Quote

Of the six people who started PayPal, four had built bombs in high school.

Peter Thiel

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Peter Thiel
Age: 57
Born: 1967
Born: October 11
Banker
Chess Player
Computer Scientist
Entrepreneur
Financier
Writer
Frankfurt/Main
Peter Andreas Thiel
Started
High
Four
School
People
Bombs
Six
Built

More quotes by Peter Thiel

Image
I think we have a bubble in the US in government bonds, because of the quantitative easing and the negative real interest rates, and to some extent, that increases asset values across the board, including in startups.
Peter Thiel
Image
The most successful businesses have an idea for the future that's very different from the present.
Peter Thiel
Image
Rivalry causes us to overemphasize old opportunities and slavishly copy what has worked in the past.
Peter Thiel
Image
What nerds miss is that it takes hard work to make sales look easy.
Peter Thiel
Image
As an investor-entrepreneur, I’ve always tried to be contrarian, to go against the crowd, to identify opportunities in places where people are not looking.
Peter Thiel
Image
Competition is overrated. In practice it is quite destructive and should be avoided wherever possible. Much better than fighting for scraps in existing markets is to create and own new ones.
Peter Thiel
Image
The zero-sum world [the movie The Social Network] portrayed has nothing in common with the Silicon Valley I know, but I suspect it's a pretty accurate portrayal of the dysfunctional relationships that dominate Hollywood.
Peter Thiel
Image
Moving first is a tactic, not a goal.
Peter Thiel
Image
Every business is successful exactly to the extent that it does something others cannot.
Peter Thiel
Image
I think somehow people should be encouraged to think about a very long time horizon and I think this is true for businesses, it's true for governments and it's true for people doing things in the non-profit sector.
Peter Thiel
Image
Anyone who prefers owning part of your company to being paid in cash reveals a preference for the long term and a commitment to increasing your company's value in the future.
Peter Thiel
Image
We cannot take for granted that the future will be better, and that means we need to work to create it today.
Peter Thiel
Image
There is perhaps no specific time that is necessarily right to start your company or start your life. But some times and some moments seem more auspicious than others. Now is such a moment. If we don’t take charge and usher in the future - if you don’t take charge of your life - there is the sense that no one else will.
Peter Thiel
Image
I think in my twenties I tended to think of all people as sort of more or less alike. In now think that people are really different in all these subtle ways that are very important.
Peter Thiel
Image
A startup is the largest endeavor over which you can have definite mastery. You can have agency not just over your own life, but over a small and important part of the world. It begins by rejecting the unjust tyranny of Chance. You are not a lottery ticket.
Peter Thiel
Image
There's a wide range of sales ability: there are many gradations between novices, experts, and masters. There are even sales grandmasters. If you don't know any grandmasters, it's not because you haven't encountered them, but rather because their art is hidden in plain sight.
Peter Thiel
Image
Higher education holds itself out as a kind of universal church, outside of which there is no salvation.
Peter Thiel
Image
Technology is probably the single biggest driver of productivity gains for the developed countries. For example, I think it's much more important than free trade.
Peter Thiel
Image
A company does better the less it pays the CEO.
Peter Thiel
Image
Long-term planning is often undervalued by our indefinite short-term world.
Peter Thiel