In Miami, in a discreet office far from the Silicon Valley, Peter Thiel No longer builds only startups but builds a counter-company. He finances radical candidates, invests in algorithmic defense technologies, and defends a very hierarchical vision of the West. This strategic turn has its source in Zero to onea founding work which is neither a guide for entrepreneurs, nor a praise of traditional capitalism, but a real manifesto of dissent.
Creation vs iteration: break rather than optimize
Zero to one Do not teach how to succeed in a competitive world. It is due to the principle that this world is already saturated. For Peter Thielinnovating is not improving, but it is breaking, going from nonexistent to the only one.
“Each company that succeeds in a unique way. »»
In the same way, creating value does not consist in refining products or capturing market share is above all discovering a virgin territory. This is where entrepreneurship begins, where no one has gone yet, a philosophy worthy of conquest of the West.
Secret vs consensus: the truth is elsewhere
Peter Thiel structures his thought around a triptych:
-
- Conventions: what everyone thinks.
- Mysteries: What nobody can understand.
- The secrets: what can see, but which can be revealed.
For him it is these secrets, neglected, concealed, sometimes absurd, which found true innovation. He quotes Paypal As an example, an idea at the time deemed eccentric, merge email and digital currency, which will become, through conviction, a global standard.
Monopoly vs market: praise of absolute power
Unlike liberal orthodoxy, Peter Thiel does not celebrate competition but mistakes it.
“Competition is for losers. »»
In a saturated market, where each actor is interchangeable the real power is found in him in the monopoly, not that of the inherited privilege, but that conquered by a radically new proposal. A product, a service, a technology that makes others completely obsolete.
It is a vision of innovation as a real takeover.
Verticality vs egalitarianism: rethink society as an architecture
This rejection of competition is accompanied by a broader refusal, with that of social leveling. Peter Thiel criticizes a West that has become chilly, confined in optimization and conformity, where growth would be over, the conquest completed. He opposes this stagnation a vertical vision of the world, more hierarchical, elitist, and truly conquering.
“We wanted flying cars, we had 140 characters. »»
This bitter observation is not just aims at tech. It accuses a whole culture of being satisfied with marginal gains instead of facing major scientific, political or existential challenges.
Techno-political vs administrative state: an assumed war
Since 2016, Peter Thiel has crossed a milestone and is no longer content to influence. He supports Donald Trumpfinance the senator James David Vancethen the candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. He would have invested more than $ 30 million in the mid-term elections. Its purpose being to build a counter-elite, capable of contesting institutional hegemony.
He no longer hides it, for him, the administrative state is a force of inertia and wants a technology at the service of an assertive, aligned, strategically sovereign political power.
Palant, Andundil, Oasis: the techno-military complex
This vision takes shape in the industry. Palantantfor algorithmic intelligence, Andundilfor military AI, Oasis Labsfor sovereign cryptography. These companies are not just startups but are strategic projection tools. They materialize the will to Peter Thiel to build a techno-military complex capable of competing with China, outside market logics, and out of democratic consensus.
Entrepreneur, investor and ideologist of Silicon Valley Dissidentian
Born October 11, 1967 in Frankfurt Sur-le-Main, Peter Andreas Thiel is a Naturalized New Zealand Naturalized African entrepreneur, venture capital investor, founder of Paypal, Facebook’s first financial support, and controversial figure of the American techno-conservative movement.
Installed from his childhood in the United States after years spent in southern Africa, Peter Thiel developed an aversion to uniformity and authority, influenced by his rigid school experiences and early readings, very early on. He studies philosophy in Stanford, where he is marked by the thought of René Girard and his theory of mimetic desire, before winning a Juris Doctor at Stanford Law School in 1992.
In 1998, he co -brought Confinity with Max Levchinwho becomes Paypal by merging with X.com the online bank created by Elon Musk. Sold in Ebay for $ 1.5 billion in 2002, this success launched the “Paypal Mafia” – Network of former founders and employees who have become influential investors. Thiel then created Clarium CapitalThen Founders Fund (2005) and becomes the first external investor of Facebookof which he remains administrator for several years.
In 2004, he lived PALANTOUT Technologiescompany specializing in data analysis for intelligence purposes, now valued at several billion. He participates in dozens of notable investments in startups such as Linkedin,, Slide,, Ironport,, Stripe,, Qonto Or Sharesvia his funds Valar Ventures And Founders Fund.
Beyond tech, Peter Thiel cultivates an ideological agenda. Libertarian converted to an assumed national advisor, he supports in 2016 Donald Trumpbecomes his unofficial advisor, and invests massively in the campaigns of figures close to the hard right American, as James David Vance Or Blake Masters. He defends a vertical vision of power and criticizes democratic consensus, affirming that individual freedom and democracy have become incompatible.
Founder of the Thiel Foundationhe promotes the search for rupture via projects such as Thiel fellowship,, Breakout Labs or the Seasteading Institutewhich he finances to create libertarian islands on the high seas. He also supports the fight against organic aging and transhumanist research.
Close to neoreactional thinkers like Curtis Yarvinlinked to the movement national-conservativeThiel affirms its political influence, while investing in military technologies (via Andundil,, Palantant,, Clearview Ai) or transgressive (such as the project Enhanced Gamessports games boosted under medical control).
In 2021, Business Insider reveals that he acts in parallel as informant of FBIunder the code name Philosophize. In 2022, his fortune was estimated to $ 4.3 billion.
