Members of the 'PayPal Mafia' include tech titans like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman. Here's where they are now.

Tami Brehse,Kylie Kirschner Jan 14, 2024, 11:47 IST

Peter Thiel, left, and Elon Musk, are two members of the so-called "PayPal Mafia."Associated Press

A group of early 2000s PayPal employees and founders came to be known as the "PayPal Mafia."
The members have all gone on to impact Silicon Valley by founding and developing major companies.

What do the founders of YouTube, Yelp, Tesla, and LinkedIn have in common? Apart from creating some of the biggest companies in tech, they all share a common résumé line item: they've all worked at PayPal.

Many of PayPal's early employees went on to become major names in tech and the venture capital world, founding, funding, and otherwise developing successful companies. This elite group came to be known as the "PayPal Mafia," a nickname that gained popularity after Fortune featured the term in a 2007 piece along with a photo of some of the members dressed in gangster attire.

Members of the group include Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman, along with over a dozen others. Here's a rundown of the most prominent members of this exclusive group and what they're up to over two decades later.

Peter Thiel: PayPal's founder and the so-called "don" of the PayPal Mafia

Peter Thiel in 1999.AP

Thiel went on to cofound Founders Fund, a venture capital firm that has helped launch companies like SpaceX and Airbnb.

Thiel is now a billionaire.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Max Levchin: PayPal cofounder and Chief Technology Officer.

Max Levchin was a cofounder of PayPal.Ben Margot/AP

Levchin now serves as the CEO of Affirm.

Levchin is now CEO of Affirm.Getty

Ken Howery: PayPal cofounder and CFO from 1998 to 2002.

Howery served as PayPal's CFO.Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Howery recently served as US ambassador to Sweden.

Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Ambassador Ken Howery.Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for the World Childhood Foundation

Elon Musk: founder of (the other) X.com, which merged with Thiel's Confinity to become PayPal

Elon Musk pictured in the early days of PayPal.AP

Musk is currently the world's richest person, per Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

Musk now juggles multiple companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X, formerly Twitter.Patrick Fallon / Reuters

Luke Nosek: PayPal cofounder and vice president of marketing and strategy.

Nosek was also a PayPal cofounder.Thomson Reuters

Nosek explored angel investing.

Nosek is a SpaceX investor.David M. Benett/Getty Images for Netflix

Roelof Botha: PayPal's director of corporate development, vice-president of finance, CFO

Botha started at PayPal as director of corporate development.Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images for TechCrunch/AOL

Botha is now a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital

Botha is a major tech investor.Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Reid Hoffman: board of directors at PayPal, COO

Hoffman started on PayPal's board of directors.Tony Avelar/AP

Hoffman cofounded LinkedIn and is one of Silicon Valley's most prolific angel investors.

Hoffman cofounded LinkedIn in 2002.Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images

David Sacks: PayPal COO

Sacks served as PayPal's COO.Owen Thomas, Business Insider

Sacks went on to found several companies and become an angel investor.

Sacks went on to become a major investor.REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen met at PayPal during its early days.

Steven Chen, left, and Chad Hurley.Noah Berger/AP

Today, Karim, Hurley, and Chen remain active entrepreneurs and investors with a hand in projects from finance to music.

The trio went on to become investors.David Buchan/Getty Images

Andrew McCormack: assistant to Peter Thiel at PayPal

McCormack served as Thiel's assistant at PayPal.Paul Sakuma/AP

McCormack went on to launch VC firm Valar Ventures

Peter Thiel.Alex Wong/Getty Images

Keith Rabois: PayPal's executive vice president

Rabois served as PayPal's executive vice president.Fortune Live Media via Flickr

Rabois joined Thiel, Howery, and Nosek as a partner at Founders Fund.

Rabois has invested in a number of major companies.Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Russel Simmons and Jeremy Stoppelman: worked on technology at PayPal.

Eric Risberg/AP

Simmons left his official role at Yelp in 2010, while Stoppelman continues to serve as Yelp's CEO.

MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images

Jack Selby: PayPal's vice president of corporate and international development.

Selby started Clarium Capital Management.Reuters

In 2017, Selby was revealed to be the generous tipper behind "Tips for Jesus."

Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Dave McClure: PayPal's director of marketing

McClure served PayPal's director of marketing.Edward Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images

McClure left PayPal in 2004.

Getty Images

Several more former PayPal employees went on to have careers both in and out of tech.

Joe Lonsdale, who got his start as a finance intern at PayPal.Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch

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