# Peter Thiel First Degree Connections The **full directly-connected map** for [[Peter Thiel]] — every person, fund, company, and institution with a documented first-degree tie, annotated by the *type* of tie. Broader than [[Peter Thiel Inner Circle]] (which is just the trusted core); this is the whole one-hop neighborhood. The relational-database view is [[LittleSis Cross-Reference - Peter Thiel]]; the capital-flow view is [[Musk-Thiel Funding Map]]. > "First degree" = a tie Thiel holds personally (co-founder, funder, board, employer, patron, documented associate). Second-degree relationships (his protégés' own networks) are out of scope here and live on those people's own pages. ## People — by tie type | Person | Tie type | Note | |---|---|---| | [[Elon Musk]] | PayPal co-founder; co-investor | The other pole of the [[Musk-Thiel Funding Map]] | | [[JD Vance]] | Patron → protégé | Employer at [[Mithril Capital]], then funder | | [[David Sacks]] | Co-founder/ally | PayPal; decades of co-investment | | [[Ken Howery]] | Co-founder | PayPal; [[Founders Fund]] | | [[Keith Rabois]] | Co-founder/ally | PayPal Mafia | | [[Max Levchin]] | Co-founder | PayPal; co-investor (e.g. [[Panthalassa]]) | | [[Alex Karp]] | Co-founder | [[Palantir]] CEO | | [[Joe Lonsdale]] | Co-founder | [[Palantir]]; [[8VC]] | | [[Stephen Cohen]] · [[Nathan Gettings]] | Co-founders | [[Palantir]] | | [[Trae Stephens]] | Partner | [[Founders Fund]]; [[Anduril]] | | [[Palmer Luckey]] | Funded founder | [[Anduril]] (Founders Fund led its rounds) | | [[Ajay Royan]] | Co-founder | [[Mithril Capital]] | | [[Michael Kratsios]] · [[Jim O'Neill]] | Employees → officials | Thiel Capital / Thiel Foundation alumni | | [[Blake Masters]] | Protégé/co-author | *[[Zero to One]]* | | [[Aron D'Souza]] | Fixer | Gawker; "Objection" | | [[Curtis Yarvin]] | Funded ideologue | Neoreaction | | [[Balaji Srinivasan]] | Co-investor/co-traveler | [[The Network State]] | | [[Patri Friedman]] | Funded | [[Seasteading Institute]]; [[Pronomos Capital]] | | [[Ron Paul]] | Early donee | Libertarian phase | | [[Javier Milei]] | Met 2026 | [[Thiel Argentina Move]] | ## Funds & companies (Thiel-controlled or Thiel-founded) The full holdings table is in [[Peter Thiel Holdings]]. First-degree entities: - [[Thiel Capital]] (umbrella) · [[Founders Fund]] · [[Mithril Capital]] · [[Valar Ventures]] · Clarium Capital - [[Palantir]] · [[Anduril]] (via Founders Fund) · [[Clearview AI]] · [[Enhanced Games]] · [[Panthalassa]] - [[Thiel Foundation]] · [[Thiel Fellowship]] · [[Breakout Labs]] ## Institutions & soft-power nodes | Institution | Tie | |---|---| | [[Hoover Institution]] | Board of Overseers (Stanford) | | [[MIRI]] | Early funder; advisory board | | [[SENS Foundation]] | Primary supporter (anti-aging) | | [[Seasteading Institute]] | Funder (2008–2015) | | American Friends of Bilderberg | $125K donor (2008–2010) | | Republican National Convention (2016) | 2016 prime-time speaker | | [[Dialog Society]] | Founded in his orbit (2006) | ## Administration footprint (the placement web) Thiel holds no government title yet **17+ people** tied to his companies, funds, and foundation hold administration positions — documented by Bloomberg as a network "quietly shaping Trump's government." The roster is enumerated on the canonical [[Peter Thiel]] page (Conflicts of Interest) and analyzed via [[Revolving Door]] and [[Defense Tech Conflicts of Interest]]. Anchors: [[JD Vance]] (VP), [[David Sacks]] (AI Czar), [[Michael Kratsios]] (OSTP), [[Ken Howery]] (Ambassador), [[Jim O'Neill]] (HHS), Gregory Barbaccia (Federal CIO). ## See Also - [[Peter Thiel Inner Circle]] — the trusted core subset - [[Peter Thiel Holdings]] — the entity side in detail - [[LittleSis Cross-Reference - Peter Thiel]] — relational-database view - [[Musk-Thiel Funding Map]] — capital-flow view - [[Thiel Network]] · [[PayPal Mafia]] - [[Peter Thiel Dossier]]