Just in time for the closest general election that most people can remember (1974, anyone?), Peter Thiel, entrepreneur, VC, hedge fund manager and contrarian has arrived in the UK to stir up some trouble.
“I aspire to be a political atheist,” he told his audience at the JW3 Jewish community centre in Camden in an interview with historian Niall Ferguson around globalisation and technology. “I don’t think we should place too much hope in our political leaders. A lot of it seems to resemble World Wide Wrestling with the difference that the wrestlers know it’s all fake.”
The PayPal founder and Facebook director is a well-documented Libertarian, fiscally conservative but socially liberal, and is also an advocate of the anti-ageing movement, as well as the seasteaders, who want to set up autonomous floating island nations outside of traditional country borders.
Thiel was the first outside investor in Facebook and when asked about how to be the ‘next big thing’, he said: “Always aim for a monopoly. Capture a small market and grow it over time. Facebook went from zero to 60 per cent market share in ten days.”
Thiel is heading to Oxford’s Saïd Business School for 12.30pm today. You can watch the livestream here.