The Twenty Minute VCMax Levchin, Founder & CEO @ Affirm:The Biggest Surprise Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- February 5, 2025
- Duration
- 1h 3m
- Channel
- The Twenty Minute VC
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Max Levchin is one of the great founders and technologists of our time. As the Founder and CEO of Affirm, he has built am $18.7BN monster in the buy no pay later space. Prior to Affirm he was one of the original co-founders of PayPal. Max is also the co-founder and Chairman of Glow, a data-driven fertility company. Max is also an immensely successful angel investor with a portfolio including the likes of Yelp, Pinterest and Evernote. ---------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:38) Should You Hire Brilliant but Extreme Personalities? (06:05) Balancing High Expectations vs. Realistic Effort in Teams (09:17) When Do You Have to Hire B-Team Players? (12:57) Biggest Calculated Risk – Success or Failure? (17:43) How to Build a Postmortem-Centric Culture (24:24) Reversible vs. Irreversible Decisions (27:18) Why the Quality of Invisible Work Matters (29:50) Lean Startup & MVP – Shortcut or Smart Strategy? (32:09) What Makes a Strong Writing Culture (34:42) Remote Work (37:07) Lessons on Leadership (41:59) Klarna’s the US Expansion (44:34) Is Regulation Helping or Hindering Buy Now, Pay Later? (45:36) Being the Public Company (46:55) How to Detach Mentality from Market Cap (50:03) Quick-Fire Round ---------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
- How to Hire the Best People in the World
- How to Manage Extreme Personalities
- Biggest Lessons on Trust and What Happens When Lost
- Is Grading Talent A and B Players Total BS?
- How to Think About Calculated vs Uncalculated Risk
- How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems: Step by Step
- Why Every Person Must Write and How to Create a Writing Culture
- Leadership Lessons from Layoffs
- Is Affirm Losing or Beating Klarna in the US?
- Peter Thiel or Elon Musk: Who Would Max Rather Start a New Company With?
- Quick-fire Round
----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Max Levchin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mlevchin Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #maxlevchin #affirm #venturecapital #klarna #hiring #postmortem #startups #teambuilding
SPEAKERS
Max Levchin
guestHarry Stebbings
hostNarrator
other
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Max Levchin and Harry Stebbings, Max Levchin, Founder & CEO @ Affirm:The Biggest Surprise Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap explores max Levchin on hiring brilliance, hard truths, and learning from failure Max Levchin discusses how to build and scale high‑performing teams, emphasizing the value and risks of “extreme” but brilliant personalities and the non‑negotiable importance of integrity. He explains how to align incentives, work with A and B players, and build a rigorous post‑mortem and writing culture that continuously improves decision‑making. Levchin also covers calculated versus uncalculable risks, quality in “invisible” product parts, the realities of remote work and layoffs, and the mindset required as a public company CEO. Throughout, he blends hands‑on leadership lessons from Affirm with broader views on speed, culture, and long‑term thinking in startups.
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