M ax Levchin is a Ukrainian-American computer scientist and serial entrepreneur who has been a pivotal figure in the creation of several iconic Silicon Valley companies. He is most famous for being a co-founder and the former chief technology officer of PayPal, the company that revolutionized online payments. As part of the so-called "PayPal Mafia," he was the key technical architect who developed the crucial anti-fraud systems that allowed PayPal to succeed where many of its competitors failed. After PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, Levchin went on to found or co-found several other influential companies.

His subsequent ventures include Slide, a social media app company that he sold to Google in 2010, and Yelp, where he was an early investor and chairman. His most significant recent success is Affirm, a fintech company he founded in 2012. Affirm is a leader in the "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) industry, offering consumers instant point-of-sale loans for purchases. He took Affirm public in a successful IPO in 2021, cementing his status as one of Silicon Valley's most successful and respected serial entrepreneurs.