#273 Kevin Hartz: Studying with Peter Thiel, Founding Eventbrite, Spotting the PayPal Mafia Early & Building A*

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Kevin Hartz is the Co-Founder of Eventbrite and Xoom, and Co-Founder and General Partner at A*, the early-stage venture firm whose latest fund is $450M. Xoom was acquired by PayPal for more than $1B, Eventbrite went public, and Kevin has backed some of technology’s most important companies from the earliest stages, including PayPal, Airbnb, Palantir, SpaceX, Anduril, Ramp and Decagon.

In this conversation with Vidit, Kevin goes back to the beginning: growing up in the Bay Area before Silicon Valley became Silicon Valley, studying history at Stanford and Oxford, returning home “fairly lost,” and nearly choosing medicine before the internet pulled him into technology. He shares how friendships with Peter Thiel and the early PayPal team shaped his trajectory, why he chose to build Xoom instead of joining PayPal, and what it felt like to later be “brushed aside” as CEO.

Kevin also reflects on building Eventbrite with his wife Julia while raising a family, the relentless reality of being a scaling CEO, and how identity changes when a company that defined two decades of your life is no longer yours. He explains what the PayPal Mafia taught him about talent, why the best founders create leverage by surrounding themselves with exceptional people, and why some founders are simply an “automatic check.”

They also explore A*, how Kevin finds the next generation of breakout founders, the extraordinary valuations and competition in today’s AI market, why relationships still matter at seed, and what decades of building and investing have taught him about ambition, judgment and the people you choose to spend your life around.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.