Patrick Collison (born 9 September 1988), is an Irish entrepreneur from County Limerick. Patrick is the cofounder and CEO of Stripe, which he started with his brother John Collison in 2010. He was the winner of the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005 at the age of sixteen. He lives in San Francisco.

Early life

Patrick Collison was born to Lily and Denis Collison in 1988. The eldest of three children (two younger brothers, John and Tommy), Collison took his first computer course when he was eight years old at the University of Limerick and began learning computer programming at the age of ten.

Collison was educated in Gaelscoil Aonach Urmhumhan, Nenagh, before attending Castletroy College in Castletroy, County Limerick.

Young Scientist

He entered the 40th Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with his project on artificial intelligence (nicknamed 'Isaac' after Isaac Newton, whom Patrick admired), finishing as individual runner-up. He re-entered the following year, and won first place at the age of sixteen on 14 January 2005. His project involved the creation of Croma, a LISP-type programming language. His prize of a €3,000 cheque and a trophy of Waterford Crystal was presented to him by President Mary McAleese. His younger brother Tommy participated with his project on blogging in the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2010.