Mike Solana | |
|---|---|
 Solana in 2024 | |
| Education | Boston University (BA) |
| Organizations | |
Michael Solana is an American entrepreneur, conservative political commentator and tech investor. [1] [2] He is a vice president of Founders Fund and founder of Pirate Wires . [1]
Solana attended Boston University, graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. [3] Solana said he had been interested in libertarianism since high school, but briefly embraced left-wing policies during college before becoming an anarcho-capitalist. [4]
Solana is a vice president at Founders Fund, a venture capital firm founded by Peter Thiel. Solana was previously the firm's chief marketing officer. [5] [6] He is a founder of Hereticon, a conference hosted by him which discussed ideas not talked in the mainstream. [4]
Solana has become a frequent commentator on San Francisco's and California's governance, [7] [8] criticizing the city’s alleged leniency on crime. [9] Solana is a critic of the Abundance movement coined by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's 2025 book, commenting that the center left viewpoints espoused by the pair would have difficulty overcoming the "Luigi Left". [10]
In the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal referenced Solana's comments about the "challenge that moderate Democrats face in trying to persuade the extremists in their political coalition to appreciate the virtues of liberty and open debate". [11]
In 2020, Solana founded Pirate Wires, a newsletter-turned-website focused on technology. Solana's piece "Extract or Die" characterized San Francisco's government as mismanaging the city, and would be better run by tech entrepreneurs. [12] An October 2024 profile in The Atlantic described Solana as "The most opinionated man in America" for his writings in Pirate Wires. [5] The blog was described by Jeffrey Goldberg as providing a "really good insight into MAGA thinking in the Silicon Valley, people who are supporting Donald Trump". [13]