I think you overestimate the significance of random asshats with some 80s BA in philosophy from Stanford. He somehow came to decent amounts of money, that's about all there is to say about Thiel's intellectual achievements. Nothing against the fact that an ordinary businessman's can have various more or less well-argued world views, but comparing him to Rousseau or Lenin is, frankly speaking, ridiculous.
I agree he is of minor significance compared to Rousseau or Lenin. I mentioned those two in particular because it's not often recognized how Lenin consciously thought of himself as fulfilling the French Revolution as a Rousseauian. Theil's American libertarianism is also indebted to that tradition in a particular way. The ideological kinship is worth pointing out because it's somewhat provocative and unexpected.
