Schulman was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. He went on to receive a bachelor's degree in economics from Middlebury College, and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business. Schulman began his business career at AT&T, working more than 18 years there and becoming the youngest member of the company's senior executive team. He went on to fill executive positions in numerous companies, such as Priceline.com, Virgin Mobile USA Inc., and American Express. He became CEO of PayPal just before it split from eBay in 2015, continuing as its own separate legal entity. He has stated that his goals at PayPal include giving financial tools to the 70 million Americans underserved by the U.S. financial system.