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Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

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Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#41

Post by j_col »

raverbashing wrote: post #33
subsystem wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to take anything away from him, but I think his other achievements are far more impressive. Learning to fly or play the piano generally "just" takes time and money. The really hard things are those where you can apply yourself fully and still fail.

Yes His father may be a businessman (yes, I read the part where he says he's an electrical engineer), I'm not sure. Based on what things cost in Ireland today and the salary one can make, it does not look good. And any salary considered 'high' pays 41% in taxes (where high is > $41k per year)

> And any salary considered 'high' pays 41% in taxes (where high is > $41k per year)

That's incorrect. You don't pay the high rate of income tax on all of your income, but only on income over a certain threshold depending on your circumstances. Actually we have pretty low income tax rates when compared to other EU countries:

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it1.html#section3

Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#42

Post by DigitalSea »

subsystem wrote: post #17
DigitalSea wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's also a pilot and pianist and he's only 22. I'm now asking myself where did my life going wrong?

Not to take anything away from him, but I think his other achievements are far more impressive. Learning to fly or play the piano generally "just" takes time and money. The really hard things are those where you can apply yourself fully and still fail.

Learning to fly takes time and money, but how many people with money and the time to spare have you heard of being able to pilot a plane by themselves at the age of 22? It takes an incredible amount of hours before you can become a pilot. May be trivial, but I think it actually shows just how incredibly committed and talented he actually is.

Lets just hope he continues to use his intellectual gifts for good and not to better his pockets. He's off to a good start though.

Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#43

Post by raverbashing »

j_col wrote: post #41
raverbashing wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes His father may be a businessman (yes, I read the part where he says he's an electrical engineer), I'm not sure. Based on what things cost in Ireland today and the salary one can make, it does not look good. And any salary considered 'high' pays 41% in taxes (where high is > $41k per year)

> And any salary considered 'high' pays 41% in taxes (where high is > $41k per year) That's incorrect. You don't pay the high rate of income tax on all of your income, but only on income over a certain threshold depending on your circumstances. Actually we have pretty low income tax rates when compared to other EU countries: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it1.html#section3

I know that (and this often confuses people), I didn't want to add all the explanation there.

But yes, you'll pay 41% on what goes over a certain limit (that is, above $41k annually or 32.8KEUR).

About your second statement, not really: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_of_Europe

Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#44

Post by kintamanimatt »

DigitalSea wrote: post #42
subsystem wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to take anything away from him, but I think his other achievements are far more impressive. Learning to fly or play the piano generally "just" takes time and money. The really hard things are those where you can apply yourself fully and still fail.

Learning to fly takes time and money, but how many people with money and the time to spare have you heard of being able to pilot a plane by themselves at the age of 22? It takes an incredible amount of hours before you can become a pilot. May be trivial, but I think it actually shows just how incredibly committed and talented he actually is. Lets just hope he continues to use his intellectual gifts for good and not t…

No it doesn't take all that long, not at least for a PPL with no ratings.

In theory, a PPL can be earned with just 40 hours of flight time, although the actual average is closer to 60-70 hours. There's obviously a ground school component, which can be self-study, and depending on learning speed might require about another 100 hours. Factor in the time to write the written exams and pass a checkride, and it's not a horrendous time commitment. I've heard of people doing it in a month, albeit working on it nearly full time.

It's still an admiral accomplishment. There's a lot to learn while learning to fly!

Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#45

Post by davidkatz »

clicks wrote: post #31
pc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't stress out over it. 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…

So, if you don't mind me asking, do speak about your (and your brother's) upbringing. What was your childhood like? Did you parents teach you programming? Did you play with legos a lot? Write as if you were giving advice to future-fathers.

Please, let's all stop this cult of parenting, and cult of personality. Let's assume that Patrick and John had played with legos, and that their parents taught them programming. What would that teach us? That we should teach our kids Programming and let them play with legos? Certainly not.

Much respect to John and Patrick, I hope that they continue to do impressive things and that a few years down the road they'll look at the things they did in their 20s as 'merely setting the stage' for whatever else they'll be doing then.

Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#47

Post by madaxe »

Ok, stripe's wonderful, but... why is stripe wonderful?

It's a payment service provider. An expensive payment service provider. They have an API. It's nicely written - but a nicely written API doesn't make a product. They're available in the US and Canada. OK, but there's a whole planet out there.

So, yeah. What exactly is it that's so amazing about stripe?

I work in eCommerce, run and developed a little platform that does a few £bn a year through it, so know my PSPs, and fail to see the differentiation.

Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#48

Post by mibbitier »

jacquesm wrote: post #27
jacalata wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

'spindoctoring' indicates a conscious effort to increase the stature of the subject of the article, and is a word with a strong negative connotation. 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 no…

> "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."

As far as I remember, it was a "buy the team, shut down the company" deal.

The very fact that people in this thread are mistakenly saying that eBay bought the company, shows how well the spindoctoring worked.

Re: Stripe's 22-Year-Old Irish-Born Founder Is Just Getting Started

#50

Post by rmc »

raverbashing wrote: post #43
j_col wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And any salary considered 'high' pays 41% in taxes (where high is > $41k per year) That's incorrect. You don't pay the high rate of income tax on all of your income, but only on income over a certain threshold depending on your circumstances. Actually we have pretty low income tax rates when compared to other EU countries: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it1.html#section3

I know that (and this often confuses people), I didn't want to add all the explanation there. But yes, you'll pay 41% on what goes over a certain limit (that is, above $41k annually or 32.8KEUR). About your second statement, not really: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_of_Europe

Comparing taxes is hard. There are various other 'hidden' taxes that Ireland doesn't have. e.g. no 'council tax' or property tax (though they are bringing one in, most likely just for people who own, not rent), there are no water charges (yet), etc. All of this can mean that someone can have more in their pocket at the end of the month in Ireland. It all depends.
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