Founders Fund, Peter Thiel's venture-capital vehicle for overturning Sand Hill Road's staid ways, has raised a war chest of $220 million. The Wall Street Journal reports that some of that has come from college endowments, including Stanford's, but there are whispers that some of it also came from overseas investors in Asia and the Middle East. No matter: What's important is where it's going. Unlike traditional VCs, Thiel's VC fund has no qualms about lining the pockets of entrepreneurs, even before their companies get sold or go public. Other VCs hate this, of course. Why settle for vague promises of riches, when Thiel's outfit is promising the real thing, right now?

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