Max Levchin co-founded PayPal in late 1998. It was acquired by eBay for $1.5B in 2002, only six months after going public in February.<br><br>At PayPal Max was a member of the board of directors and chief technology officer, responsible for the areas of technology development, network and information security, and the fight with transaction fraud and identity theft. Prior to PayPal, Max cofounded and ran NetMeridian Software and SponsorNet New Media, which built some of the early Internet marketing services and tools.<br><br>Since leaving PayPal late last year on the fourth anniversary of its founding, Max has been contemplating his next startups and re-acquainting himself with the world he has ignored for the last four years.<br><br>Max graduated from University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1997 with a degree in Computer Science, specializing in computer security and music. Sometime earlier, he was born in Kiev, Ukraine, when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and moved to Chicago in 1991. His interests include cryptography, math, music, modern art, online crime, and meeting smart people.