I don't know Mr. Thiel and have no inside information on his views. But having worked in a startup I think I can see where he's coming from. To understand his

I don't know Mr. Thiel and have no inside information on his views. But having worked in a startup I think I can see where he's coming from. To understand his point I think you have to realize there are two types of workers in the Valley: The trail blazers and the maintainers. Trail Blazers are the guys who are willing to work night and day and basically kill themselves to start a company up. In order to make that ordeal worth while you need to have a big pay out at the end. Maintainers are the guys who come in afterwards. Smart people but people who have outside lives they aren't willing to destroy for the company. These are the guys who make a successful startup into a long term company In my experience you can't successfully create a startup with maintainers. There's just too much that needs to happen in too short a time period. I think that is what Mr. Thiel is saying. His rules help you avoid a company trying to startup with maintainers. (For the record I know there are odd exceptions to this rule that can seamlessly transition from one role to the other. But in my experience they're very rare)