21–30 of 91 posts
Really amazing guy. Kinda makes me feel inadequate all of a sudden :(
The luck element is out of control for everybody, timing you only control so much, execution and attitude you control 100%.
Kudos to both of them, and godspeed on their current endeavor.
Wow, this guy is amazing. Read his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collison
I was born the same year as this guy . How do I reconcile myself to the fact that I may never achieve so much even in my entire life ? Is it a matter of lowering ones expectations ? If this is the kind of brilliance it takes to succeed in the start up world I'm quite discouraged.
Just let go. If there is success, there is success. If there is no success, there is no success.
If you reach a decent standard of living, there will be plenty to enjoy. Do not forget to do so.
Wow, this guy is amazing. Read his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collison
I was born the same year as this guy . How do I reconcile myself to the fact that I may never achieve so much even in my entire life ? Is it a matter of lowering ones expectations ? If this is the kind of brilliance it takes to succeed in the start up world I'm quite discouraged.
Wow, this guy is amazing. Read his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collison
I was born the same year as this guy . How do I reconcile myself to the fact that I may never achieve so much even in my entire life ? Is it a matter of lowering ones expectations ? If this is the kind of brilliance it takes to succeed in the start up world I'm quite discouraged.
It doesn't hurt either, but the biggest factor is perseverance.
If you get discouraged because someone younger than you can succeed when you can't then that perseverance element is exactly what you have to work on.
For every Patrick and every John there are 10's of thousands of people that succeed. And almost all of them are not nearly as brilliant or as young. Imagine a world without them. In that world you would be closer to the top. But your chances of success would not be diminished, nor would they be decreased.
Now repeat that process for all those that are smarter, richer and more dedicated than you. At some point you'll be the one at the top. What would you blame it on if you then still did not succeed?
In the end, all that matters is when and how you decide to make a go of it, how much you apply yourself, how well you'll deal with the unavoidable hardships and how much luck you will have and how the timing will favor you.
It doesn't really matter how much higher than 120 your IQ is, plenty of people with less than that have succeeded at a level that even Patrick or John will never exceed simply by being in the right place at the right time and making use of every opportunity that life threw at them.
If you want to measure yourself do it with people that started off with less than you had and that still made it. Then figure out what they did right that you're doing wrong and go for it.
Very impressive achievement for his age, though there is of course also a lot of spin-doctoring involved[1]. Stripe seems to be heading into the right direction. [1] The whole "millionaire at 17" bit decodes to getting a big stock-based exit for Auctomatic with modest cash. Said stock then dropping to pennies shortly thereafter (~40x drop in stock price). Add in the merger and $600k in financing and there probably wa…
So, if we limit the 'millionaire at 17' bit to 'those that made a non-cash exit for 6 figures and up' would that satisfy you? To take cash or stock is a difficult decision for seasoned business people, I really can't fault a 17 year old for going that route and through no fault of their own see the value of that stock evaporate a short while later. I've known quite a few people that went bust during the .com debacle…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, if we limit the 'millionaire at 17' bit to 'those that made a non-cash exit for 6 figures and up' would that satisfy you? To take cash or stock is a difficult decision for seasoned business people, I really can't fault a 17 year old for going that route and through no fault of their own see the value of that stock evaporate a short while later. I've known quite a few people that went bust during the .com debacle…
I didn't read the parent as saying 'not actually a millionaire because he's an idiot', you seem a little touchy here. It seems reasonable to ask for that clarification - if you make the assumption that both brothers came into control of millions of dollars worth of available assets, you might wonder what they were doing with the money, especially as related to their continuing business ventures. The additional inform…
The fact that they had an idea, built it and executed their vision successfully enough that another company bought them out are the bits that matter. That the buying party was significantly reduced in value after the acquisition is not their fault, and even if it had not it would have been stock (likely with all kinds of encumbrances) not cash.
Doing a stock deal is risky at best and can end very bad for the acquiree. Assets are not money, stock is not money, even so for a 17 year old that was an absolutely amazing track record.
I'm not clear on the details of that particular deal, and frankly I don't even care. All I know is that most people here would dream of doing a deal like that or even being in the position to make that particular mistake, and hindsight (the company acquiring tanking shortly thereafter) is 20/20.
Wow, this guy is amazing. Read his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collison
I was born the same year as this guy . How do I reconcile myself to the fact that I may never achieve so much even in my entire life ? Is it a matter of lowering ones expectations ? If this is the kind of brilliance it takes to succeed in the start up world I'm quite discouraged.
I'm Patrick, John's brother.
I too constantly feel that I should be more successful, and I'm pretty sure the feeling doesn't go away -- no matter what's achieved.
I think looking at others can be a useful gut check: am I working as hard as I could? Am I as focused as I'd like to be? But given that there's so much randomness and circumstance there too, it's a bad benchmark for anything.
(For what it's worth, the check I use personally is: "is there a difference between how those who know me best would describe me, and how I'd like to be?" Most of the time, I just try to fix those gaps.)
Good luck!
Wow, this guy is amazing. Read his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collison
I was born the same year as this guy . How do I reconcile myself to the fact that I may never achieve so much even in my entire life ? Is it a matter of lowering ones expectations ? If this is the kind of brilliance it takes to succeed in the start up world I'm quite discouraged.
Loosely related with the article, do you need to give significant share to "locals" if you're starting a company in the US? For example, in Malaysia and Singapore (CMIIW), unless you put huge amount of money up front, foreigners are required to partner with locals and give >50% share to them. I.e. foreigners cannot have majority share if they start a "normal" company (not big).
No way what you're saying is true for both Singapore and Malaysia. Some shares need to be allocated to locals though if you IPO in the country.
and read the first comment (by Denis)