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Ok, I wouldn’t exactly call this required reading…how about a highly recommended healthy diversion from your hectic work week? This account of the early years of Pay Pal reads like a fiction, complete with plot twists, protagonists, antagonists…and perhaps even a motif here and there. But a fiction, it is not, since this actually recounts the real-life drama which the young company had to overcome to survive in a such a tumultuous market. Allegorically speaking, this book taught me two very important things:

Lesson 1: Rough Road To Success

Sometimes we see these big web companies like Pay Pal and tend to think that their path to success was paved with gold. This book, however, reminds us that even the best ideas with the best management teams have to fight tooth and nail to survive and become household names. Pay Pal Wars gives us a behind-the-curtains look at the pitfalls and challenges that probably plagues any startup with great market potential. Learning from Pay Pal’s mistakes, decisions, and strategy could potentially save any company time and money. 

Lesson 2: A Bigger Purpose

I can only imagine Pay Pal’s elevator pitch: an auction payment platform allowing sellers to collect credit card payments from buyers. Business model: take a small percentage fee from the millions of auctions performed daily. Simple idea, simple business, easy money. This is probably the pitch that got them financed for many millions of dollars…but this is not what drove their passion to succeed. 

The initial team was driven by a higher purpose: to create a universal currency…to make the world a better place. As an entrepreneur, it’s sometimes convenient to follow the money, but it would be foolish to lose sight of the bigger purpose for your company…the high idea that motivates the company and its employees towards success.