Chapter 1
The birth of PayPal
Chapter 2
The secret sauce of PayPal
Chapter 3
Building the modern web
Chapter 4
Reaching for the stars
YOUR GOAL
Master of The PayPal mafia
Ch 2 · The secret sauce of PayPal
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!
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.
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.
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?