( NOTE: Want a referral program like PayPal's? Try ReferralCandy free today.) The bonuses were gradually phased out, first by reducing them to $5, then by adding more verification hoops (like bank account verification) so they became more difficult to get. (PayPal acquired 1 million users by March 2000 and 5 million by summer 2000.) We must have spent tens of millions in signup and referral bonuses the first year. Users could send it to someone else or withdraw it. The money was simply added to their account. "Initially users just had to sign up, confirm their email address, and add a (unique, authorized) credit card. Referrals helped PayPal get 7 to 10% daily growth, catapulting their user base to over 100 million members.Īccording to David O Sacks, original COO of PayPal, PayPal used to literally pay people to invite their friends: In 2015, the company had a market capitalization of US$46.6 billion. According to Elon Musk, PayPal spent about US$60 million on its referral incentives. PayPal's referrals happened almost entirely through email, blogs and IMs.ĭespite that limitation, it was incredibly successful. The simple answer is that the Internet just wasn't so big then. This might seem counter-intuitive: Why isn't the story of PayPal's referral program more popular than Dropbox's? Again, if he hadn’t left PayPal, we could be years behind in technology when it comes to electric vehicles.Few people know that Dropbox's famously successful referral program was actually inspired by PayPal's. Shortly after starting up SpaceX he became a part of Tesla and is the longest-tenured CEO in the automobile industry. We could be several years behind from advancements such as landing non-manned rockets on a platform in the ocean, or a reliable way to quickly bring supplies to the Space Station, just to name a couple. Without the time or capital that became available to him from leaving PayPal, he may never have started SpaceX. Musk feels the best way to do this is to create rockets that can be reused, as previously rockets were a one and done product. The company’s mission is to be able to make space travel more affordable, allowing regular people to be able to experience it. In May of 2002, using $100 million of his own money, he bankrolled Space Exploration Technologies. Never one to sit still, after being ousted from PayPal, Musk immediately went to work after conceiving an idea of having a greenhouse on Mars and being able to grow food on the planet. The only relationship he’s had with the company since was in 2017 when he purchased the X.com domain from PayPal, as it held sentimental value. The two companies would later go on to split in 2015. When eBay purchased PayPal in 2002, Musk made somewhere between $165 million and $180 million from his shares. PayPal and eBayĪfter being ousted from the company as CEO, Musk remained the majority shareholder, owning 11.7% of the company’s shares. So, it was decided that the name of Confinity’s main product would work, and changed the company name to PayPal Inc. Originally after the merger, the company kept the name X.com, but testing showed that customers found the name to be too vague, and some thought it had to do with pornography. There was some discourse in Silicon Valley, and PayPal at the time and Musk ended up being ousted from his position of CEO, after a couple of years. What started as a company that provided businesses with an internet presence, turned into a company that worked with newspapers to create online city guides.Ī post shared by elonmusk on at 8:20pm PDT His first was a joint venture with his brother Kimbal, in 1995. Musk had two previous, successful, ventures before becoming a co-founder of PayPal. He may no longer own any part of PayPal, but the sale of his shares was a turning point in history. Musk made up to $180 million from the sale, and his ties with PayPal were cut once the shares were sold. Exactly two years after being ousted as CEO, eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock. However, he remained the company’s largest shareholder, with 11.7% of PayPal’s shares. No – he was CEO of the company until he was ousted in October of 2002. His company X.com, which was an online financial institution, merged with Confinity, a money-transfer service. Some people may not be aware that Elon Musk was one of the founders, which would later become PayPal as we know it today.
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