John Collison

John Collison
Born	06 08, 1990
Birthplace	Dromineer, County Tipperary, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Entrepreneur, business executive
Title	President of Stripe
Known for	Co-founding Stripe, co-founding Auctomatic
Education	Harvard University

John Collison (born 6 August 1990) is an Irish entrepreneur and billionaire who serves as the co-founder and president of Stripe, a financial infrastructure and payments technology company. He co-founded Stripe in 2010 alongside his brother Patrick Collison, and the company has grown into one of the most valuable private technology firms in the world, reaching a valuation of $159 billion in February 2026. Before Stripe, Collison co-founded Auctomatic, a software company that built tools for online auction sellers, which was acquired in 2008 when he was seventeen years old. Born and raised in rural Ireland, Collison's trajectory from a small village in County Tipperary to the upper reaches of the global technology industry has made him one of the most prominent figures in fintech. In 2016, following a funding round that valued Stripe at $9.2 billion, Collison became the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. As president of Stripe, Collison oversees the company's operations, strategy, and business development, working in tandem with his brother Patrick, who serves as chief executive officer.

Early Life

John Collison was born on 6 August 1990 in Dromineer, a small village on the shores of Lough Derg in County Tipperary, Ireland. He grew up in a rural setting alongside his brother Patrick, who is two years his senior. The brothers demonstrated an early aptitude for technology and programming during their teenage years.

While still in secondary school, John and Patrick Collison began developing software projects together. Their first notable venture was Auctomatic, a company that created tools to assist high-volume sellers on online auction platforms such as eBay. Auctomatic launched in October 2007, when John was seventeen years old, offering a suite of features designed to help so-called "power sellers" manage their listings, inventory, and sales more efficiently.

The Collison brothers participated in Y Combinator, the prominent Silicon Valley startup accelerator, through their work on Auctomatic. The experience connected the brothers with the broader Silicon Valley startup ecosystem at a remarkably young age.

Auctomatic attracted attention from the technology press and from potential acquirers. In March 2008, the company was acquired by a Canadian company, Live Current Media, in a deal reported to be worth approximately $5 million. The sale received significant media coverage in Ireland, where the story of two teenagers from rural Tipperary selling a technology company was considered remarkable. The acquisition provided the Collison brothers with early financial resources and validated their abilities as software entrepreneurs before either had completed their university education.

Education

John Collison attended Castletroy College, a secondary school located near Limerick, Ireland. Following the sale of Auctomatic and his completion of secondary school, Collison enrolled at Harvard University in the United States. His admission to Harvard was reported widely in Irish media, adding to the public profile he had already developed through the Auctomatic venture.

At Harvard, Collison studied physics. However, he ultimately left the university without completing his degree in order to focus full-time on Stripe, the payments company he and Patrick had begun developing. The decision to leave Harvard mirrored that of other well-known technology entrepreneurs who departed prestigious universities to pursue startup ventures, though Collison has spoken about the decision as being driven by the demands of building Stripe rather than by any dissatisfaction with his education.

Career

Auctomatic (2007–2008)

Collison's first significant business venture was Auctomatic, which he co-founded with his brother Patrick and collaborator Kulveer Taggar while still a teenager. The company was accepted into Y Combinator's startup program, one of the most selective accelerators in Silicon Valley. Auctomatic built software that helped high-volume online sellers manage their operations across platforms like eBay, streamlining tasks such as listing management and inventory tracking.

The company was acquired by Live Current Media in March 2008 for a reported $5 million. The deal drew considerable media attention in Ireland, where it was covered as part of a broader narrative about young Irish technology entrepreneurs succeeding internationally. The Auctomatic experience gave Collison foundational knowledge of online commerce, payment flows, and the challenges that businesses face when conducting transactions on the internet — themes that would directly inform his next and far more consequential venture.

Founding of Stripe (2010–2011)

In 2010, John and Patrick Collison began working on what would become Stripe. The core insight behind the company was that accepting payments on the internet remained unnecessarily difficult for software developers and businesses. Existing payment systems required lengthy integration processes, complex compliance procedures, and cumbersome technical implementations. The Collison brothers sought to reduce the process to just a few lines of code that developers could integrate directly into their websites and applications.

Stripe initially operated in stealth mode before emerging publicly in 2011. The company's early product allowed businesses to begin accepting credit card payments online by embedding a simple set of application programming interfaces (APIs) into their software. TechCrunch reported on the company's emergence in March 2011, describing it as a stealth payment startup that aimed to simplify online payments in a way that distinguished it from established players like PayPal.

The company attracted early backing from prominent Silicon Valley investors and accelerators. Having previously gone through Y Combinator with Auctomatic, the Collison brothers were well-connected within the startup ecosystem. Stripe's developer-first approach — prioritizing ease of integration and clean documentation — resonated with the growing community of software developers building internet businesses.

Growth and Expansion

Under John Collison's leadership as president and Patrick Collison's leadership as CEO, Stripe expanded rapidly from its initial payments product into a broader financial infrastructure platform. The company grew to serve businesses of all sizes, from early-stage startups to large multinational corporations.

Collison was named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list in 2011, reflecting his growing prominence in the Bay Area technology community at the age of just 21.

As president, Collison's responsibilities have encompassed Stripe's business operations, partnerships, and strategic direction. While Patrick Collison has often served as the more public-facing executive on matters of corporate vision and product philosophy, John Collison has been deeply involved in the operational and business-development aspects of the company, including its expansion into new geographic markets and product lines.

Stripe progressively broadened its suite of products beyond basic payment processing to include tools for billing, fraud prevention, business incorporation, financial reporting, and treasury management. The company also expanded internationally, opening offices in multiple countries and enabling businesses around the world to accept payments in numerous currencies.

Stripe's Rising Valuation

In November 2016, a funding round valued Stripe at $9.2 billion, making the Collison brothers billionaires. At 26, John Collison was reported by Forbes to be the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. Forbes also included Collison on its list of America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 in 2016.

Stripe's valuation continued to climb through subsequent funding rounds. The company reached a peak private valuation of $95 billion in 2021 during a period of heightened enthusiasm for technology and fintech companies. The valuation subsequently declined amid a broader pullback in technology valuations, with Stripe cutting its internal valuation to $50 billion in 2023. However, the company's continued revenue growth and profitability led to a recovery in its valuation.

In February 2026, Stripe announced a tender offer for employees and existing shareholders that valued the company at $159 billion, making it one of the most valuable private companies in the world. The tender offer also served to relieve pressure on the company to pursue an initial public offering, allowing Stripe to remain private while providing liquidity to employees and investors.

Total Payment Volume and Scale

By 2025, businesses running on Stripe generated $1.9 trillion in total payment volume, according to the annual letter published by Patrick and John Collison in February 2026. This figure represented substantial growth from previous years and placed Stripe among the largest payment processors in the world by volume.

The annual letter also discussed Stripe's involvement with stablecoins and other emerging payment technologies, reflecting the company's continued expansion into new areas of financial infrastructure.

Views on Technology and Industry

Collison has spoken publicly on a range of topics related to technology, business, and the software industry. In February 2026, he stated that Stripe had seen no evidence of a so-called "SaaS-pocalypse" — a term used to describe fears among investors that artificial intelligence could disrupt or displace enterprise software companies. Collison expressed the view that the impact of AI on software-as-a-service businesses had been overstated by some market observers.

Collison has also engaged in public conversations about technology policy and the broader technology ecosystem. In January 2026, he interviewed technology analyst Ben Thompson for the Cheeky Pint podcast, a conversational format filmed in a pub setting.

Housing and Public Policy

Collison has engaged with public policy issues, particularly around housing affordability in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Stripe is headquartered. In 2018, he was among a group of technology company leaders who spoke publicly about the housing crisis affecting the region's workforce.

Relationship to Ireland

Despite living and working primarily in the United States, Collison has maintained connections to Ireland. In interviews, he has discussed the feasibility of building technology companies in Ireland, stating in 2021 that it was "entirely plausible" that a company like Stripe could be founded in Dublin.

In 2022, it was reported that the Collison brothers had purchased a mansion in County Laois, Ireland, with plans to renovate the property at a reported cost of approximately €2 million.

Personal Life

John Collison was born and raised in Dromineer, County Tipperary, Ireland. His brother, Patrick Collison, is two years older and serves as the CEO of Stripe. The brothers' close working relationship has been a defining feature of Stripe's corporate identity, with both sharing leadership responsibilities since the company's founding.

Collison's wealth has been tracked by Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, which has listed him among the wealthiest individuals globally. He was described by The Irish Times as Ireland's second-richest person.

In February 2026, Collison met with Elon Musk for a widely reported social engagement at a pub, an event covered by The Irish Times and other media outlets.

Recognition

Collison has received recognition from multiple business and technology publications for his role in building Stripe. In 2016, Forbes named him the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, following a funding round that valued Stripe at $9.2 billion. That same year, he appeared on Forbes' list of America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40.

In 2011, the Silicon Valley Business Journal included Collison on its "40 Under 40" list, recognizing him as one of the most notable young business figures in the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of 21.

The Collison brothers have been the subject of extensive media coverage in both the United States and Ireland. In Ireland, their success has been covered as a notable example of Irish entrepreneurs achieving prominence in the global technology industry, with outlets such as The Irish Times, TheJournal.ie, and Silicon Republic regularly reporting on their activities and Stripe's development.

Legacy

John Collison's role in co-founding and building Stripe has placed him among the most influential figures in the fintech industry. Stripe's approach to payments infrastructure — prioritizing developer experience, clean APIs, and ease of integration — helped establish a model that has been widely adopted across the technology industry. The company's growth from a small startup to a firm valued at $159 billion in 2026 represents one of the most significant value-creation stories in the history of private technology companies.

Stripe's total payment volume of $1.9 trillion in 2025 underscores the scale of the infrastructure that Collison helped build. The platform processes payments for millions of businesses globally, and its suite of financial tools has expanded well beyond the original payments product to encompass a broad range of financial services.

Collison's trajectory — from building software projects in rural Ireland as a teenager, to selling his first company at seventeen, to co-leading one of the world's most valuable private companies — has also contributed to a narrative about the potential for technology entrepreneurs to emerge from outside traditional hubs of innovation. His comments about the feasibility of starting companies like Stripe in Ireland reflect an ongoing engagement with the question of how the technology industry can develop beyond Silicon Valley.

As Stripe continues to operate as a private company, Collison's leadership as president remains central to its strategic direction. The company's February 2026 tender offer, which provided liquidity without requiring a public listing, signaled that Collison and his brother intend to maintain their current approach to corporate governance for the foreseeable future.