Max Levchin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Max Levchin
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| Максиміліан Левчин | |
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Levchin at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013 in San Francisco, California
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| Born |
Maksymilian Rafailovych Levchyn
July 11, 1975 |
| Education | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (BS) |
| Occupation | CEO of Affirm Co-founder and former CTO of PayPal |
| Spouse(s) | Nellie Minkova (m. 2008) |
| Children | 2 |
Maksymilian Rafailovych "Max" Levchin (born July 11, 1975) is a Ukrainian-American software engineer and businessman. He is famous for helping to start the company that became PayPal in 1998. Max Levchin also worked on ways to stop fraud at PayPal. He helped create the Gausebeck-Levchin test, which was an early version of a CAPTCHA. A CAPTCHA is a test used to tell if a user is a human or a computer.
He has also started other companies like Slide.com, HVF, and Affirm. He was one of the first people to invest in Yelp, a website where people can review businesses. He was Yelp's biggest shareholder in 2012. He also helped produce the movie Thank You for Smoking.
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Max Levchin's Early Life and School
Max Levchin was born in Kyiv, which was then part of the Ukrainian SSR. This area is now Kyiv, Ukraine. His family was Ukrainian-Jewish. In 1991, he moved to the United States and settled in Chicago.
When he was a child, Max had breathing problems. Doctors were not sure if he would live. With help from his grandmother and parents, he learned to play the clarinet. This helped him make his lungs stronger. He went to Mather High School. Later, he studied computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned his bachelor's degree there in 1997.
Max Levchin's Business Journey
In the summer of 1995, while still at the University of Illinois, Max Levchin started a company. He founded SponsorNet New Media with two other students, Luke Nosek and Scott Banister.
Starting PayPal
In 1998, Max Levchin and Peter Thiel started a company called Fieldlink. This company focused on security. It allowed people to store secret information on their PalmPilots. These devices were like early smartphones. The idea was for them to act as "digital wallets."
The company later changed its name to Confinity. They then created a popular way to send money called PayPal. They focused on sending money digitally using handheld devices. In 2000, Confinity joined with another company called X.com. By 2001, the company officially became PayPal, named after its main product.
PayPal, Inc. became a public company in February 2002. This means its shares could be bought and sold by anyone. In July 2002, eBay bought PayPal. At that time, Max Levchin owned 2.3% of PayPal. His share was worth about $34 million.
Max Levchin is well-known for his work to prevent fraud at PayPal. He also helped create the Gausebeck-Levchin test. This was one of the first times a CAPTCHA was used in a business. A CAPTCHA is a challenge that makes sure a human is using a computer, not a robot.
In 2002, MIT Technology Review named him one of the top 100 innovators under 35. He was also named Innovator of the Year. Max Levchin is part of a group called the "PayPal Mafia." This group includes about twenty former PayPal employees. They became very successful at starting and investing in new technology companies.
Creating Slide
In 2004, Max Levchin started a company called Slide. Slide was a service for sharing personal photos and videos. It worked with social media sites like Myspace and Facebook. In August 2010, Google bought Slide for $182 million. Max Levchin then joined Google as a vice president of engineering. However, in August 2011, Google announced it was closing Slide. Max Levchin then left Google.
HVF and Affirm
In late 2011, Max Levchin started a company called HVF. HVF stands for "Hard, Valuable, and Fun." This company aimed to find and support new projects and businesses. These projects would use data, especially from things like sensors.
In early 2012, a new financial technology company called Affirm was created from HVF. Affirm's goal was to build a new kind of credit system. Max Levchin, along with Nathan Gettings and Jeff Kaditz, started Affirm. The company is located in San Francisco.
In 2013, HVF also launched Glow. Glow is an app that helps couples try to have a baby naturally. After Affirm became a public company, Max Levchin's share in it was worth about $2.5 billion.
Max Levchin's Investments and Board Roles
Max Levchin was an important early investor in Yelp. Yelp is an online service where people can find and review businesses. It started in 2004. By 2012, he was Yelp's largest shareholder, owning over 7 million shares. Max Levchin was the chairman of Yelp's board of directors from when it started until July 2015. He also invested in Mixpanel. The founder of Mixpanel, Suhail Doshi, says Max Levchin helped his company survive and become successful.
Max Levchin also invested in Evernote, a note-taking app. He was on Evernote's board of directors from 2006 to 2016. In December 2012, he joined Yahoo's board of directors and stayed until December 2015.
In 2015, Max Levchin was asked to join an advisory board for the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This group gives advice to the government about financial rules. He was the first executive from Silicon Valley to join this board. In 2021, after his time on the board, Max Levchin said that technology companies should work more closely with government regulators.
As of 2021, Max Levchin's wealth was estimated to be about $3 billion.
Max Levchin in the Media
Max Levchin has spoken at many events. In 2007, he spoke at Startup School, organized by Y Combinator. He shared his experiences as an entrepreneur. He talked about the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned. He was also featured in the "Brilliant Issue" of Portfolio magazine. In 2022, Max Levchin was interviewed on an NPR podcast called "How I Built This." He talked about his early life and his business ventures, including his role in PayPal.
Max Levchin's Views on Politics
Max Levchin has supported FWD.us. This is a group in Silicon Valley that works to influence government policies. It was started by Mark Zuckerberg. The group focuses on making it easier for skilled immigrants to come to the United States. It also aims to improve education and help new technologies develop. Max Levchin shared his own story as an immigrant in a video for the group.
In 2013, there was a lot of discussion about government surveillance. Max Levchin believed that the NSA (National Security Agency) was important for protecting the U.S. from terrorism. He felt that even if the agency sometimes went too far, people should still support its main goal.
Other Activities
Max Levchin created and funded the Levchin Prize. Since 2016, this prize rewards important advancements in cryptography. Cryptography is the study of secure communication.
Max Levchin's Personal Life
In 2008, Max Levchin married his longtime girlfriend, Nellie Minkova. They have two children. He lived in San Francisco from 2007 to 2019. In 2019, he put his San Francisco home up for sale for $7.25 million. He had bought it in 2007 for $5.3 million.
