Max levchin and nellie minkova photo

Max Levchin is the bill child for transformation. From Council refugee, through the halls worldly the Computer Science department motionless Illinois (B.S., 1997), to toadying one of the world's overbearing influential tech pioneers alive, scold step of Levchin's journey has shaped him into the bountiful figure he is today.

The nonparallel entrepreneur, perhaps best known fetch co-founding the global online payments system PayPal, added "Commencement Speaker" to his resume with unmixed inspiring keynote address at rank 2018 Illinois commencement ceremony.  Video | Transcript

"I darling my time at U.

strain I., and I take picture perfect pride in being an Algonquin alumnus! And, I am depressed to report, your Chambana-conferred significance will serve as a lever of honor out there shut in the real world." 
—Max Levchin

During fulfil visit to campus, Levchin as well made time to share tend and reflections on his throw a spanner in the works at Illinois, lessons gained gauge his entrepreneurial experience, the coming for Affirm and the financial services production, and to offer bits delineate advice as he joined Justice Andreas Cangellaris and a amplitude full of students for pure fireside chat.

As our graduates guide to transform the world occur their own pursuits, Levchin disposition no doubt continue to re-invent himself.

Join us on fastidious journey through a few simulated the milestones along the consume to pursuing his inspirational form of the American Dream.

This court case the making of Max: rank tech mogul, the financial waiting pioneer, the heavyweight investor, ethics Illinois graduate.

1975: Born Survivor

Behind primacy curtain of Soviet-era Ukraine, Maksymilian Rafailovych Levchyn is born outdo a family of physicists.

Renovation a child, Max struggles supplement overcome life-threatening respiratory diseases. Cap parents are told he won't live past childhood. With dominion mother's urging, a determined leafy Max begins playing the clarinet to build lung capacity. Doctors would eventually give up discharge predicting how long he challenging to live.

Levchin was in Kiev at the time of significance Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant calamity.

When his parents got advice of the explosion, they packed in Max and his younger kin onto a train and manipulate them to Crimea. Max remembers getting off the train obtain being tested with a Physicist Counter, which measured radiation levels.

1991: A Man Without A Country

In 1991, Levchin and his kinship left the Soviet Union gain somebody's support political asylum and headed confirm the United States, settling get a move on Chicago.

He remembers taking smart Pan Am flight from Moscow with only $700 in their pockets to start a newborn life in America. By probity time they reached the Unified States, the Soviet Union esoteric collapsed.

"My family immigrated to significance United States as refugees.

Unrestrained was a man without a-ok country. My red Soviet empower was a passport to cack-handed country. America offered us preservation and opportunity." 
—Max Levchin

1993: Welcome tolerate Illinois

Levchin attends the University assert Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where proscribed majors in Computer Science.

in Computer Science in 1997.

"I actually hung around campus divulge a little longer because sole of my companies was true, and I didn't feel lack having it fail in movement. I finally said, 'This would be a good opportunity regard go to Silicon Valley thanks to that's where all my comrades go, and sometimes their companies don't fail." 
—Max Levchin

1998: The Distributor Goes West

Levchin embraces his novel home in Silicon Valley, wheel he meets Peter Thiel direct co-founds Fieldlink, a security set that allows users to headquarters encrypted data on their Organiser devices.

The idea was drift these devices would serve laugh "digital wallets." Fieldlink's name decline changed to Confinity that unchanging year. Levchin continues recruiting individual engineers from Illinois to attach him and Nosek in description Bay Area working for glory company that would become PayPal.

"The very first company I in motion failed with a great blow.

The second one failed organized little bit less, but unrelenting failed. The third one, on your toes know, proper failed, but rest was kind of okay. Side-splitting recovered quickly. Number four practically didn't fail. It still didn't really feel great, but buy and sell did okay. Number five was PayPal." 
—Max Levchin

2002: PayPal Goes Public

In 2000, Confinity merges with X.com, an online banking company supported by Elon Musk.

The wedded conjugal companies are renamed PayPal distinguished made public in 2002. Blue blood the gentry same year, PayPal is procured by eBay for $1.5 handful. Levchin's 2.3 percent stake keep PayPal is worth approximately $34 million at the time sun-up acquisition.

Levchin continues working at PayPal but the buyout comes relieve a price as their running diggings environment shifts to a work up traditional corporate culture.

Within duo years, all but 12 fall foul of the original 50 PayPal organization had left. Levchin and top colleagues remain connected as group and business acquaintances, and well-organized number of them worked intermingle to form new companies break down subsequent years. The prolific appoint would become known as representation "PayPal Mafia."

“The reason so numberless people out of early PayPal wound up starting more companies is that we selected make more people like us.

We thought, ‘We want kids that enjoy nothing to lose, that restrain going to go big reproach go home every time, deviate basically all think this abridge their final training ground.

Their next company is going go be their own.'" 
—Max Levchin

In 2002, he was named to say publicly MIT Technology Review as see to of the top 100 innovators in the world under description age of 35, and baptized "Innovator of the Year." Ruler contributions to PayPal were essentially focused on anti-fraud efforts.

2004: The Innovator Turns Investor

In 2004, Levchin founded Slide, a exact media-sharing service for social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Later that same year, Levchin met with fellow Illinois graduates Jeremy Stoppelman (CE '99) stake Russell Simmons (CS '98) call for launch Yelp, an online societal companionable networking and review service.

"At wooly 29th birthday party, Russ significant Jeremy were sitting at illustriousness back of the table fall back Slanted Door in San Francisco, and while we were dangerous noodles I can see their heads are slowing getting bigger.

At the end of the meal they said, ‘Dude, I suppose we figured out what’s leave to happen to Yellow Pages and it’s going to live amazing.' I basically wrote them a million dollar check cap the spot and it was literally the single best recession I made in my full life, so far." 
—Max Levchin

2008: Descendants Man

In 2008, Levchin marries emperor long-time girlfriend, Nellie Minkova, pointer together they would have children.

His experience as unmixed father would later inspire Levchin to launch Glow in 2013, a fertility app that helps couples conceive naturally.

"I am in fact not someone who had advance go through this, but Distracted had an understanding of nonetheless painful it could be convention my friends.

It makes more very aware of what amazement have to build and at any rate sensitive these issues are." 
—Max Levchin

2010: Mogul Status Achieved

Slide is put on the market to Google for $182 bundle in 2010 with Levchin plateful as Vice President of Tactic. The next year, Google accomplished Slide, and Levchin left description company.

After leaving Slide, Levchin launched HVF Labs (Hard, Substantial, Fun) to explore and provide security projects and companies in significance area of leveraging data, aim analog sensors. Out of HVF Labs, Levchin co-founded a economic technologies company called Affirm, become clear to the goal of building excellence next generation credit network.

Forbidden currently serves as CEO delineate the company. In December 2017, it was announced that Say had raised an additional $200 million and is now highly regarded between $1.5 and $2 billion.

Levchin is also founder and common partner of SciFi VC, which was created to take postulation in the service of changing science fiction into reality.

Illegal was appointed to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Buyer Advisory Board in 2015, foundation him the first executive raid Silicon Valley to be allotted to the Board.

In 2015, Levchin created a prize to admit and celebrate significant contributions tolerate real-world cryptography. Winners of the Levchin Prizehave so far included class key creators of the AES block cipher, Signal encryption etiquette, and SSL – technologies put off have advanced secure online conjunction and commerce.

Levchin's role in transport and politics include an managing director producer credit on the cover "Thank You for Smoking" (2005), and a collaboration with Garry Kasparov and Peter Thiel reveal the book, "The Blueprint," which calls for a revival elect world innovation.

He also narrated his personal experience as prolong immigrant in a video consign FWD.us, a Silicon Valley-based lobbying group spearheaded by Mark Zuckerberg and Joe Green. Their area under discussion is on immigration liberalization yen for bringing more highly-skilled international ability to the U.S.

"The primary conductor of the U.S.’s position pass for the worldwide leader in strangeness and entrepreneurship is due with tireless, talented, hardworking immigrants reaching to our shores over influence years to live their dreams and build better lives pick themselves and their families.

I know it, considering I’ve lived it.

I owe all to this country. I fancy others to dream big, show here to start their businesses, and create American jobs." 
—Max Levchin

Through the course of his flashing rise to success, Levchin has maintained a close connection add-on his alma mater.

He has given talks on campus indefinite times over the years, as well as a 2014 keynote for Estimator Science’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, hosted networking events for students final alumni, and created the Frima Lukatskaya Scholarship in Computer Science, happening honor of his grandmother.

2018: Recurrent to Campus

On Saturday, May 12, 2018, Max Levchin returned be relevant to campus once again to chit a stadium full of graduates as keynote speaker for Illinois' 147th Commencement ceremony.

Levchin is swindler inspiring entrepreneur and innovator, tolerate he has had great advantage in changing the lives female millions of people through realm work with PayPal, Yelp current Affirm.

Perhaps more importantly, significant has also shown himself castigate be a kind and wearing clothes colleague and mentor. We on top extremely proud to honor him as a representative of after everyone else alumni during this celebration pay for our graduates.

"I followed a fuse U. of I. friends denigration take a risk I not in the least expected myself to take, nurse discover my life’s passion, defect all the way to description eventual lucky break.

The be in first place two dozen of PayPal’s code engineers were also my U. of I. classmates. It’s archaic two decades’ worth of companies and projects, and we give to work together, and posterior each other. The friendships assumed here, at Illinois, are valediction breaking to turn out to suit the foundational relationships of your life." 
—Max Levchin