Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

August 29, 2008 8:02:17 CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Gay Plays Well for Maverick VC

Posted Dec 20, 07 12:18 CST in Technology,  Business 

(Newser) – In Silicon Valley, where "like funds like," Valleywag thinks it's important to note that Peter Thiel, "the smartest VC in the world, is gay." Why mention it? Thiel's Founders Fund, which just raised a $220 million financing round, could reinvent the way entrepreneurs get paid, and Valleywag attributes his contrarianism to the fact that he's a gay man in a VC world filled mostly with straight white guys.

Thiel's sexuality is rarely remarked upon in the socially progressive Bay Area, but Silicon Valley is a more insular realm, where "clubby" VCs tend to sponsor entrepreneurs much like themselves. "The VC industry is headquartered in Menlo Park, not Northern California," sniffs one. At best, it's a misguided caution, Valleywag notes. At worst: "prejudice with a handy alibi."

Sources Valleywag, San Jose Mercury News

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • Web 2.0 Firms Taking Slower Route to IPOs

    Mar 6, 08 1:19 CST
    Web 2.0 Firms Taking Slower Route to IPOs Growing Web 2.0 companies like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slide are biding their time before going public, making sure to run up their value as much as possible to fetch top dollar with an IPO, reports Business Week. It’s a far different approach than companies took before the dot-com bubble burst, when the fast track to an IPO was the goal. More »

  • Inside the 'PayPal Mafia'

    Nov 15, 07 4:55 AM CST
    Inside the 'PayPal Mafia' They may be the most brilliantly successful—or luckiest—or both—small group of entrepreneurs in history: PayPal alumni who, like founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, left the company to create $30 billion worth of innovation: YouTube, Facebook, Slide, Yelp, Digg, investment firms, philanthropies, solar-power companies, an electric car maker and a Mars colonization plan. Fortune Magazine infiltrates the "PayPal Mafia" for clues to their success. More »

  • New VC Fund Wants Only Facebook Apps

    Nov 14, 07 12:26 CST
    New VC Fund Wants Only Facebook Apps Venture capitalist Lee Lorenzen is so enamored of Facebook that he started an investment fund just to finance developers creating applications for the social network site. Not only is Lorenzen investing in a month-and-a-half-old industry, last month at a conference he said Facebook might be worth $100 billion, more than six times the $15 billion valuation that came with Microsoft's purchase of a 1.6% stake. More »

PayPal lanyards on display at are seen at eBay Inc. headquarters in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007. eBay Inc. is expected to release quarterly earnings on Wednesday after the market closes....   (Associated Press)
Peter Thiel has seen his $500,000 investment in Facebook grow to be worth $750 million. The venture capitalist is hoping to repeat the magic elsewhere.   (Getty Images (by Event))
A PayPal security key. One of Founders Fund%u2019s main selling points with institutional investors,will be its connection to a powerful network of former PayPal executives who have founded or invested...   (Flickr)
PayPal founder Peter Thiel.   (Valleywag.com)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (1 of 4)

Tags

Facebook  • venture capital  • investments  • PayPal  • Peter Thiel


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular


Other Business Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »