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Peter Thiel: Steve Jobs Gets Too Little Credit, Not Too Much

By Peter Thiel · Investing · 1 min read

When Jobs died, everyone assumed Apple would keep innovating. Thiel says that assumption proved his point.

Key Points

Thiel believes Jobs gets too little credit, not too much
The hagiographic praise actually hid the real lesson: without the founder, innovation stops
Founders Fund invests based on one key filter: is the founder still running the company?

I think the companies where the founders are not running them -- it's weirdly understated as a problem.

The Wrong Takeaway From Jobs' Death

When Steve Jobs died in 2011, everyone got emotional. The tributes were hagiographic. People acted like Apple would lose something irreplaceable.

Peter Thiel says most people didn't actually believe that. But he thinks it was probably true. Without the founder, the innovation well ran dry.

I'm not sure people believed innovation would stop without Jobs. But I think it was probably true.

Founders Aren't Gods. They're Catalysts.

Thiel doesn't think founders are divine. They're not omnipotent. They have massive personality flaws. Jobs had plenty.

But founders do something no hired CEO can. They inspire people to bring out their absolute best. That ability is wildly underestimated.

Despite all his flaws, Jobs inspired people to do their best work.

The One-Question Investment Filter

Thiel named his firm Founders Fund for a reason. He believes tech companies do best when founders run them. Google. Facebook. Amazon. All founder-led.

The companies without founders at the helm? Thiel is skeptical they'll innovate at all. He thinks the industry barely tracks this metric. It should be the first thing investors check.

Draw a list: founder-led vs. not. That tells you who will innovate.