Thread by @sotirolo

Two Irish brothers control 1.3% of the world's GDP.

That's bigger than the entire economy of Switzerland...

And it all started with their quest to fix biggest problem with online payments.

Here's how they built the invisible foundation that powers your favorite apps:

Growing up in rural Dromineer, Ireland (population: <500), the Collison brothers had dial-up internet until the age of 16:

Patrick taught himself programming at 10. John followed at 8.

Their first taste of entrepreneurship was selling iPhone apps from their bedroom...

By 2008, Patrick was still a teenager when he sold his first company.

It was an auction and marketplace management system called Auctomatic, for $5 million.

Most kids his age were worried about prom dates.

He was already thinking about something much more important...

The brothers dropped out of Harvard and MIT respectively in 2009.

Their parents thought they'd lost their minds.

Eventually moving to silicon valley to solve a MASSIVE problem that all the tech companies faced...

E-commerce was exploding, yet accepting payments online was still a nightmare.

Their solution: seven lines of code to accept payments online.

And so, the first version of stripe was born - in a Palo Alto apartment...

Getting their first customers meant cold outreach and shameless networking.

Patrick would literally walk into YC demo days and pitch Stripe to every founder.

The breakthrough eventually came in 2011 when they officially launched:

Within 24 hours, thousands of developers were integrating Stripe.

But success brought new problems: regulatory compliance across 40+ countries.

Here's where it gets interesting:

While competitors focused on consumer payments, the Collisons went after developers.

They understood something fundamental: developers choose how consumers pay.

Win the developers, win the market.

Using this philosophy, they were scaled to processing $640 BILLION annually!

Their M&A strategy has been aggressive:

- Acquired Paystack for $200M to dominate Africa
- Bought Bouncer for computer vision payments
- Snapped up TaxJar for $200M to handle sales tax

Each acquisition was surgically planned for complete ecosystem control...

The numbers prove how dominant they have become in the space:

- Millions of businesses using their infrastructure
- Processing 1% of global GDP
- $95 billion valuation (2021)
- 40+ countries supported

They've built the invisible backbone of the internet economy:

While other payment companies fight over transaction fees, Stripe is building an entire financial services ecosystem:

- Subscription management
- Fraud detection
- Banking
- Loans
- Crypto

The convenience Stripe provides for online payments makes them the CFO for the internet...

In 2024, Stripe Climate launched, committing $1 billion to carbon removal and other environmental protection efforts.

They're also building Stripe Capital, providing instant funding to their merchants.

They are now embedding into finance, letting any app become a bank!

Two kids from rural Ireland now control a company more valuable than most countries' GDP.

They've survived regulatory battles, downturns, and competition.

Their latest feat: preparing for the largest IPO in tech history.

Exit moments don't happen by accident.

The last 10+ years, I've generated over $5 billion in enterprise value for my portfolio companies.

If you're interested in selling your business, fundraising or proprietary deal flow, let's chat:

cal.com/sotero-rodrigu…

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Video Credits:
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