4 ms·

I can't believe this guy is into credit lending now. A bit sleezy tbh.

by msane 10y ago

seibelj 10y ago
There are only so many areas where having capital and calculating the same numbers that everyone else has differently can reap great profits. I think lending is one such area.
sean_patel 10y ago
> A bit sleezy tbh. Care to explain yourself? Are you confusing Levchin with Thiel? Granted they co-founded Paypal, but if you see Levchin's public talks (at SXSW, YC School etc), you'll see he's a very honest individual. Affirm itself was formed because Max felt it wrong that Big Banks makes a majority of Profits on hidden, sleezy, fine-print fees. He says this so himself at the SXSW Talk (search in youtube). Affirm touts itself as being honest and upfront about each and every charge or fee for their service.You can see it on their website.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
dakrisht 10y ago
Max and Peter are two of the smartest guys in the game. Period. And their successes prove it to the naysayers. There's nothing sleazy about what either have done. What have you done aside from posting comments on HN?
- msane 10y ago
  They want to make a conversion optimized "make-me-a-debtor" button for the internet. I'll say it again, *sleezy.
  - snarf 10y ago
    Affirm was initially supposed to be an alternative credit rating system based on social signals, and I believe credit ratings are highly regulated, so they pivoted to money lending, which is not as nice of a business. Levchin seems pretty desperate to be a successful serial entrepreneur and compares himself to other ex-Paypal people who have gone on to do big things[1]. This is despite having made a ton of money via investing in Yelp. He did manage to exit Slide to Google, but I don't know how successful of an acquisition that is considered within Google. There was that Sarah Lacy book called "Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good" in which he was pretty prominently profiled, so successful serial entrepreneurship must be a prestige thing for him. I agree with you that retail money lending seems a bit desperate and unseemly, and definitely not on the same level as SpaceX or LinkedIn. It feels a bit like Square getting into payday loans to gin up revenue. [1] https://pando.com/2013/08/08/with-another-6m-glow-is-max-levchins-trojan-horse-to-remake-american-healthcare/ https://pando.com/2013/08/08/with-another-6m-glow-is-max-lev...
    - msane 10y ago
      I think you nailed it about his drive for successful serial entrepreneurship. Slide was sold for an ok price but was shut off. I don't know how Levchin fared at Google but I assume he probably didn't like working for someone else. I think he chose an area where it was almost guaranteed they would make a lot of money / perceived success. Affirm is definitely that, they will make a lot of money, but it is not far off from payday loans and rent-to-own furniture, no matter how good the PR is.
- dang 10y ago
  > What have you done aside from posting comments on HN? Personal attacks are not allowed here and will get your account banned, so please don't.
  - msane 10y ago
    appreciated
TuringNYC 10y ago
Totally disagree. Lots of companies in lending are sleazy but Affirm seems the opposite. They mark-up at the start so you know what you are getting into. As far as I can see, Affirm does not want you to carry a balance and get trapped into the compounding interest nightmare. To be fair, I have not used the service, but this is what I gather from scoping out the company and product usage.
dang 10y ago
Shallow dismissals are a scourge on HN, and you made it worse with the snark of "I can't believe" and "this guy". In fact, with a single drive-by swipe you dismissed not only the article and someone's current project, but the entire person and an entire business sector to boot. That's a lot of dismissing—it reminds me of the fairy tale, "Seven in one blow." And it's harmful here, so please don't post like this. If you have a case to make, you're welcome to make it substantively. If you can't do that or don't have time, please don't post at all. That way you at least won't degrade the thread.
- msane 10y ago
  Having known Max, I stand by my comment.
  - dang 10y ago
    This comment isn't substantive—it merely alludes to substance.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - msane 10y ago
      Do you think retail credit lending isn't sleezy, dang?
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]

I can't believe this guy is into credit lending now. A bit sleezy tbh.

by msane 10y ago

I can't believe this guy is into credit lending now. A bit sleezy tbh.

There are only so many areas where having capital and calculating the same numbers that everyone else has differently can reap great profits. I think lending is one such area.

sean_patel 10y ago

> A bit sleezy tbh. Care to explain yourself? Are you confusing Levchin with Thiel? Granted they co-founded Paypal, but if you see Levchin's public talks (at SXSW, YC School etc), you'll see he's a very honest individual. Affirm itself was formed because Max felt it wrong that Big Banks makes a majority of Profits on hidden, sleezy, fine-print fees. He says this so himself at the SXSW Talk (search in youtube). Affirm touts itself as being honest and upfront about each and every charge or fee for their service.You can see it on their website.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

dakrisht 10y ago

Max and Peter are two of the smartest guys in the game. Period. And their successes prove it to the naysayers. There's nothing sleazy about what either have done. What have you done aside from posting comments on HN?

msane 10y ago
They want to make a conversion optimized "make-me-a-debtor" button for the internet. I'll say it again, *sleezy.
- snarf 10y ago
  Affirm was initially supposed to be an alternative credit rating system based on social signals, and I believe credit ratings are highly regulated, so they pivoted to money lending, which is not as nice of a business. Levchin seems pretty desperate to be a successful serial entrepreneur and compares himself to other ex-Paypal people who have gone on to do big things[1]. This is despite having made a ton of money via investing in Yelp. He did manage to exit Slide to Google, but I don't know how successful of an acquisition that is considered within Google. There was that Sarah Lacy book called "Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good" in which he was pretty prominently profiled, so successful serial entrepreneurship must be a prestige thing for him. I agree with you that retail money lending seems a bit desperate and unseemly, and definitely not on the same level as SpaceX or LinkedIn. It feels a bit like Square getting into payday loans to gin up revenue. [1] https://pando.com/2013/08/08/with-another-6m-glow-is-max-levchins-trojan-horse-to-remake-american-healthcare/ https://pando.com/2013/08/08/with-another-6m-glow-is-max-lev...
  - msane 10y ago
    I think you nailed it about his drive for successful serial entrepreneurship. Slide was sold for an ok price but was shut off. I don't know how Levchin fared at Google but I assume he probably didn't like working for someone else. I think he chose an area where it was almost guaranteed they would make a lot of money / perceived success. Affirm is definitely that, they will make a lot of money, but it is not far off from payday loans and rent-to-own furniture, no matter how good the PR is.
dang 10y ago
> What have you done aside from posting comments on HN? Personal attacks are not allowed here and will get your account banned, so please don't.
- msane 10y ago
  appreciated

TuringNYC 10y ago

Totally disagree. Lots of companies in lending are sleazy but Affirm seems the opposite. They mark-up at the start so you know what you are getting into. As far as I can see, Affirm does not want you to carry a balance and get trapped into the compounding interest nightmare. To be fair, I have not used the service, but this is what I gather from scoping out the company and product usage.

dang 10y ago

Shallow dismissals are a scourge on HN, and you made it worse with the snark of "I can't believe" and "this guy". In fact, with a single drive-by swipe you dismissed not only the article and someone's current project, but the entire person and an entire business sector to boot. That's a lot of dismissing—it reminds me of the fairy tale, "Seven in one blow." And it's harmful here, so please don't post like this. If you have a case to make, you're welcome to make it substantively. If you can't do that or don't have time, please don't post at all. That way you at least won't degrade the thread.

msane 10y ago
Having known Max, I stand by my comment.
- dang 10y ago
  This comment isn't substantive—it merely alludes to substance.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - msane 10y ago
    Do you think retail credit lending isn't sleezy, dang?
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]