
Early pictures from the days when PayPal was a startup - SuperChihuahua
http://www.levchin.com/paypal-slideshow/1.html
======
aresant
Hard to believe that as recently as 1999 the lack of ubiquitous camera-phones
meant that images like this are rare / remarkable.

You can see in the photo properties several are taken with a Sony Cybershot -
eg somebody had to have the forethought to drag out an actual, gasp, camera to
document these events.

In the context of this photo essay that means that many of the photos are
either posed or around "events" where a camera would likely be welcome - IPO
celebration, work parties, etc.

So what's mostly missing here - and everybody's photo albums of that era - are
much of the unexpected, the spontaneous, etc.

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TallboyOne
This post makes me really bittersweet, bordering on emo. During that period I
was just a wee lad that couldnt get ENOUGH of the computer... I was
programming and doing all sorts of things.

Stupid stupid stupid me never even thought to try to do online advertising or
making a website that catered to an idea. Instead I dicked around with video
game websites (which actually got a huge following but died off when the game
did), small game development and 3d design.

I regret that to this day, I would undoubtedly be in a different spot had I
used my very good talents with the end goal of making a profit in mind. Now
all these years later it seems like I'm in the same position as everyone else,
whereas then I realized the insane potential of the internet yet my idiot
brain never put 2+2 together with the idea of money.

~~~
at-fates-hands
I often have the same reaction to stories like this. It's easy to see the
nostalgia in the story, and thinking about what you have missed.

Unfortunately, starting a business from the ground up, whether it was 20 years
ago or today is not easy. What people always miss in the nostalgia is how
incredibly hard it is to do this. It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to
have something like this be successful.

Even looking at the tech industry today, your choice of game development and
game design seems spot on. The gaming industry has been growing like crazy the
last ten years.

~~~
TallboyOne
I should have clarified -- I was younger at the time, so I'm not talking about
"startups", hiring a mass amount of people, getting funding. I'm talking about
building a website to fill a niche that is now massively popular, or pursuing
advertising or other ways to make money besides trying to buy an office
building and a lot of employees.

I ALREADY had the pieces in place, I had connections to get things done (not
like "oh I have connections", im just saying for being a young lad I knew a
lot of people that would help me that knew what they were doing). Thinking
back I actually impress my current day self with what I did. I already had the
knowledge, I already had 90% of what I needed, I even had a successful
starting place with a successful site... instead I dicked around with 3d
models instead of putting my mind into media buying or ANYTHING having to do
with making money. It just didnt OCCUR to me that yes, you could be making
money right now.

I suppose as a concrete example -- I didnt start doing online advertising
until about 3 years ago, where my best days were $4k profit per day for about
over a month straight. Ive had other similar campaigns. This is going from
zero experience to a year or two of trying different things. Its MUCH harder
now then it was back then, and I know beyond all reasonable doubt I would be
sitting on a lot larger bankroll had I played things differently 10 years ago.

~~~
brador
When you say online advertising you mean affiliate ads right? Mostly black
hat? The blacks I know make 10x multiples of the white hats.

~~~
TallboyOne
Yes affiliate advertising, media buying, SEO.

I wouldnt say black hat, moreso grey hat or trying to game the system. I
probably wouldn't have pursued anything like cookie stuffing or anything
malicious.

Edit: If youre talking about the campaigns within the last 3 years, most were
whitehat.. one of them on the way seedier side of things though, but still
nothing that would harm a users computer, or had anything to do with
fraudulent traffic.

------
pilgrim689
How come I don't see Elon Musk in any of these pictures? I don't know much of
PayPal history, but didn't he co-found it?

~~~
salimmadjd
Here's a photo of musk with theil and bringing x.com. This is before Musk had
his cosmetic work done, <http://www.stepbrother.co.za/tech7.html>

~~~
JackWebbHeller
Have you got a source on the whole plastic surgery thing? The difference
between the two photos just looks like a man who grew into his looks and got
took onboard some style advice.

~~~
salimmadjd
up-vote for the fair question. I was under the impression that information was
common knowledge among SV elites. The person who initially told me was close
to paypal people. How this came about it went something like this:

me - Hey I noticed earlier photos of Musk and he looks so different.

the other person - oh yeah, this whole surgery thing was known among some
paypal people I know....

Ignoring the above conversation. His facial changes are sort of going against
the pattern of aging.

1 - his receding hairline (starting 10 years ago) is reversing and it's almost
gone now. <http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/201/elonbeforeafter.jpg>

2 - usually people go from high cheekbone to rounded face as they age not
usually the reverse. <http://www.stepbrother.co.za/images/musk2.jpg>

also the scar just under his left eye is not there anymore
[http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/feature-80-Musk-1-pa...](http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/feature-80-Musk-1-pan_5343.jpg)

That said, I'm rather embarrassed for posting this and reply to your comment.
But I find it intriguing what you need to do as a visionary since image is
everything and there is probably something we can all learn from this.

------
webmonkeyuk
This post has done the rounds on here a few times now:

[http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=levchin.com...](http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=levchin.com&start=0)

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2552860>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20085>

~~~
mkr-hn
What's your point? I haven't seen it before, so I'm glad it's reposted
periodically.

~~~
thehigherlife
I can't speak specifically for him, but maybe he was being nice and providing
the other threads so that you could peruse them.

~~~
mkr-hn
That kind of thing is usually prefaced with something like "here's some other
interesting discussions on this." But maybe I'm wrong and webmonkeyuk had good
intentions.

------
fpp
When you want to know what happened to many of the others pictured there
(besides Levchin), lookup PayPal Mafia on Wikipedia:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia>

~~~
ovi256
Elon Musk is being amazing again. He's not busy enough with Tesla and Space X,
he's working on bullet-train in a vacuum tunnel tech:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop>

~~~
shorttime
That's insane, this guy has his hands in everything. I believe he's also had
his hand in solar energy (SolarCity), and was involved in PayPal.

Just reading his wiki and apparently he can even beat Russia's Putin in Judo.
I usually take everyone's success with a grain of salt but this guy seems to
have it all. Real Life Tony Stark?

~~~
pilgrim689
It's the other way around :P
([http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1...](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984745_1985495,00.html))

------
australis
<http://www.levchin.com/paypal-slideshow/index.html>

here is the intended splash page, provides a bit of context.

interesting photos and commentary - makes it seem like it happened so long ago
(i guess it did...)

------
Skroob
A nice little piece of history. It's easy to forget how PayPal used to be a
darling company instead of a pariah.

~~~
jseliger
Years ago I made the mistake of using them. Never again. Their habit of
screwing users, followed by complete opacity as to why they're screwing a
particular user at a particular time, makes them evil.

Which is really too bad: they provide what could be, in other circumstances, a
useful service.

I actually sued them in small claims court.

------
chayesfss
I remember creating my account and linking my bank account to my paypal
account. Seemed like the future, then ebay had to buy it. Now I don't have any
of my bank/credit cards linked to it and actually put in my credit card info
for each thing I purchase or subscribe to on the internet.

~~~
stephenhuey
When my cousin Kenny told me about how he was starting Paypal, I was fresh off
the boat from high school in Nigeria and had barely begun using the internet,
so this sounded very magical. And it truly was, because it really felt
futuristic when college friends would pay each other back by giving cash
online. When I proudly told them my cousin was at Paypal, it impressed the
non-geeks just as much as the geeks because it was so easy for everyone to
sense the impact of this technology.

------
kinkora
if neither of you picked it out, steve chen (of youtube fame) used to work for
Paypal before starting youtube and you can spot him on this slide:
<http://www.levchin.com/paypal-slideshow/3.html>

~~~
dangrossman
You can pick almost any well-known startup of the last 10 years and find a
connection to one of PayPal's founders --
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia#Membership>

------
gsibble
Can someone explain something for me? Elon Musk made approximately $110m from
the purchase of PayPal from eBay in 2002. His Wikipedia page states that he is
worth $2.4B.

Where did the other 95% of his wealth come from?

------
tzz
If it is helps, all in single page: <http://all.fuseurl.com/eeo>

------
leeskye
Is it me or does Thiel look like a younger version of PG in this pic?

