I've worked with famous people who wanted to "do it again". The reality is that most of them refuse to admit that luck played some role in their last (successful) venture. This made them very annoying to work with in practice.

Do not forget, however, that "luck is when opportunity meets preparation", but I find it amusing that most tech celebs cincerely do not believe that they got a bit lucky in the first place and seem to think very highly of themselves. And asking kids to drop out of college because "they might buy a house for cash" proves (IMO) that Max is probably falls into this category.

This is why it is very rare to see them "do it again". Seriously, how many can you name? Besides Jobs.

My point is that statistically most super-successful companies (PayPal, Google, Microsoft, EBay, YouTube, +hundreds more) were started by smart and lucky amateurs, this makes it less likely (statistically) for potential college dropouts to buy house for cash if they go with Max.

"Seriously, how many can you name?"

Mark Fletcher (eGroups, BlogLines). Joe Kraus (Excite, Jotspot). Ray Ozzie (Visicalc, Lotus Notes, Groove). Evan Williams (Blogger, Twitter). Reid Hoffman (Paypal, LinkedIn). Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore (Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel). Eugene Kleiner (Fairchild Semiconductor, Kleiner Perkins). William Durant (GM and Chevrolet). Henry Wells and William Fargo (American Express and Wells Fargo).

"My point is that statistically most super-successful companies (PayPal, Google, Microsoft, EBay, YouTube, +hundreds more) were started by smart and lucky amateurs, this makes it less likely (statistically) for potential college dropouts to buy house for cash if they go with Max."

You realize that Youtube was founded by former Paypal employees, right?

Max Levchin is an interesting person, I've had an opportunity to speak with him before.

He seems to be pretty engaged in the Facebook stuff right now.

I like his Slide Facebook apps, but some of them need usability help (as do most Facebook apps I've found) - as is being discussed in this current thread also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31810

Sure, what entrepreneur wouldn't love that -- smart CS students willing to drop out of a top college to join their company?

I'm sure you've heard that Cortez destroyed the ships his conquistadors sailed in on. If someone will do that on their own, well heck, that's a motivated employee. One who's not looking for massages and free Odwalla, either.

Getting college students to drop out of school isn't difficult.

After all, the less valuable your time, the lower your opportunity cost.

No, getting them to drop out is easy.

However, convincing them they should take a lower salary with you, instead of working for Google, becomes an issue.

I'm walking away from a startup right now because they don't understand they have a lot of competition. 1) other companies, 2) myself. I'm going to startup on my own because the terms are terrible at my current startup.

Except for that Google wouldn't actually them without a 3.7 and a degree.

/Those who don't understand the Google hiring "algorithm" are doomed to re-implement it.

Personally I find trying to get kids to drop out of a college a little bit unethical. Well yes "last time those kids could buy houses in cash", but Slide or Slider is not Paypal. Levchin sure is confident about it but no one knows where it will end. If a college student drops out on his own account - fair enough. To lure kids to drop out, and then if the whole thing sinks - have to kick them out? Personally for no amount of money, success or fame would I want to place myself in that situation. I don't know about the U.S but in Europe, applying as a dropout does not really improve your chances to get a job.

_the Russian mafia_

A joke? Or is Levchin a member?

Maybe they tried to launder money through PayPal? PayPal apparently had to do a lot of anti-fraud work.

We prefer to call it a family.

inspiring piece.