#869: Max Levchin, PayPal and Affirm — The Path from The Soviet Union to Building Multi-Billion Dollar Companies (Plus: Real-World Socialism vs. Capitalism)

Jun 10, 2026 · 1h 58m · YouTube

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EP · The Tim Ferriss Show · #869: Max Levchin, PayPal and Affirm — The Path from The Soviet Union to Building Multi-Billion Dollar Companies (Plus: Real-World Socialism vs. Capitalism)1:58:03

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1:52:14–1:52:23	Leftchin	host readaudio + YouTube	post-roll		leftchin.net	trigger
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1:57:27–1:57:48	ProLon	host readaudio + YouTube	post-roll		prolonlife.com/tim	trigger

Transcript

asr · 22,700 words · docs

0:00Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs.

0:02This is Tim Ferriss.

0:03Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to interview and deconstruct world-class performers of different types.

0:09And my guest today is someone I've wanted to have on for a long time, Max Levchin.

0:14Max was born in Ukraine before moving to the U.S.

0:16and settling in Chicago in 1991.

0:18He taught himself how to code with a pen and paper, with a pad of paper and a pen under trees in parks.

0:26And from those humble beginnings, he has gone on to do a million different things.

0:31He founded Affirm and Slide.

0:34He helped create Yelp, and I'll come back to a few of these.

0:37He co-founded PayPal along with people you would recognize like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk and others.

0:41He co-created ACAPTCHA, the first commercial implementation, and he has now invested in more than 100 startups.

0:52Computer scientist, serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, he does it all.

0:56He is also the co-founder and chairman of GLOW, a data-driven fertility company.

0:59A firm and GLOW were both created and launched from his San Francisco-based innovation lab, Sci-Fi VC.

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