Patrick Collison: "What If You Succeed?"
About this episode
In 2009, Patrick and John Collison went to Startup School in Berkeley, got sushi in Potrero Hill afterward, and decided on the walk home to start Stripe. The reasoning, as Patrick remembers it, was that “we might as well because it probably won't be that hard.”
It took two years to launch.
Seventeen years later, at Startup School 2026, he talks with YC's Harj Taggar about dropping out of MIT twice, why founders should ask what happens if they succeed, and what Stripe's own data says about the best time to start a company.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Y Combinator Startup Podcast publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Y Combinator Startup Podcast
Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Founders
Y Combinator Startup Podcast
The World’s Largest Electric Aircraft Just Flew
Y Combinator Startup Podcast
Max Junestrand: You Need The Willingness To Learn Faster Than Anyone Else
Y Combinator Startup Podcast
Susan Kare: Designing Icons & Graphics For the Original Mac
Y Combinator Startup Podcast