In Silicon Valley, "mafias" are everywhere. You’ve got the Facebook crew, the OpenAI circle, the Amazon Web Services gang—all groups of founders and investors who started at the same tech companies. But before them all, there was the original tech mafia: the PayPal Mafia.

Now, I know "mafia" might sound like we’re talking about crime organizations, but this group is anything but illegal. They changed the landscape of tech and business in the early 2000s, and the impact of their success continues to shape our world.

The PayPal Mafia isn’t an official organization. Instead, it’s a nickname for the early group of PayPal employees who went on to dominate some of the biggest tech sectors after PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

Behind PayPal’s success was a core group of employees, led by visionaries like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin, and Reid Hoffman.

The group was composed of 19 core members with 7 becoming billionaires. What makes this group unique isn’t just their success—it’s how they went about it. They built PayPal on a few simple principles that revolutionized online payments, and when they left, they didn’t stop. They took their philosophy, network, and ambition to transform dozens of industries that have a big influence on your life.

Are you familiar with SpaceX, Tesla, LinkedIn, YouTube, Airbnb, Reddit, or Uber? Yep, all from this crew. And believe me, the list goes on.

What makes the story of the “Paypal Mafia” even more fascinating is how interconnected their ventures are. It wasn’t just about individual success—it was about leveraging their network to launch and fund the next generation of tech giants. They invested in each other’s ideas, collaborated across sectors, and built an empire that is impossible to rival these days.

Why should you even care about this? How does this help you in your own life? Well, think about it. The PayPal Mafia may have been a group of individual business geniuses, but their true power came from working together—sharing ideas, supporting each other, and leveraging their collective vision. Even once PayPal got sold, they did not all go off on vacation not staying in touch, they leveraged the connection they had built to continue to level up.

This is a powerful lesson for not only business but life in general. It’s not about being the lone wolf—doing everything on your own, competing against the world. The real path to success is finding your “pack”—surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals who share your goals and vision.

Think back to school. We were conditioned to work independently, often discouraged from asking classmates for help. This programming fosters a mindset that equates success with solitude and competition rather than collaboration.

In a world that rewards collaboration, this isolationist mindset becomes a significant barrier. Nobody makes it to the top alone—be it professional athletes, Grammy-winning singers, or billionaire entrepreneurs. They all had people who climbed the mountain with them, even if they refused to admit it in interviews.

So, who’s in your pack? Who challenges you to reach higher, think bigger, and strive for more? Are you feeling overwhelmed as a new parent? Connect with others in the same boat and grow together. Feeling lost in college? Don’t hesitate to reach out to classmates; you might just spark the next big tech startup in your dorm. This goes for anything in life.

When we harness the strength of our collective ambitions with others, we unlock a potential far greater than we can achieve alone. Success isn’t a solo journey. It’s about building a team that moves with you, not against you. Because in the end, the wolf pack will always outpace the lone wolf.

QUOTE OF THE DAY