We Want Meaning

So you have worked at a variety of companies, Ancestry, where you're currently CEO, also Facebook and PayPal, where you've held leadership positions. What would you say is the greater purpose that is sort of a unifying theme throughout your career? And what did the roots would that come from?

So for me, I want to work on products and I want to work on technologies that have meaning to people. And I remember when I first interned at eBay and then eventually went to PayPal, they were democratizing commerce. And so I just remember like how technology could really change how difficult things were and I actually make it a lot easier. And so when ancestry came along, it was really, at a time when I could see how we were fragmented as a society. But if you could connect with your ancestors, connect to the greater human family, I think that you can capture those stories, you can capture for your children and your grandchildren. I think that's an incredible, incredible, opportunity. And I think that each of these areas took something that was hard researching your ancestors, capturing your family stories.

And I did physical scrapbooking, which by the way, was hard and turned it into something really magical. Something where you could look at the records of your parents. I found my mother-in-law’s immigration papers, where she signed her signature in, I think in the sixties. Right? And that was something that's, you know, that moment where you say, you know what? I found something that was so special. And I think those are the kinds of magical moments that I look forward to. And you want to find that nugget of like what it is that each company brings. And what it's brought to me is that technology can actually change things for the better and make our lives better. And we can actually make a better world together as well.