How valuable is your network? The Paypal Mafia is an extreme example of the phrase “your network is your net worth”.
When eBay bought Paypal in 2002, the founders of Paypal had an average age of 30. With the opportunity to go out and start again, they decided to stay in touch and share their strategies, experiences and connections as they launched their next businesses.
The result?
Elon Musk launched Space X and Tesla (Now worth $30 billion+)
Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn (Now worth $25 billion+)
Peter Thiel launched Palantir (Now worth $20 billion+)
Steve Chen and Chad Hurley founded Youtube (Sold to Google for $1.65 billion)
David Sacks launched Yammer (Sold to Microsoft for $1.2 billion)
Russel Simmons and Max Levchin launched Yelp (Now worth $1.6 billion+)
Dave McClure founded 500 Startups (Invested in 1,300+ companies)
Premal Shah became president of Kiva (Crowdfunded 1 million+ microloans)
The founders sold Paypal for $1.5 billion 13 years ago, but as a result of sharing their journeys after that, they now have a combined net worth of over $20 billion.
Between them, they have created 7 billion dollar companies and invested in many more, generating over $100 billion in market value.
Supporting each other was the intention from the beginning. As Peter Thiel recalls, “When we started PayPal, I remember one of the early conversations I had with Max was that I wanted to build a company where everybody would be really great friends and, no matter what happened with the company, the friendships would survive.”
Your success will be determined not by how much you want to be successful, but by how many of the right people you connect around you who want you to be successful.
Your network is your net worth.
What can you do today to improve your network?
What can you do to add more value to the one you’re in?
How can you grow network value everywhere you go?
Leave a Reply