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David Sacks on what made the PayPal Mafia so successful
The employees of PayPal went on to build many of the companies that defined Silicon Valley in the 2000s, such as Tesla, SpaceX, LinkedIn, YouTube, Palantir, Yelp, Yammer, and more.
David Sacks—founding COO and product leader at PayPal—reflects on some of the factors that he believed contributed to their success:
“I think one of the key things was that PayPal innovated not just on product, but on distribution as well.”
He gives three examples of distribution strategies the PayPal Mafia brought with them to their next companies:
1. Virality. PayPal paid users $20 to refer their friends, which led to explosive growth. Virality was a huge factor in LinkedIn’s success.
2. Building on an existing network/platform. PayPal leveraged eBay’s power seller network, while LinkedIn leveraged their users’ network of email contacts. You want to “go where the users already are,” Sacks argues.
3. Embeds. PayPal let customers embed the logo on their websites and eBay auctions. YouTube employed this same strategy by making their videos easy to embed on Myspace and other websites.
Sacks continues:
“All of these techniques today are commonplace, but in the early 2000s, we were one of the first companies to do them… We were innovating not just on product but on distribution as well, and that is something that all of the PayPal Mafia companies have done.”
He contrasts the ~220 employees pre-IPO PayPal employees producing 7+ unicorns versus only a handful from Google even though Google had 100x the number of employees.
“It’s a really interesting question: Why?… I think this sort of scrappiness around distribution is a big part of the explanation… If you’re an entrepreneur working in a small team, you’ve got to figure out from zero: How do I get my first user? How do I get the second user? How does that go to one hundred, one thousand, one million?… [Google] never has to think about that. They’ve got guaranteed distribution of half a billion users. And so, I think that scrappiness around distribution is one of the key reasons that there’s been so many PayPal mafia companies. I think it’s an interesting thing to think about as you create your own startups.”
Video source: @draper_u (2014)
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David Sacks on what made the PayPal Mafia so successful
The employees of PayPal went on to build many of the companies that defined Silicon Valley in the 2000s, such as Tesla, SpaceX, LinkedIn, YouTube, Palantir, Yelp, Yammer, and more.
David Sacks—founding COO and product leader at PayPal—reflects on some of the factors that he believed contributed to their success:
“I think one of the key things was that PayPal innovated not just on product, but on distribution as well.”
He gives three examples of distribution strategies the PayPal Mafia brought with them to their next companies:
1. Virality. PayPal paid users $20 to refer their friends, which led to explosive growth. Virality was a huge factor in LinkedIn’s success.
2. Building on an existing network/platform. PayPal leveraged eBay’s power seller network, while LinkedIn leveraged their users’ network of email contacts. You want to “go where the users already are,” Sacks argues.
3. Embeds. PayPal let customers embed the logo on their websites and eBay auctions. YouTube employed this same strategy by making their videos easy to embed on Myspace and other websites.
Sacks continues:
“All of these techniques today are commonplace, but in the early 2000s, we were one of the first companies to do them… We were innovating not just on product but on distribution as well, and that is something that all of the PayPal Mafia companies have done.”
He contrasts the ~220 employees pre-IPO PayPal employees producing 7+ unicorns versus only a handful from Google even though Google had 100x the number of employees.
“It’s a really interesting question: Why?… I think this sort of scrappiness around distribution is a big part of the explanation… If you’re an entrepreneur working in a small team, you’ve got to figure out from zero: How do I get my first user? How do I get the second user? How does that go to one hundred, one thousand, one million?… [Google] never has to think about that. They’ve got guaranteed distribution of half a billion users. And so, I think that scrappiness around distribution is one of the key reasons that there’s been so many PayPal mafia companies. I think it’s an interesting thing to think about as you create your own startups.”
Video source: @draper_u (2014)
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InsideArbitrage
Immedica Pharma to Acquire Marinus Pharmaceuticals $MRNS in Cash Deal Worth $151 Million -
🧬Immedica, through a subsidiary, will initiate a tender offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of Marinus common stock for a cash purchase price of $0.55 per share.
🧬The offer represents a premium of 48.65% from the stock’s last close.
🧬The deal is expected to close in Q1 2025.
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Immedica Pharma to Acquire Marinus Pharmaceuticals $MRNS in Cash Deal Worth $151 Million -
🧬Immedica, through a subsidiary, will initiate a tender offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of Marinus common stock for a cash purchase price of $0.55 per share.
🧬The offer represents a premium of 48.65% from the stock’s last close.
🧬The deal is expected to close in Q1 2025.
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Quiver Quantitative
JUST IN: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene bought Facebook stock, $META, on Christmas Eve. https://t.co/pwgbkBUjnk
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JUST IN: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene bought Facebook stock, $META, on Christmas Eve. https://t.co/pwgbkBUjnk
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Stock Analysis Compilation
Madison Funds on Keysight Technologies $KEYS US
Thesis: Keysight is positioned to benefit from increasing digitization through its mission-critical technologies for telecommunications and semiconductors
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/ATUMqh8ftr
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Madison Funds on Keysight Technologies $KEYS US
Thesis: Keysight is positioned to benefit from increasing digitization through its mission-critical technologies for telecommunications and semiconductors
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/ATUMqh8ftr
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App Economy Insights
📺 US TV Time November 2024:
Streaming 41.6% (+5.5pp Y/Y).
• YouTube 10.8% (+1.8pp Y/Y).
• Netflix 7.7% (+0.3pp Y/Y).
• Prime Video 3.7% (+0.3pp Y/Y).
• Hulu 2.7% (flat Y/Y).
• Disney+ 1.9% (flat Y/Y).
Source: Nielsen. $GOOG $NFLX $AMZN $DIS https://t.co/SRIYXiwvBz
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📺 US TV Time November 2024:
Streaming 41.6% (+5.5pp Y/Y).
• YouTube 10.8% (+1.8pp Y/Y).
• Netflix 7.7% (+0.3pp Y/Y).
• Prime Video 3.7% (+0.3pp Y/Y).
• Hulu 2.7% (flat Y/Y).
• Disney+ 1.9% (flat Y/Y).
Source: Nielsen. $GOOG $NFLX $AMZN $DIS https://t.co/SRIYXiwvBz
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InsideArbitrage
Casago Announces Acquisition of Vacasa $VCSA in An All-Cash Transaction :
🏨 As per the terms; the premier vacation rental management company Casago will acquire all the outstanding shares of Vacasa at $5.02 per share, subject to adjustment as set forth in the merger agreement.
🏨The acquisition price represents a 31.76% premium over Vacasa's last close as on December 27, 2024.
🏨The transaction is expected to be completed towards the end of the first quarter or the early part of the second quarter of 2025.
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Casago Announces Acquisition of Vacasa $VCSA in An All-Cash Transaction :
🏨 As per the terms; the premier vacation rental management company Casago will acquire all the outstanding shares of Vacasa at $5.02 per share, subject to adjustment as set forth in the merger agreement.
🏨The acquisition price represents a 31.76% premium over Vacasa's last close as on December 27, 2024.
🏨The transaction is expected to be completed towards the end of the first quarter or the early part of the second quarter of 2025.
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Dimitry Nakhla | Babylon Capital®
5 Quality Stocks To Consider For 2025 💸
1. $INTU 📊
•NTM P/E: 32.37x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 17.0%
2. $ASML 🖨️
•NTM P/E: 29.61x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 19.9%
3. $GOOG ☁️
•NTM P/E: 22.58x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 15.3%
4. $ZTS 🐶
•NTM P/E: 26.75x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 10.3%
5. $TMO 🔬
•NTM P/E: 23.13x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 13.2%
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5 Quality Stocks To Consider For 2025 💸
1. $INTU 📊
•NTM P/E: 32.37x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 17.0%
2. $ASML 🖨️
•NTM P/E: 29.61x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 19.9%
3. $GOOG ☁️
•NTM P/E: 22.58x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 15.3%
4. $ZTS 🐶
•NTM P/E: 26.75x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 10.3%
5. $TMO 🔬
•NTM P/E: 23.13x
•Forward 3-year EPS CAGR Est: 13.2%
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Who do you think has more potential: Amazon $AMZN or MercadoLibre $MELI? https://t.co/TZjfwM0AO2
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Who do you think has more potential: Amazon $AMZN or MercadoLibre $MELI? https://t.co/TZjfwM0AO2
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