The Contrarian
Peter Thiel biography with substantial Palantir founding material.
Summary
Chafkin, a Bloomberg journalist, wrote a critical biography of Peter Thiel covering his upbringing, Stanford, the founding of PayPal, Palantir, Founders Fund, the early Facebook investment, the Gawker litigation and his political activity.
The business material covers the PayPal period and the network of people who came from it; the founding of Palantir and its government and intelligence contracting; the venture investing at Founders Fund, including the five hundred thousand dollar investment in Facebook that became the best venture return of the period, and the stated approach of seeking companies that are building something with no competition rather than competing in an existing market; and the Thiel Fellowship.
The political material is the book's emphasis. Chafkin covers Thiel's funding of Hulk Hogan's litigation against Gawker, which he financed secretly and which bankrupted the publication that had reported on his sexuality, his support for Donald Trump in 2016 and afterwards, and his funding of political candidates.
Chafkin is adversarial and the framing is consistently critical, which readers should weigh; Thiel did not cooperate. The reporting on the Gawker litigation and on the political spending is well documented. The book's assessment of Thiel's investment record and of Palantir's business is thinner than the political material, and readers wanting the investment thinking should read Zero to One, which states Thiel's own positions directly.
Key takeaways 7
- Thiel's stated investment approach seeks companies building something with no competition rather than competing within an existing market.
- The five hundred thousand dollar investment in Facebook produced the best venture return of its period and established Founders Fund's position.
- Palantir built its business on government and intelligence contracting, which is a different customer and sales model from consumer or enterprise software.
- Thiel secretly financed litigation that bankrupted a publication that had reported on him, which demonstrated that a sufficiently wealthy individual can eliminate a media organisation through the courts.
- The network of people who came from PayPal founded or funded a large share of the most valuable companies of the following two decades.
- Political funding by technology figures moved from lobbying toward direct candidate support and ideological project funding during this period.
- Chafkin is adversarial and Thiel did not cooperate, so the account should be read alongside Thiel's own stated positions in Zero to One.
Who should read it
Investors and founders interested in a critical account of Thiel's business and political activity, read alongside his own writing.
Who recommended it 1 · 1 direct
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