PayPal ft. Max Levchin - A merger of enemies that reshaped Silicon Valley
09/07/23 • 47 min
PayPal was the defining tech company of its generation, with alumni going on to start YouTube, Tesla, Yelp, LinkedIn, among many others. But the company nearly didn’t make it. The PayPal of today only exists because of how its team navigated early, unprecedented inflection points. Find out why Max Levchin now says he does “not recommend” a merger of equals to anyone, how the team pioneered CAPTCHA to fight $10M in monthly fraud that nearly sank the fledgling business, and how they maneuvered through ongoing battles with eBay on their way to an IPO.
Host: Roelof Botha, Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital
Featuring: Max Levchin, Michael Moritz, Jimmy Soni
Transcript: https://www.sequoiacap.com/podcast/crucible-moments-paypal/
PayPal was the defining tech company of its generation, with alumni going on to start YouTube, Tesla, Yelp, LinkedIn, among many others. But the company nearly didn’t make it. The PayPal of today only exists because of how its team navigated early, unprecedented inflection points. Find out why Max Levchin now says he does “not recommend” a merger of equals to anyone, how the team pioneered CAPTCHA to fight $10M in monthly fraud that nearly sank the fledgling business, and how they maneuvered through ongoing battles with eBay on their way to an IPO.
Host: Roelof Botha, Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital
Featuring: Max Levchin, Michael Moritz, Jimmy Soni
Transcript: https://www.sequoiacap.com/podcast/crucible-moments-paypal/
Previous Episode
Introducing "Crucible Moments"
A podcast about the inflection points that shaped some of the most important companies of our time. Crucible moments are pivotal decisions that determine your trajectory. Hear from founders like Jack Dorsey of Block, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe about how they navigated the challenges and opportunities that defined their stories. Hosted by Roelof Botha, Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital, who has spent over 20 years building companies such as Youtube, Square, and Instagram.
The content of this podcast does not constitute investment advice, an offer to provide investment advisory services, or an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund.
Next Episode
Airbnb ft. Brian Chesky - Battling a copycat clone and rebuilding user trust to revolutionize travel
As Airbnb took off in the early 2010s, Brian Chesky remembers worrying, “this is just one accident away from being a dead idea.” That accident finally came in 2011 when a host’s apartment was ransacked. It set off a period of soul searching that became a turning point—the company’s efforts to rebuild trust led it to becoming the global behemoth it is today. In this episode, Brian reveals how this crisis shaped his thinking, and how the lessons would apply to the company’s next defining moments, including a pandemic that shut down global travel.
Host: Roelof Botha, Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital
Featuring: Brian Chesky, Ellie Mertz, Alfred Lin
Transcript: https://www.sequoiacap.com/podcast/crucible-moments-airbnb/
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