combination for some. Even so, it’s just a part of their amazing journey that is presented in this article. That was a game changer in the VC world at the time Founders Fund was founded. Primarily since they were all founders themselves, they’re inherently more interested in helping new entrepreneurs develop into successful leaders. Historically, the firm has invested in a wide range of industries, including aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet. Founded in 2005 by Peter Thiel, and later joined Ken Howery, and Luke Nosek, the venture operated with the goal of funding entrepreneurs that have a unique vision for changing the world. That was the case of Founders Fund, one of the most honorable capital firms in the industry.

However, the technology boom of the 1990s resulted in large returns for many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who are now reinvesting their new wealth in promising ventures. They had little hope of turning their lofty ideas into viable businesses without venture capital. Entrepreneurs frequently complain about the power imbalance with venture capitalists, but there was little they could do about it.
