Blake Gates Masters (born August 5, 1986) is an American venture capitalist and former political candidate. Frequently referred to as a protégé of businessman Peter Thiel, Masters co-wrote Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future with Thiel in 2014, based on notes Masters had taken at Stanford Law School in 2012. He later served as chief operating officer (COO) of Thiel's investment firm, Thiel Capital, as well as president of the Thiel Foundation. In the 2022 United States Senate election in Arizona, Masters defeated state Attorney General Mark Brnovich and businessman Jim Lamon to become the Republican Party's nominee. He aligned himself with Thiel, who funded his primary campaign with US$15 million, and former president Donald Trump, both of whom endorsed him in June 2022. He lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly. The Washington Post described him as one of the "worst candidates of the 2022 election," as he received the fewest votes among all the Republican statewide candidates in the 2022 Arizona elections. Masters ran for the U.S. House in 2024 for Arizona's 8th congressional district. He lost the Republican primary to Abraham Hamadeh, coming in second. Source: Wikipedia (en)