The Origin Story of the PayPal Mafia
The PayPal Wars
Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth
“Incredible insider’s account.” —USA Book News
Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and the rest of the “PayPal Mafia” are now household names who’ve reshaped technology, automobiles, space travel, and politics. But two decades ago, they were unsung entrepreneurs attempting to launch an unknown Silicon Valley startup against overwhelming odds.
Eric M. Jackson's lively, blow-by-blow account of PayPal's death-defying beginnings and ferocious battles offers a detailed perspective that only an eyewitness could provide. Read The PayPal Wars and you'll learn how:
Elon Musk joined with Peter Thiel, and how the two future titans would soon square off to control the company.
Organized crime attempted to ransack PayPal—but the company fought back.
Government bureaucrats and regulators ferociously tried to shut down the upstart payments service.
Turmoil pushed PayPal to the brink of insolvency before Thiel and his team turned the business around. “Our clashes with the credit card associations, the banking lobby, state regulators, foreign Mafioso, and litigation-happy lawyers significantly increased” as the company’s profile grew, writes Jackson, adding that the initial public offering that was meant to strengthen PayPal with an infusion of cash ironically attracted a rogue's gallery of foes instead.
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Praise for The PayPal Wars:
Winner, Business Book of the Year —Writers Notes Book Awards
"In his celebrated book, The PayPal Wars, Eric Jackson describes how... [PayPal] had to battle crotchety regulators, identity thieves, volatile markets, scrappy rivals and even scheming Mafiosi" —The Economist
“Kept me up all night reading… it’s a real page turner” —Tom Peters, author of the management classic, In Search of Excellence
"Excellent account of the founding and rise of PayPal" —Ben Casnocha, author of the NYT bestseller, The Startup of You
“Jackson’s engaging narrative reads in turn like a spy novel, a business text, and an insider tell-all” —Reason Magazine
“The PayPal Wars is the Liar’s Poker of the Internet era—a gripping, honest tale that captures the craziness and magic of Silicon Valley" —Jeff Giesea, entrepreneur & communications specialist
“It’s rare that a business book is a page turner, but The PayPal Wars is. I read the whole book on one cross-country flight” —Tech Central Station
"[Future] historians will find no better evidence of the mad genius of the age than in Eric Jackson’s The PayPal Wars... Reading it you just hang on for dear life” — Brad Miner, former literary editor, National Review