Peter Thiel.

Peter Thiel is the Co-Founder of PayPal, the pioneering online payments company, and Co-Founder and Chairman of Palantir Technologies, the data analytics company serving government intelligence and defense agencies.

He is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Founders Fund, one of the most influential venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, with early investments in Facebook, SpaceX, LinkedIn, and Stripe. PayPal's founding team, known as the "PayPal Mafia," went on to found or fund many of the most important technology companies of the 21st century. Thiel is the bestselling author of Zero to One, one of the most widely read books on entrepreneurship and innovation. He also created the Thiel Fellowship, which provides $100,000 grants to young people who drop out of college to pursue entrepreneurial ventures-alumni include the founders of Ethereum, Figma, and Luminar Technologies. Thiel's impact on American technology, venture capital, and entrepreneurial culture is profound and wide-ranging.