Description In this two-part oral history, Steve Chen recounts his path from Taiwan, to Chicago, Carnegie Mellon University and finally to Silicon Valley. His parents brought him to the US at the age of 8. At the age of 15, he entered the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy where he developed a strong interest in computers. This interest led him to eventually attend CMU to pursue a degree in Computer Science.



His life took a major turn when he got a call from an ex classmate who asked him to join a small team at a startup in Silicon Valley called Confinity. He was in his senior year, close to graduation, but decided the idea of joining a startup was more compelling than finishing his degree. In 3 days he was headed west to Silicon Valley.



He found himself on a wild ride as Confinity grew, changed its name to PayPal, and was eventually acquired by eBay. He later left eBay and took all the lessons of a fast-growing startup to co-found another Silicon Valley icon, YouTube. Along with a couple of other eBay veterans, they grew YouTube to a spectacular success and a $1.65B acquisition by Google within two years.

Date 2019-03-19

Contributor Chen, Steve , Interviewee Hancock, Marguerite Gong , Interviewer

Publisher Computer History Museum

Place of Publication Mountain View, CA

Extent 30 p.

Format PDF

Category Transcription

Subject Google; YouTube; Confinity; PayPal; eBay

Collection Title CHM Oral History Collection

Credit Computer History Museum