The tech entrepreneur talks about the ‘features and bugs’ of companies, society and his own personality.
Peter Thiel is often described in techno-hyphenated words: Techno-philosopher. Techno-libertarian. Techno-utopian. Technology, after all, is how he first made his name and built his billions. Yet his reach has since stretched beyond that, with his political opinions now getting him nearly as much notice as his tech investments.
Thiel, 46, was born in West Germany and moved to California at age 10. He was the first outsider to invest in Facebook ($500,000 for a 10 percent stake), the co-founder and chief executive of PayPal, and now serves as chairman and co-founder of data-analytics company Palantir Technologies. He’s also the author of Zero to One, a manifesto on how to create American progress.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can also listen to the conversation with Thiel in the latest episode of our new On Leadership podcast. (You can listen on the Post’s site or on iTunes.)
Originally published at Cogly.
