Slides from my talk at Startup Weekend Orange County on Nov. 19, 2011 at Chapman University. This presentation looks at what was special about PayPal that allowed so many of its entrepreneurs to go on to create successful companies, and what lessons new entrepreneurs could take from PayPal's experiences.

1. Origins of the PayPal Mafia
Lessons from a Precarious Journey

2. The Guy Talking at You
 Sorry for not one, but two shameless plugs:

3. Another PayPal Alumni
Success Story

4. “PayPal Mafia” Companies

5. The Secret of Success
 Reasons that PayPal Spun
Off So Many Success
Stories:
 Good People, Good Culture
 Solved a Big Problem
 Endured Difficult Challenges
 Prioritized Execution
 What Useful Lessons Can
We Take Away?

6. Good People, Good Culture
 “A” people hire “A” people; “B” people…you know
 Relied on networks for initial hires
 Employees were empowered
 Dissent was encouraged

7. Solved a Big Problem
 Vision: Revolutionize payments with
an online currency
 Strategy: Build a global, ubiquitous
payment network
 Tactics: Stack our new network on top
of eBay’s existing network

8. Endured Difficult Challenges
 Broken business model
 Tons of Competitors (Yahoo, Citibank, Bank One)
 A very hostile host platform (eBay)
 Foreign Mafia (Yes, really!)
 Regulators (Louisiana, Eliot Spitzer)
 Media (From awesome to evil)
 Ourselves (Scaling, Ops/CS, Website, TOU)

9. Prioritized Execution
 Double Pivot: Platform (Palm to web) and Market (P2P
to auction)
 Lean before Lean was Even a Thing
 Customer-Centric but Opinionated
 Viral Growth

10. Key Lessons from PayPal
 Big Picture Vision, Short Term
Focus
 Hire the A-team (duh!)
 Push decision-making down the org
chart
 Even the winners have rocky roads
 Platform dependence is risky (Remember this slide. The
rest were filler.)
Source: “The PayPal Wars and its Lessons for Today’s Entrepreneurs” by
Sachin Rekhi (http://bit.ly/uiflOe)

11. Thank You!
www.caplinked.com
@ericmjackson