The Founders

By Jimmy Soni

Categories: Business & Money

Before they were famous, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and a band of other contrarians were fighting to keep a scrappy payments start-up alive. Jimmy Soni tells the story of PayPal, from its battles with competitors and online fraud to its outsized influence on Silicon Valley. Its alumni went on to help create companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and Facebook, and PayPal itself helped shape fast-scaling start-ups, cashless payments, and mobile money.

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• Anthony Pompliano
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• David Sacks: “One project I will give a little plug to is Jimmy Soni's book The Founders, which is the story of PayPal and the entrepreneurs who shaped Silicon Valley.”