The PayPal mafia

steve The secret sauce of PayPal

They built a payment giant, then spread their code wide, From PayPal's founders, a whole tech empire arrived!

Jul 9

steve Inventing the modern CAPTCHA test

steve To stop automated bots from draining accounts, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin helped popularize the first CAPTCHA.

steve PayPal engineers designed some of the world's first automated anti-fraud systems to survive massive cyberattacks.

BETA

steve Match the entrepreneurs to their companies to learn how one startup seeded an empire.

Fun Fact

The logo debate: Max Levchin and Peter Thiel once argued for hours over the exact shade of blue to use for the PayPal logo.

Glossary

viral loop (noun)
A marketing mechanism that prompts current users to recruit new ones, creating continuous exponential growth. In 1999, Luke Nosek designed a cash referral bonus that successfully catalyzed PayPal's early expansion.

Gossip

Which security check annoys you the absolute most online?

Quiz

Which magazine published the 2007 photo that coined the phrase 'PayPal Mafia'?

steve Catching the first online fraudsters

Quiz

What was the name of the early anti-fraud system developed by PayPal engineers?

steve The famous photo that named them

Quiz

Why did the founders of PayPal prefer hiring people from their own social circles?

steve Hiring friends instead of headhunters

Quiz

What does the acronym CAPTCHA, which PayPal helped popularize, stand for?

Quiz

From which university did Peter Thiel and Max Levchin recruit many of PayPal's early employees?

Quiz

How many former PayPal employees were featured in the famous 2007 'PayPal Mafia' photoshoot?

Quiz

What was the primary reason the PayPal founders left eBay shortly after the acquisition?

Quiz

What main type of criminal activity threatened to bankrupt PayPal in its early years?