Notable Thiel Fellows

Austin Russell

Founder & CEO

Company:

Luminar

Valuation:

$8.5B

Paul Gu

Co-founder & Head of Product

Company:

Upstart

Valuation:

$4.8B

Robert Habermeier

Co-Founder

Company:

LPolkadot

Valuation:

$6.6B

Tara Bosch

Founder & CEO

Company:

SmartSweets

Exit:

$400MM

Founder DNA characteristic of Thiel Fellows:

• 58% are serial founders - have founded or cofounded multiple businesses.
• 32% have a technical background - have programming and softare development experience or skills.
• 5% are former FAANG - have worked at Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix or Google.
• 3% have a prior exit - have been involved in a company that was aquired.
• 5% hold a masters degree - went to school to get a Masters.
• 2% have a doctorate degree - went to school to get a Doctroate level degree.
• 35% went to a Top 10 School - came from a top 10 school by 2021 US news rankings.
• 14% went through Y Combinator