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Max Levchin

👤 Speaker
819 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

The Rundown
Affirm CEO On Fixing America’s Broken Credit System

And, like, we're still driving at 2 o'clock in the morning.

The Rundown
Affirm CEO On Fixing America’s Broken Credit System

Got pulled over because, like, I was driving a convertible with no plates at 2 o'clock in the morning.

The Rundown
Affirm CEO On Fixing America’s Broken Credit System

Story gets better and better.

The Rundown
Affirm CEO On Fixing America’s Broken Credit System

Great to be here.

The Rundown
Affirm CEO On Fixing America’s Broken Credit System

Thank you.

The Rundown
Affirm CEO On Fixing America’s Broken Credit System

Thank you.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

I think Opinionated is exceptionally valuable. The hard red line for me is always, once I can't trust you. The story about knowing the letter grade of every person you hire in your company, whether it's 2000 people like a firm, but that's just silly.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

I think Opinionated is exceptionally valuable. The hard red line for me is always, once I can't trust you. The story about knowing the letter grade of every person you hire in your company, whether it's 2000 people like a firm, but that's just silly.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

I think Opinionated is exceptionally valuable. The hard red line for me is always, once I can't trust you. The story about knowing the letter grade of every person you hire in your company, whether it's 2000 people like a firm, but that's just silly.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

You mostly do. Everything is a range. And so you inevitably find yourself asking the question, you know, how extreme is extreme? And what will it cost me if this person blows up or goes into some sort of a behavioral tailspin? But most of the time, truly brilliant people are worth the quirks.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

You mostly do. Everything is a range. And so you inevitably find yourself asking the question, you know, how extreme is extreme? And what will it cost me if this person blows up or goes into some sort of a behavioral tailspin? But most of the time, truly brilliant people are worth the quirks.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

You mostly do. Everything is a range. And so you inevitably find yourself asking the question, you know, how extreme is extreme? And what will it cost me if this person blows up or goes into some sort of a behavioral tailspin? But most of the time, truly brilliant people are worth the quirks.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

And it's a hallmark of a good manager who knows how to bring out the best from the people, even if they are extreme.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

And it's a hallmark of a good manager who knows how to bring out the best from the people, even if they are extreme.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

And it's a hallmark of a good manager who knows how to bring out the best from the people, even if they are extreme.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

I think opinionated is exceptionally valuable. The sort of pinnacle of teamwork achievement is to have really strong opinions, not hold them back, and yet manage to not so profoundly offend the person or the teammate that you're judging or providing feedback to.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

I think opinionated is exceptionally valuable. The sort of pinnacle of teamwork achievement is to have really strong opinions, not hold them back, and yet manage to not so profoundly offend the person or the teammate that you're judging or providing feedback to.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

I think opinionated is exceptionally valuable. The sort of pinnacle of teamwork achievement is to have really strong opinions, not hold them back, and yet manage to not so profoundly offend the person or the teammate that you're judging or providing feedback to.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

that they choose to opt out whatever that means for the problem but you want someone who can walk into a room and say that is a pile of garbage and i love all of you you're amazing people i'm proud to be part of this team but what we've built here together is not gonna ship because it's terrible and now we're all gonna regroup and rethink and build something better like that that is the way of trying to couch the blow but if you don't give the blow you're gonna ship garbage

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

that they choose to opt out whatever that means for the problem but you want someone who can walk into a room and say that is a pile of garbage and i love all of you you're amazing people i'm proud to be part of this team but what we've built here together is not gonna ship because it's terrible and now we're all gonna regroup and rethink and build something better like that that is the way of trying to couch the blow but if you don't give the blow you're gonna ship garbage