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Inside PayPal (2010)

paulgraham.com

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Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#21

Post by oblio »

spockz wrote: post #16
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #8

There is something nagging at me - it is something deep. It is that there has to be a set of values, a set of cultural red lines that we do not cross. Every branch of the military will happily tick pretty much all of those "do it now, don't let anything stop you" boxes. But every branch of the military has in place very deep redlines (sometimes expressed as rules of engagement, sometimes as "honour") - because they k…

I agree with your first bit, without boundaries we will get a runaway system. But what does the reference to Ming China mean? > Yes there is danger in retreating from the edge of chaos - but then we all live in Ming China. That is a better problem than going too far over the eve of chaos.

I wonder if OP isn't confusing Ming China with Qing China. The Ming dynasty had a period of exploration and then it stopped, but not because it closed itself off, just because it was becoming unstable.

Qing China is the one that famously closed itself off from the world.

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#22

Post by troelsSteegin »

How did projects get staffed? Was that senior mgrs allocating staff to winner proposals? The article mentions "Most great innovations at PayPal were driven by one person who then conscripted others to support, adopt, implement the new idea.". I am wondering how "conscripted" worked. It also mentions "Vigorous debate, often via email: Almost every important issue had champions and critics. These were normally resolved not by official edict but by a vigorous debate that could be very intense." It looks like David Sacks was successful at shaping a product-driven culture there. Is the implication that innovation and project allocation was coming out of "product"?

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#23

Post by ArtWomb »

PayPal's Technical FAQ from Oct '99 (cobbled in response to a Slashdot post haha) demonstrates how ahead of the game they were: use of ECC (with tech advice from Stanford's Dan Boneh & Martin Hellman), privacy policy that prohibited sale of user data to 3rd party advertisers, generating cash via "the float" in a Merrill Lynch Money Market Fund, etc.

https://web.archive.org/web/19991012084438/http://paypal.com...

But I think it's probably the "synergy" with eBay that was the biggest surprise. I recall having a neighbor at that time who sold old movie posters. Rather than driving around the country to comic book conventions, he was able to do more in one month in online auctions than the past decades he had been collecting. That was the great awakening. PayPal went from "college kids requesting cash from parents" to trading rare sports memorabilia with instant clearing by March 2000.

>>> If you needed to integrate with an outside vendor, you picked up the phone yourself and called; you didn’t wait for a BD person to become available. You did (the first version of) mockups and wireframes yourself; you didn’t wait for a designer to become available. You wrote (the first draft of) site copy yourself; you didn’t wait for a content writer.

"You must unlearn what you have learned" ;)

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#24

Post by itomato »

apples_oranges wrote: post #2

Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)

The opportunity is the paydirt.

The experienced oldsters make up the sluice.

The youngsters represent the water.

Nobody worries much about the spillage if there's gold in the pan.

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#26

Post by saucymew »

As much as I respect the founders/alumni that came from PayPal, do any of them still use it?

Forced to use PayPal since 2004 as a small business owner, it was impossible to reach their customer support. They've also left me to fight with insurers when it came to fraudulent transactions.

Glad to hear they built a talented team, but as a customer...

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#27

Post by kubanczyk »

> you’d do your homework first and then come to the table with "35% of our [insert some key metric here] are caused by the lack of X functionality"

Tangential, how do you decide whether to collect a new metric? Use data-driven thinking? But how, you don't have data until you invest in building that collector.

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#28

Post by ericcholis »

ArtWomb wrote: post #23

PayPal's Technical FAQ from Oct '99 (cobbled in response to a Slashdot post haha) demonstrates how ahead of the game they were: use of ECC (with tech advice from Stanford's Dan Boneh & Martin Hellman), privacy policy that prohibited sale of user data to 3rd party advertisers, generating cash via "the float" in a Merrill Lynch Money Market Fund, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/19991012084438/http://paypal.com... But…

And now, eBay is moving to accept more payments outside of PayPal.

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#29

Post by rkalla »

apples_oranges wrote: post #2

Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)

Worked there for 7 years - it's a fantastic place to work. It's all about relationships to get things done, but the people are generally fantastic and well-meaning.

Re: Inside PayPal (2010)

#30

Post by dehrmann »

ArtWomb wrote: post #23

PayPal's Technical FAQ from Oct '99 (cobbled in response to a Slashdot post haha) demonstrates how ahead of the game they were: use of ECC (with tech advice from Stanford's Dan Boneh & Martin Hellman), privacy policy that prohibited sale of user data to 3rd party advertisers, generating cash via "the float" in a Merrill Lynch Money Market Fund, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/19991012084438/http://paypal.com... But…

> Rather than driving around the country to comic book conventions, he was able to do more in one month in online auctions than the past decades he had been collecting.

I personally try not to collect things, but for those who do, I wonder if this ruined the hobby because of instant gratification.

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