Book Review- The Founders by Jimmy Sonni
The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley By Jimmy Sonni
This is a gripping narrative of the "Paypal Mafia". I had to use the word, even though the author clarified it clearly. In fact, by the end of the book, you will see that there was no Mafia at all, but at the same time, you will come away with greater respect for all the men and women in the story. The author stated that part of his intention was to draw out the human story in this legend of the Paypal Mafia, he did that successfully and gave us the gift of telling the story in a way that we could learn so much. We are grateful to Mr. Jimmy Soni.
I have always enjoyed tech stories. By the time I was 20 I had binged on all the biographies of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, etc, and the stories of the companies they founded or led.
Before now, I had never read an in-depth story of the Paypal founders.
I like how the story began with all the companies the founders started and their personal journeys. For instance, it begins with how Levchin had to leave his country of birth, Ukraine, and find a new life in the US. Just to say, before now, I didn't know of Levchin. The book introduced me to him, and so many others that were at the foundation of what became Paypal. This taught me something; today, it is easy to look at the companies Peter Thiel and Elon Musk run and think "Wow. These guys built this in one shot.", but that's not the case. Paypal was their third or the fourth try, more, it is the product of so many iterations and mergers. In fact, it has not reached its original conception yet.
That's how ideas work. They do not come fully formed. They keep changing according to reality. And for the founders, the experienced they gained from different places were brought to the Paypal work
I like how realistic they were at various points. Especially Peter Thiel. The original companies were Confinity and X.com, they were competitors and were getting aggressive at competing and then they realized if they kept us with this competition it will destroy them both. They merged together. Again this pragmatism will play out again when they sold to eBay.
The demanding atmosphere they created at work is admirable. Today, hard work is thought of as something disastrous to mental health. Hold it there, I get the mental health argument. In fact, I sleep more than anyone I know and I disengage frequently. Yet, I think we are denying ourselves the sweet pleasure of working hard under the guise of mental health. Here is the paradox of life, the things that will bring you the highest satisfaction are the things that you work the hardest for. It is after you've pushed your limits and achieved a goal that you reach a nirvana of satisfaction.
The stories of the CEO's exit and coups were fascinating. As a Nigerian, I found the instructive. You can never imagine such in Nigeria.
A person I came to love so much after reading this is Reid Hoffman, a man whose biography I had never read. Of course, I knew he founded LinkedIn, but I never read about him. He was a tactical, negotiating genius. One time, he was told to hold a sale conversation with eBay just before an IPO. He wasn't meant to sell it, just to hold the conversation to allow Paypal to have a successful IPO. He succeeded. The author narrates other stories of how Reid played a crucial role in keeping things going. Another achievement of the book is how it tells how specific individuals in the whole Paypal story played a role.
There were so many moments of "If we had not done this, Paypal will not be existing today" .... that's the nature of ideas and entrepreneurship. Risk. There was no guarantee that Paypal will succeed. There was no place where it was fixed in stone. The founders just took action and dared the universe. The risk paid off. Entrepreneurship is all about risk. There will be moments of near disaster and collapse, and there will be moments of near death but entrepreneurs keep pushing.
In this book you will read about the competitive fight between Paypal and eBay and the eventual merger, you will read the stories of tinkering with ideas and how they were deployed, you will read of the daredevil courage of some men and women and you will find inspiration all along.
I am still fascinated by the fact that a group of nobodies created and pursued an idea that is worth multi-billions today. As of today, PayPal is worth 92 billion USD.
I was fired up when I was done. This is a very good read.
The book ends with a powerful story of two prisoners who found a way through prison by reading up the Paypal founder's story. It is relishing. Computers give you a new power. They give you the power to create. Tech is an antidote to poverty, chaos, and to hopelessness. For folks in Nigeria, get a tech skill. You will never regret it.
I highly recommend it.
Actionable Insights For You
1. Stop waiting to fully understand your idea. Just take action.
2. Build a formidable team that can drive your idea.
3. Be open to new suggestions and directions.
4. Follow what works, not necessarily what you like.