Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is one of the most influential technology investors and thinkers of his generation. Co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and the first outside investor in Facebook, Thiel's public market vehicle Thiel Macro manages a portion of his considerable fortune. His investing philosophy is deeply shaped by his contrarian worldview: he looks for companies that have built monopoly-like positions in markets others have overlooked, and macro positions that reflect his often heterodox views on government, technology, and society.

Thiel is the author of 'Zero to One,' a book on startups and innovation that has become required reading in Silicon Valley. He is a vocal critic of higher education, offering the Thiel Fellowship to pay promising young people to skip college and start companies instead. His public market portfolio, while smaller than his private investments, tends to reflect concentrated bets in technology and defense-adjacent companies, as well as macro positions that often include gold and inflation hedges.