The PayPal Wars
Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia and the Rest of Planet Earth
by Eric M. Jackson
List Price: $27.95
Pages: 344
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0974670103
Publisher: World Ahead Publishing
The Paypal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia and the Rest of Planet Earth, winner of the Writers Notes Book Award, is an absorbing insider’s story about the two Silicon Valley entrepreueurs who launched the on-line payment service PayPal.
The company’s history is an engrossing story of human struggle and perseverance against overwhelming odds. PayPal went from unknown start-up to on-line powerhouse in just two years, but the young entrepreneurs recruited to overhaul and revolutionize world currency markets had to face some of the greatest trials ever thrown at a Silicon Valley firm.
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1. Most people know of PayPal as the way to make payments for eBay auctions. Was that always the vision of what PayPal could do? If not, how did that vision change over time?
2. The PayPal Wars concentrates a great deal on the people behind the company. What qualities did these people display, and how did those qualities help this group of young entrepreneurs withstand the challenges that nearly destroyed PayPal in its infancy?
3. What is the concept of 'creative destruction?' What does that mean?
4. The subtitle of the book is 'Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia and the Rest of Planet Earth.' eBay owns PayPal now, so why might the author have included them in the subtitle? What are some examples of battles with the media and the Mafia? What made PayPal such a ripe target for such groups?
5. The author, also a marketing expert, cites some promotional misfires. Give some examples of these. How does marketing affect the overall perception of a company in the market place? Do you agree or disagree with the strategies used to put the PayPal concept - one that had virtually no precedent - in front of consumers?
6. The author makes the case that, although PayPal ultimately succeeded as a business, its experience shows that American entrepreneurship is under assault by trial lawyers and regulators. Do you agree? If so, why? If not, why not?
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"Reading The PayPal Wars is like watching the last two minutes of a championship football game that is tied 21-21 – and then goes into sudden death overtime. It’s the rare business book that reads like a page-turner exciting novel. The PayPal Wars is hard to put down!"
—Skip McGrath, Editor, eBay Auction Seller’s News
"Every school of business ought to put The PayPal Wars on its ‘must-read’ list because it’s case history analysis at its best."
—Arnold Beichman, Hoover Institution Research Fellow, The Washington Times
"Eric M. Jackson has a real winner. The PayPal Wars is an adventure story, a business case study and the biography of one of Silicon Valley’s most successful start-ups in one!"
—Stephen D. Laib, Esq, Intellectual Conservative.com
