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If it helps, he didn't really found PayPal or have much of anything to do with it one way or the other. He founded X.com, which merged with PayPal. He left afte

If it helps, he didn't really found PayPal or have much of anything to do with it one way or the other. He founded X.com, which merged with PayPal. He left after not doing much beyond arguing with Max Levchin about Windows vs FreeBSD. IIRC. Most people considered him kind of a joke before Tesla and SpaceX were mainstream successes. He's done amazing things with that PayPal money though. I bet a few dozen people on HN have ambitions as big as Elon Musk's but haven't lucked upon an easy $160M cash. He's the proof of what's possible when the right kind of person does.

orbifold 9y ago
Wikipedia says that he founded X.com, which merged with Confinity, initially he became CEO and later Peter Thiel the founder of Confinity took over and the company was renamed to PayPal.
- staunch 9y ago
  Yes, it's a bit confusing. Confinity created PayPal (roughly as we know it) before merging with X.com. X.com was a failed online bank and not really doing anything like PayPal's eBay stuff. > Confinity launched its milestone product, PayPal, in late 1999.[1] Confinity merged with X.com, founded by Elon Musk, in March 2000. The merged company became known as X.com because this was thought to be a name with broader long-term potential than Confinity or PayPal. However, surveys showed that a majority of consumers considered the name X.com vague and potentially pornographic and preferred that the company simply be called PayPal. After a corporate restructuring, the company adopted the name PayPal Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity
noitsnot 9y ago
From Wikipedia, he was the CEO after the merger who decided to shut down online banking and focus solely on PayPal. It sounds like he had a lot to do with it.
- staunch 9y ago
  It wasn't even a choice. X.com was a failure and PayPal was taking off. Ultimately, this kind of decision is up to the board anyway, not the CEO.
  - noitsnot 9y ago
    ...
    - staunch 9y ago
      Maybe quote the part of the article that makes you think that? They created and launched PayPal, and it took off (i.e. got traction on eBay), before the X.com merger. > 1999–2000 December–February Customer focus shift Confinity identifies eBay as a promising area to acquire users, because of the high concentration of buyers and sellers and the absence of any standard payment system for them to use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_PayPal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_PayPal
      - noitsnot 9y ago
        You're right.

orbifold 9y ago

Wikipedia says that he founded X.com, which merged with Confinity, initially he became CEO and later Peter Thiel the founder of Confinity took over and the company was renamed to PayPal.

staunch 9y ago
Yes, it's a bit confusing. Confinity created PayPal (roughly as we know it) before merging with X.com. X.com was a failed online bank and not really doing anything like PayPal's eBay stuff. > Confinity launched its milestone product, PayPal, in late 1999.[1] Confinity merged with X.com, founded by Elon Musk, in March 2000. The merged company became known as X.com because this was thought to be a name with broader long-term potential than Confinity or PayPal. However, surveys showed that a majority of consumers considered the name X.com vague and potentially pornographic and preferred that the company simply be called PayPal. After a corporate restructuring, the company adopted the name PayPal Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity

noitsnot 9y ago

From Wikipedia, he was the CEO after the merger who decided to shut down online banking and focus solely on PayPal. It sounds like he had a lot to do with it.

staunch 9y ago
It wasn't even a choice. X.com was a failure and PayPal was taking off. Ultimately, this kind of decision is up to the board anyway, not the CEO.
- noitsnot 9y ago
  ...
  - staunch 9y ago
    Maybe quote the part of the article that makes you think that? They created and launched PayPal, and it took off (i.e. got traction on eBay), before the X.com merger. > 1999–2000 December–February Customer focus shift Confinity identifies eBay as a promising area to acquire users, because of the high concentration of buyers and sellers and the absence of any standard payment system for them to use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_PayPal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_PayPal
    - noitsnot 9y ago
      You're right.