Thursday, September 30, 2010

Peter Thiel Launches Fellowship Program

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, said this week that he has launched a fellowship program, which will grant cash worth $100,000 to 20 people under 20 years old. Thiel said his new Thiel Fellowship, is aimed at fostering the next generation of tech visionaries, and specifically is aimed at spurring the "most brilliant and promising young people" to not wait on their ideas. Thiel specifically said that that some of the "world's most transformational technologies" came from people who had quit school early, because they had ideas that couldn't wait until graduation, and that he was looking to encourage students to not stick around college but instead to launch their ventures immediately. Thiel said the foundation will start its fellowships beginning in 2011.