Peter Thiel's ability to anticipate opportunities led him to sell PayPal in 2002 and make the first outside investment in Facebook, where he currently serves as a board member. In this lesson, Thiel explains why success comes from getting off-track and seeking out paths that are more adaptable and entrepreneurial.
What You'll Learn
- How to recognize opportunities
- How to take risks
- How to forge your own non-traditional "track"
- PayPal Co-Founder
After years of working in the banking and finance industries, Peter Thiel bootstrapped his way to success by founding PayPal, which today has more than 100 million active financial accounts. His ability to anticipate opportunities led him to sell PayPal in 2002 and make the first outside investment in Facebook, where he currently serves as a board member. He is a venture capitalist who continues to support the innovative spirit by investing in the projects of the next generation of tech companies, journalists, medical researchers and human rights activists.“The idea of becoming an entrepreneur is something that is not taught very well in school,” Thiel says. Furthermore, the burden of college debt makes young people less likely to take risks. “Technological innovation requires risk and sacrifice, and it may be very hard to do that if you have this enormous debt burden to try to repay,” he says.In this lesson, Thiel explains why success comes from getting off-track and seeking ou...