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The Twenty Minute VC · September 5, 2023 · 32m
Patrick Collison: Stripe's Next Chapter
Patrick Collison discusses Stripe's evolution from '7 lines of code' to processing $1T+ in payments annually. He explains why Stripe stayed private, his reading habits, and why he thinks the pace of scientific progress has slowed.
Canon
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Collison reads 100+ books per year and maintains a public reading list. He describes reading as 'having a conversation with the most interesting people who ever lived.' Each book is a biographical mentor — a compressed lifetime of experience transferred in 10 hours.
Highlights
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The pace of scientific progress has slowed despite massively increased spending — something structural has changed
Collison argues that scientific progress per dollar spent has declined dramatically since the 1950s. We spend 10x more on research but produce fewer breakthroughs. The problem isn't funding — it's the structure of how science is organized.