From Kyiv Refugee to PayPal Mafia
His family fled the Soviet Union. He co-founded PayPal and beat online fraud. Then he built Affirm.
In the early days of online payments, fraudsters were stealing millions from PayPal.
Max Levchin, its co-founder and chief technology officer, built systems that stopped them and helped PayPal survive. Later, he founded Affirm, a buy now, pay later company.
Kyiv to Chicago
Max Levchin was born on July 11, 1975, in Kyiv, then part of the Soviet Union. In 1991, his family moved to Chicago as refugees.
He studied computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
PayPal
In 1998, Max co-founded Confinity with Peter Thiel and others. It merged with Elon Musk's X.com and became PayPal. As CTO, Max built fraud detection that became a model for the industry.
In 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion. The early team became known as the PayPal Mafia.
Slide and Yelp
Max founded Slide, which made apps for social networks, and sold it to Google in 2010. He was also an early investor and chairman at Yelp.
Affirm
In 2012, Max co-founded Affirm, which lets shoppers pay over time with clear fees and no late fee surprises. Affirm went public on the Nasdaq in January 2021.
Where he is now
Today, Max Levchin is co-founder and CEO of Affirm.
Why the story matters
Max Levchin shows how solving a hard technical problem, like fraud, can save a company.
For young builders, the lesson is simple. Build trust into your product from day one.
He made paying online safe, then made paying later honest.
The Record
Born: July 11, 1975
From: Kyiv, Ukraine; raised in Chicago
Studied: Computer science, University of Illinois
Built: PayPal (co-founder, CTO), Slide, Affirm
Timeline
1991 Family moves to Chicago.
1998 Co-founds Confinity, later PayPal.
2002 eBay buys PayPal.
2010 Sells Slide to Google.
2012 Co-founds Affirm.
2021 Affirm goes public.