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

Max Levchin ( @mlevchin ) is a serial entrepreneur and investor in 100+ startups. He's the founder and CEO of Affirm , the payment network powering consumer purchases and merchant growth. An original PayPal co-founder, Max served as CTO until its 2002 acquisition by eBay. This episode is brought to you by: ProLon : science-backed Fasting Mimicking Diet that helps activate cellular renewal through fasting, while still eating nourishing meals: ProlonLife.com/Tim Monarch track, budget, plan, and do more with your money: Monarch.com/Tim   Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/tim Timestamps: [00:00:00] Start. [00:02:50] The Ronin line that rewired how Max makes every decision. [00:06:09] Paprika -style brain-computer interfaces. [00:09:09] PayPal's founders lived inside a Neal Stephenson novel. [00:19:21] Transformation via Neuromancer and Snow Crash . [00:23:40] The book that found Max his wife. [00:29:24] The real secret to a great marriage. [00:38:29] What's worth tracking, and what's not. [00:44:13] A scrawny kid, a clarinet, and a Kyiv velodrome. [00:46:55] What going all-out on a bike actually gives you. [00:51:02] The mantra by which Max rides. [00:53:02] A Soviet kid's fear of socialism. [01:02:48] Making a profit without destroying society. [01:04:31] What is Affirm, and why did every banker say it would fail? [01:20:18] Why the best mathematicians eschew the lending industry. [01:23:50] Does agentic commerce break Affirm, or supercharge it? [01:28:01] A PhD-level financial advisor in everyone's pocket. [01:29:58] How close are we to buying anything through one AI chat? [01:36:32] Improving your coffee: cheap, intermediate, and Bugatti options. [01:44:33] The books every first-time founder should actually read. [01:48:08] Claude Shannon, Ed Thorp, and the joy of playful genius. [01:51:00] Why physical books still beat every digital reading experience. [01:51:44] Parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast . For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter ( 5-Bullet Friday ) at tim.blog/friday . For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts . Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books . Follow Tim: Twitter : twitter.com/tferriss   Instagram : instagram.com/timferriss YouTube : youtube.com/timferriss Facebook : facebook.com/timferriss   LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .