Patrick Collison facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Patrick Collison
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Collison in 2015
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| Born | 9 September 1988 Dromineer, County Tipperary, Ireland
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| Education | Gaelscoil Aonach Urmhumhan Castletroy College Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Fast Grants, Stripe |
| Spouse(s) |
Silvana Konermann
(m. 2022) |
| Relatives | John Collison (brother) |
| Awards | Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (2004) BT Young Scientist of the Year (2005) |
Patrick Collison is a very successful Irish entrepreneur. He was born on September 9, 1988. He is famous for co-founding Stripe with his younger brother, John. They started this company in 2010.
Patrick also won the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005. He was only sixteen years old at the time. In 2020, he helped create Fast Grants. This project aimed to speed up science research related to COVID-19.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Patrick Collison was born on September 9, 1988. His mother, Lily, was a microbiologist. His father, Denis, was an electronic engineer. Patrick and his two younger brothers grew up in Dromineer. This is a small village in County Tipperary, Ireland.
Patrick was the oldest of the three boys. He started learning about computers very early. He took his first computer course at age eight. This was at the University of Limerick. By the time he was ten, he was already learning how to write computer programs.
He went to Gaelscoil Aonach Urmhumhan in Nenagh for his early education. Later, he attended Castletroy College in Castletroy, County Limerick.
Patrick's Amazing Career
Winning the Young Scientist Award
Patrick first entered the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition when he was fifteen. His project was about artificial intelligence. He called it 'Isaac' after Isaac Newton, whom he admired. He finished as the individual runner-up that year.
He tried again the next year, in 2005. This time, he won first place! He was only sixteen years old. His winning project was a new type of programming language. He called it Croma. It was based on a language called LISP.
The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, gave him his prize. He received a €7,500 cheque and a beautiful trophy. His younger brother, Tommy, also took part in the exhibition in 2010. Tommy's project was about blogging.
Starting Auctomatic
Patrick went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But he decided to leave in 2009. He wanted to focus on starting businesses.
In 2007, he and his brother John Collison started a software company. They called it 'Shuppa'. This name is a fun way to say "shop" in Irish. They started it in Limerick. However, they couldn't get funding from Enterprise Ireland.
So, they moved to California. A company called Y Combinator in Silicon Valley was interested in their ideas. There, they joined with two graduates from the University of Oxford. Their names were Harjeet and Kulveer Taggar. Together, they changed the company's name to Auctomatic.
In March 2008, Patrick and John sold Auctomatic. Patrick was nineteen, and John was seventeen. They sold it to a Canadian company called Live Current Media. This made them millionaires! In May 2008, Patrick became a director of engineering. He worked at the company's new office in Vancouver. Patrick believes that winning the Young Scientist Exhibition helped him succeed with Auctomatic.
Building Stripe
In 2010, Patrick and John Collison started a new company. They called it Stripe. Stripe helps businesses accept payments online. In 2011, Stripe received a lot of investment. Famous people like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel invested in it. Big investment firms also joined in.
By November 2016, the Collison brothers became the youngest self-made billionaires in the world. Stripe was valued at $9.2 billion. This meant each brother was worth at least $1.1 billion. By 2017, their wealth grew even more. Each brother was worth at least $3.2 billion.
In 2018, Stripe gave $1 million to California YIMBY. This group works to support building more homes. In September 2019, Stripe raised another $250 million. The company's value reached $35 billion. The brothers still have a major say in how Stripe is run.
Other Interests and Ideas
Patrick and John Collison were featured on an RTÉ television show. It was about young rich people in Ireland. This happened during Christmas in 2008.
On July 18, 2009, Patrick shared his ideas for Ireland's future. He was 20 years old at the time. He spoke on a popular TV talk show called Saturday Night with Miriam.
Patrick loves to read many different kinds of books. He is interested in history, technology, engineering, and philosophy. He even shares a list of the books he reads on his website.
In November 2018, Patrick wrote an article for The Atlantic. He wrote it with Michael Nielsen. The article was called "Science is Getting Less Bang for its Buck". They argued that investing more money in science doesn't always lead to more new discoveries. In 2019, Patrick wrote another article with Tyler Cowen. They suggested a new area of study called "Progress Studies". This field would study how societies make the most progress. It would look at what helps people live better lives.
The Forbes Article Controversy
In 2021, a magazine called Forbes wrote about the Collison brothers. The article said the brothers had "escaped" from Limerick. It described Limerick as a "warzone" with gang fights. It even claimed "shootings, pipe bomb attacks, and stabbings" happened there every night. The article also said some neighborhoods were "walled off" like the Berlin Wall.
This article caused a big reaction online. Many people were upset. Patrick Collison tweeted that the article was wrong about Limerick. He said, "We are who we are because we grew up where we did." John Collison called the article "daft."
Patrick O'Donovan, a local politician, asked the magazine to apologize. He said the article insulted the people of Limerick. He invited them to visit Limerick to see the truth. Niall Collins also tweeted that the article was a "disgraceful description."
Because of all the criticism, the article was removed from the Forbes website on April 9, 2021.
Patrick's Personal Life
In April 2022, Patrick Collison got married. His wife is Silvana Konermann. She is a biochemist and a professor at Stanford University. They also co-founded the Arc Institute together. Patrick met Silvana during the 2004 European Union Contest for Young Scientists.
Patrick Collison lives in San Francisco, California.
See also
In Spanish: Patrick Collison para niños
