Founders Fund—Founders Fund co-founder Thiel maintained decades-long opposition to diversity initiatives, reflected in fund's homogeneous leadership
Peter Thiel, co-founder of Founders Fund, has maintained a consistent 35+ year opposition to diversity and multiculturalism, from founding The Stanford Review in 1987 to explicitly criticizing DEI programs in 2024. In a January 2024 speech at Notre Dame, Thiel addressed DEI and culture wars. His 2009 Cato Institute essay 'The Education of a Libertarian' laid out positions that critics say prefigured the current anti-DEI movement. As of 2025, Founders Fund has minimal female leadership among its partners. The fund's talent pipeline draws heavily from homogeneous networks rooted in Thiel's Stanford Review circle, which critics describe as reinforcing a 'white, male, conservative' ecosystem.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEI Programs | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.858 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Peter Thiel publicly criticized DEI programs in Notre Dame speech and media appearances
In January 2024, Peter Thiel addressed DEI and culture wars at Notre Dame. Yahoo News documented how Thiel's 2009 Cato Institute essay 'The Education of a Libertarian' laid out positions prefiguring the current anti-DEI movement, including gutting government agencies and erasing diversity from the historical record.