Surviving the PayPal Wars and crypto insights with Eric Jackson, PayPal Mafia, TransitNet and more

The Irish Tech News Podcast

Leveraging Virtual Data Rooms and Title Registry for Crypto Adoption, and Accounts from the PayPal Wars with Eric Jackson at TransitNet

Eric M. Jackson Early-PayPal. Technology Executive and Serial Entrepreneur. Author of “The PayPal Wars.”

Eric M. Jackson is a technology executive who played a critical role in building PayPal and subsequently created multiple successful businesses. An award-winning author and sought-after speaker, Jackson is part of the so-called PayPal Mafia that went on to found and develop some of the world’s top technology companies.

Early in his career, after a brief stint as a financial consultant, Jackson was recruited by Peter Thiel to join the startup team at PayPal. There he served as PayPal’s first head of U.S. marketing and oversaw its initial product marketing efforts. At a critical moment when the young company was bleeding millions of dollars each month, Jackson was placed in charge of developing and implementing PayPal’s transaction-based revenue model, which helped turn around its fortunes and lead it to profitability. During Jackson’s time at PayPal, the company grew from 2,500 users to 25 million, went public, and was acquired by eBay.

Currently, Jackson is the CEO and co-founder of CapLinked, a venture-backed technology company that develops cloud-based information control software. Dubbed the “go-to place for setting up and closing deals” by the Wall Street Journal, CapLinked’s diverse list of global clients include Amazon, Ernst & Young, FTI Consulting, Roche, Founders Fund, Hess, KPMG, Takeda, and many others.

Jackson is also the co-founder of TransitNet, a fintech company that provides tools to assist with title verification for cryptocurrencies. The company’s title registry service allows parties to generate a trusted third-party record of ownership for crypto wallets. Additionally, following his time at PayPal, Jackson founded a venture called World Ahead Media, which he grew to profitability before it was acquired. He also served on the boards of a number of organizations and technology startups, including CritiqueIt, Inc., a collaboration software company that was acquired in 2018 by 2U, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWOU).

His book, The PayPal Wars, which chronicles the tumultuous origins of PayPal, won the Writers Notes Book Award and was hailed by Tom Peters as “the best description of business strategy unfolding in a world changing at warp speed.”

A frequent commentator on technology and policy, Jackson has appeared on Bloomberg, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, and he has been quoted in publications ranging from The Economist to the New York Times. Jackson has spoken at conferences around the world, including the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, the Lang Di Fintech Conference in Shanghai, and the inaugural Reboot Conference in San Francisco. He also served as the keynote speaker at events hosted by the Cato Institute, the Reason Foundation, and the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. Jackson graduated with honors from Stanford University, where he was editor-in-chief of The Stanford Review, studied overseas in Moscow, and served as a student representative on the university’s Board of Trustees. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.