Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance

“WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY,” Delian Asparouhov, a partner at Thiel’s Founder’s Fund, wrote on X after the announcement of Vance’s nomination.

For Thiel, Vance’s presence on the ticket is the payoff on a prescient bet placed a decade ago, when he embraced the Yale Law School graduate with Rust Belt roots as his protégé, joining a roster that included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI founder Sam Altman.

Especially after the publication in 2016 of his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance impressed Thiel’s rarefied Silicon Valley set with what they saw as an omnivorous intellect, mild manner, and outsider story of growing up working-class in Ohio, a Narrative that resonated after the 2016 election, as tech elites sought to understand how their obsession with building the future was leaving so many Americans behind.

Thiel made him wealthy, setting him up to invest in companies that became popular with the MAGA set. He shepherded Vance’s entry into politics, bankrolling, alongside other Silicon Valley donors, his successful bid for the Senate in 2022.

“For Peter,” said one of the people familiar with his thoughts, “Vance is a generational bet.”

But Vance’s connections in the business world — along with his stances on social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage — have also opened him up to criticism. Critics have called him a “shillbilly,” arguing that his relationship to the Thiel network could become a pay-to-play scenario.

“The best way for them to (instate) their elitist scheme and reactionary views is regulatory capture,” investor Del Johnson posted on X, using a term to describe the private sector’s control of the regulatory process. “You haven’t seen anything yet if you let the VC class get into the presidency.”

This report is based on 17 interviews with people familiar with Vance’s rise in the Valley, his relationship with Thiel, and the tech world’s ambitions for him should he win the country’s second highest political office, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their relationships.

Thiel declined to comment. Vance did not respond to comment requests.

Though Thiel became a Trump megadonor during the 2016 campaign, he was ultimately disappointed by the disorganization of his administration, as well as the lack of focus on science and innovation, according to several people with knowledge of his thinking.

But the Vance pick is helping Thiel warm to Trump. And Trump’s selection coincides with a newly sharpened focus on issues of central importance to the tech world. The former president has embraced industry-friendly messages on electric vehicles, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence. Trump appeared last month on Sacks’s All-In podcast, where he called his Silicon Valley donors “geniuses.” And at this month’s Republican National Convention, he praised electric vehicle pioneer Elon Musk, saying, “We have to make life good for our smart people.”

Sacks hosted Trump and Vance at his San Francisco home for a pricey fund-raiser in June, where the pair met more than 50 technology executives and other wealthy donors, according to a list of attendees.

At the RNC, Sacks could be seen talking with Vance in Trump’s private box. Others present said they had never seen the event so flooded with donors, lobbyists, and others from the technology industry.

The Biden administration, by contrast, has infuriated tech leaders by hindering the crypto industry, attempting to regulate AI, and challenging corporate acquisitions — a key path for startup founders to cash in. Sacks, Musk, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone, and founders of the prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz have all thrown in with Trump and are donating large sums to a pro-Trump PAC.

If Trump reclaims the White House, Vance could help transform the tech industry from political punching bag to engine of capitalism, filling government positions with ideologically aligned tech leaders. A web of Thiel-associated startups, including Vance’s own token investment in defense companies Anduril, are competing for billions in contracts.

Meanwhile, friends of Sacks — whose pitch to Trump on nominating Vance was about noninterventionist foreign policy — often joke that he is angling for secretary of state.

Vance’s supporters said his willingness to call out Big Tech’s monopolistic practices, while supporting more nimble start-ups, branded “Little Tech,” make him a persuasive envoy.

Blake Masters, a former senior executive with Thiel Capital who is running for Congress in Arizona, said Vance’s ties to Silicon Valley would help usher in a new era of innovation.

“It’s not about making a buck,” said Masters, who became friends with Vance after Thiel asked him to review the billionaire’s blurb for “Hillbilly Elegy.” “It’s about making new technologies that the government, which used to do big initiatives like the Manhattan Project, is no longer equipped to make. It’s like someone who actually understands, almost at an intuitive level, the problems coming down the pike.”

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