The PayPal wars
by Eric M. Jackson · first published 2004
48% recommend43% neutral9% critical
Why HN recommends it
Inside account of PayPal's early years, showing how a small startup survived much bigger rivals like eBay, fought fraud, and hired well. Suits founders wanting scrappy competition and sales tactics.
Common criticism: Some say the author is biased and overstates his own role
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
When a California hedge fund manager and a Ukrainian engineer launched an online payment service in 1999, they dreamed of overhauling the world's currency markets and improving the lives of millions. Their start-up survived the dot-com bust a year later only to find itself besieged by lawyers, bankers, Mafia, and even the auction site eBay--turning their quest to make Internet history into a desperate struggle for survival. Revised and updated, this critically acclaimed narrative by former insider Eric M. Jackson is the ultimate adventure in capitalism. Written like a novel, The PayPal Wars re
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You've raised a lot of interesting questions, and I cannot possibly respond to them all. I think you'd enjoy The Paypal Wars (Jackson). It's about how Paypal survived unfair fights with much bigger companies. Fascinating story. And it shows how sometimes there are options that lead to better outcomes... you just have to be…
on “Story of Phil Katz (PKZip)” ↗I started reading "Paypal Wars" (http://www.amazon.com/PayPal-Wars-Battles-Media-Planet/dp/09...) which is quite a fascinating read with lots of insight.
on “Books for people in the software business” ↗Or, PayPal Wars: http://www.amazon.com/PayPal-Wars-Battles-Media-Planet/dp/09... It also mentioned the legal hoops they had to jump through...and was a very interesting read.
on “Ask HN: Rate this Start Up - Venmo.com” ↗Game Theory At Work http://www.amazon.com/Game-Theory-Work-Outmaneuver-Competiti... PayPal Wars http://www.amazon.com/PayPal-Wars-Battles-Media-Planet/dp/09... Stealing MySpace http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-MySpace-Control-Popular-Websi... Predictably Irrational http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Hidden-Forces-D...
on “Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?” ↗Also see: The PayPal Wars. http://www.amazon.com/PayPal-Wars-Battles-Media-Planet/dp/09...
on “Paypal Adds Innovative ‘Bump’ To Mobile Payment Suite” ↗…Eagleman. It's a novel exercise in philosophy, and I thoroughly enjoyed five or six of the stories. It's a very creative and original book (and short, too) and is a good lesson in constrained thinking. - The PayPal Wars is the story of PayPal's early years from the viewpoint of former PayPal marketing executive, Eric Jackson. I found it a riveting read on the trials and tribulations of a startup in a difficult market.…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books of 2010?” ↗From what I remember from The Paypal Wars (highly recommended): There was a culture clash when X got bought by Paypal. Elon was in charge of X and became the CEO of the combined company (as Peter Thiel took a leave of abscence) and wanted to…
on “Tesla model S eliminates range anxiety” ↗Which book has had the strongest effect on how you make products? And why? To be honest many books left an impression on me. Those that I found to be most interesting are: Paypal Wars by Eric M. Jackson Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation by Tyler Cowen Data Smart Using Data Science to Transform Information…
on “Which book has had the strongest effect on how you make products? And why?” ↗…interesting topic. Most likely it's been done already. Anyway, here's my list: - Monk and the Riddle- Randy Komisar (You HAVE to read this, it puts it in the right perspective. Randy is a genius) - Paypal Wars - Founders at Work- Jessica Livingston
on “Best Books For a Startup?” ↗Interesting article overall, but one clueless sentence amused me: "Meg Whitman grew rich by developing an online marketplace, eBay, where people could buy and sell without ever meeting." I recommend the book Paypal Wars. It was written by one of the "Paypal mafia." The book goes into quite a bit of detail about the early Paypal-eBay story, with an epilogue covering events until 2006. The reality is exactly the opposite…
on “An idea whose time has come: Entrepreneurialism has become cool” ↗I highly recommend reading "The Paypal Wars" - I think Musk learned a lot from his mistakes at Paypal, but I also think there are elements of his personality that are still problematic for managing a going concern. Nonetheless, I personally like…
on “Elon Musk’s Funding for Tesla Wasn’t So Secure” ↗…books I read are usually business profiles/bios of founders/companies. 1) iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business 2) The Google Story 3) The Perfect Store: Inside eBay 4) Paypal Wars 5) Barbarians at the Gate (not tech-related but one of the best business books of all time)
on “Ask HN: What's the best first business book for a programmer?” ↗…because PayPal was superior at many things (eg. marketing), but also because they cracked the fraud problem (which was an existential crisis early on in their history). I recommend reading the book "PayPal Wars" for a better historical accounting.
on “PayPal Starts Banning VPN and SmartDNS Services” ↗The end of the book 'The PayPal Wars' gives fascinating context on how development just completely dies in a corporate environment. They went from being able to roll major new features in a weekend to requiring months just to schedule a…
on “uBlock Origin 1.20” ↗Read Paypal Wars if you want to know how that's done. They spent their entire existence about a week ahead of being crushed by eBay. The trick is to start with brilliant people, hire more brilliant people, and give them…
on “YC startup Auctomatic looking to hire” ↗