Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259363 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 270 pages

Customer Reviews

More exciting than you'd expect!
Once upon a time there was a brave little start-up called PayPal. It fought many battles but the people loved it, until an evil giant ate it up...

I've seen this book described as "like a thriller", and while I think that's overstating the case rather, it's a lot more exciting than you'd imagine. What made it particularly interesting for me was that I remember most of this: the stunt where PayPal's initial funding was sent to it from a VC's phone, the fight with Billpoint, and the absolute shock when eBay finally bought them.

The author was the marketing guy, so anyone expecting much in the way of technical detail either on the engineering or finance side is going to be disappointed. What you get instead is an insider's view of the rollercoaster ride that was PayPal's first few years. Anyone used to the rather faceless corporation they've become might find it intriguing to find out that they were once just a bunch of guys, doing business off a ping-pong table, and how frequently they came so close to going under.

Fight for Survival
This is a story about PayPal's history and its fight for survival. Warren Buffett coined a term called a moat to describe a company's competitive advantage over its competitors. This book is a great example of a company with a moat. PayPal had such loyal customers that eBay could not even beat it. Finally, eBay gave up and acquired PayPal. This book is just a fabulous story of a small company fighting against a giant.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market