# Affirm: Max Levchin (Part 2 of 2)

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2022-06-20
- Length: 57m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2

## Summary

Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal and founder of Affirm, discusses his post-PayPal journey, including the creation of his incubator HVF, the development of the photo-sharing app Slide, and his brief tenure at Google. He explains how personal credit struggles and the 'Hard, Valuable, Fun' framework led him to build Affirm, a 'buy now, pay later' fintech company that uses alternative data and AI to underwrite loans without traditional credit scores or late fees. Levchin details Affirm's unit economics, merchant acquisition strategy with partners like 1-800-Flowers and Peloton, and his philosophy on luck versus work ethic in building billion-dollar companies.

## Chapters

- [4:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2#t=276) Post-PayPal Despair and the HVF Incubator
- [9:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2#t=583) Building Slide and the 'Seven Deadly Sins' Theory
- [19:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2#t=1189) Google Tenure and the 'Hard, Valuable, Fun' Framework
- [28:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2#t=1693) The Credit Scoring Problem and Affirm's Origin
- [34:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2#t=2054) Affirm's Business Model: No Late Fees and Alternative Underwriting
- [41:40](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2#t=2500) Merchant Acquisition and Early Growth with 1-800-Flowers
- [49:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-20-affirm-max-levchin-part-2-of-2#t=2962) Unit Economics, Stock Price, and Future Innovation at Affirm

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Affirm (company)
- PayPal (company)
- Slide (product)
- Yelp (company)
- Google (company)
- 1-800-Flowers (company)
- Peloton (company)
- Casper (company)
- Walmart (company)
- Palantir (company)
- Pointcast (company)
- HVF (company)
- Gaussbeck Levchin test (product)

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- [Founder + Funder: Fundraising, Founder-Investor Fit, and Building the Next Big Breakfast Brand with Emily Groden of Evergreen and Brian Bernstein of Rich Products Ventures](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-06-20-founder-funder-fundraising-founder-investor-fit-and-building-the-next-big-breakf) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [023 - "The Best is Yet to Come" with David Albert](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-03-09-023-the-best-is-yet-to-come-with-david-albert) (Let's Combinate)
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