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| Tuesday, 28 August 2007 |
| Review: The PayPal Wars, by Eric M. Jackson |
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. |
| posted @ 11:36 |
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