#029 Musk, Thiel, Coups, Hackers, Fraud and the Founding of PayPal w/ Author Jimmy Soni

LISTEN: Podcast | Youtube

I’m joined by author Jimmy Soni to talk about his latest book “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley”, which has become a national best seller, New York Times Editors’ Choice, and listed by the Financial Times as “Books to Read in 2022”.

The Wall Street Journal writes, “A gripping account of PayPal’s origins and a vivid portrait of the geeks and contrarians who made its meteoric rise possible.”

LINKS

• The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley (Amazon)
• Follow Jimmy Soni (LinkedIn, Twitter)
• Book Reviews: Wall Street Journal, NY Times
• News: The PayPal story could be coming to a screen near you (Protocol) 🍿🥤

SHOW NOTES

• “A gripping account of PayPal’s origins and a vivid portrait of the geeks and contrarians who made its meteoric rise possible” (The Wall Street Journal)
• McLaren F1 (only ~100 every made) — fastest car every made.
• PayPal and X.com discovery tiny sliver of the internet that is in desperate need of online payments: power eBay sellers.
• Bill Harris Coup
  • Elon Musk Coup
• Fraud — “Igor the hacker”.
• Ebay’s tighter integration with Billpoint (”Buy It Now”, etc.) Can shut down PayPal at every moment.
• PayPal goes public triggering sale to eBay for $1.5B (2002).
• “PayPal Mafia” goes on launch the new internet: LinkedIn, YouTube, SpaceX, Tesla, Facebook, Palantir, Yelp, etc.