<story><title>PayPal Mafia</title><url>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>11thEarlOfMar</author><text>How much of their many successes is due to abilities versus timing? The period they invested their initial PayPal fortunes in was in the nasccent Web 2.0 era. They had the benefit of capital from the PayPal exit, plus an up to date understanding of modern web capabilities, plus the initial open source platforms and leverage, plus a great deal of learning about what didn&amp;#x27;t work in the .COM 1.0 bubble.&lt;p&gt;Plus intelligence, inventiveness and drive.</text></comment>
<story><title>PayPal Mafia</title><url>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>numair</author><text>All of the conspiracy theories and hero-worshipping etc ignore the basic, boring reality of how these concentrations of power emerge: half the work is showing up.&lt;p&gt;There was a time that you had to beg and plead with people to take websites and the Internet seriously. Nobody wanted to show up. These guys showed up. The rest is history.</text></comment>