In 2009, Patrick Collison was a 20-year-old software developer from Ireland, working out of a modest apartment. He wasn’t a finance major. He hadn’t worked on Wall Street. He didn’t even have a formal background in payments.
Yet, by the age of 22, he co-founded Stripe—a company now valued at over $95 billion—and transformed how the internet handles payments.
The Problem That Sparked a Revolution
It all started with a simple need: Collison wanted to add payment functionality to a web application he was building. Like many developers, he turned to PayPal, the dominant player at the time.
But instead of a quick integration, he hit a wall.
PayPal’s developer documentation was filled with jargon, unclear instructions, and legacy complexity. Days turned into weeks with little progress. Most would have moved on or found a workaround.
Patrick did the opposite.
The Learning Method That Changed Everything
Frustrated but curious, Collison began asking a critical question that few in the payments industry were asking:
“Why is this so complicated?”
This simple question led to a radical process of reverse engineering PayPal’s system. He dissected it line by line, not just to understand how it worked—but why it worked the way it did.
Then, he did something even more unconventional: he started cold-emailing veterans of the payments industry. CEOs, engineers, and compliance officers—all received messages not pitching a product, but asking one thing:
“Why was this built this way?”
The responses were revealing. Most of the complexity wasn’t necessary—it was inherited. Outdated infrastructure, layered regulations, and technical debt had simply been accepted as the norm.
But Patrick saw opportunity in the chaos.
Stripe: Built From First Principles
Together with his brother John, Patrick created a radically simpler payments solution.
Just seven lines of code—that’s all developers needed to start accepting payments with Stripe. Compared to the weeks it took to integrate with existing providers, it was a breakthrough.
Stripe gained traction quickly. Early Y Combinator founders tried it, loved it, and spread the word. Soon after, Patrick received calls from PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Elon Musk—offering to invest in the company designed to replace the very system they had built.
Stripe’s simplicity wasn’t a happy accident. It was the result of a structured learning process now studied at universities and business schools.
The Stripe Learning Framework
Patrick’s method for mastering complex systems—without formal training—can be distilled into four key steps:
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Reverse-engineer everything
Dig deep into existing systems to understand how they work, and more importantly, why they work that way. -
Question every assumption
Don’t accept legacy complexity as a given. Ask whether each component is still relevant or simply a historical artifact. -
Talk to insiders
Reach out to the people who built or operate the system. Their insights often reveal inefficiencies that outsiders overlook. -
Build from first principles
Start with core truths. Ignore established templates. Reimagine the solution from the ground up.
This approach didn’t just help Patrick understand payments—it allowed him to redefine them.
Lessons for Entrepreneurs and Innovators
Patrick Collison’s story is a powerful reminder that true expertise doesn’t always come from formal education or industry experience. It comes from:
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Relentless curiosity
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A refusal to accept the status quo
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Deep, structured learning
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Publicly sharing your insights and vision
In an era where disruption comes from unlikely places, it’s often the outsider—unburdened by tradition—who sees the clearest path forward.
The Power of Visibility
One final piece of Collison’s strategy is worth noting: he didn’t build quietly. As Stripe gained traction, Patrick made sure investors, developers, and the broader tech world saw how Stripe worked—and why it mattered.
This visibility turned competitors into customers, skeptics into backers, and transformed Stripe into one of Silicon Valley’s most influential companies.
Takeaway: The Future Belongs to the Curious
Patrick Collison’s journey proves that groundbreaking innovation doesn’t require an MBA or a finance degree. It requires a mindset: challenge assumptions, learn obsessively, and build smarter.
As industries face disruption, tomorrow’s leaders will be the ones asking better questions today.
