Web Summit: Stripe on course to become ‘1,000-person company’
John Collison, 25, was one of the headline speakers at the Web Summit yesterday, where he revealed the ongoing growth of his five-year-old internet payment firm.
“We [Patrick and I] were the first people working on Stripe and we developed a lot of the ideas, but you have to be very clear on where your own limitations are and the fact is that we are now a 300-person company and we will soon be approaching a 1,000-person company.”
He opened day two of the summit yesterday and was overwhelmed by the turnout for his talk at centre stage.
Giving advice to a packed room of entrepreneurs, the San Francisco-based businessman told them not to let fear stand in their way.
“Do not be afraid to start a business that feels like it has no precedent,” he said.
Stripe was valued at $5bn (€4.52bn), during the summer, after a round of funding.
Also headlining yesterday was Irish professional golfer Padraig Harrington, a three-time Major winner who hopes a nine-week break will help him to avoid peaking and ensure success for 2016.
“I want to plateau for the year,” he said.
“My year is totally judged on how I do in the Majors, no doubt about it, but at the end of the day, peaking can be very dangerous.”
He added: “In rugby it shows up more than any other sport. You can go to the recent Rugby World Cup and every team that peaked seemed to lose the game afterwards.
“It’s a dangerous thing, to try and get yourself to peak, unless you are an Olympic athlete which comes around every four years,” said the golfer.
Today marks the end of the Web Summit with The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown and Pixar president Ed Catmull due to speak.
Also speaking is former Irish rugby player Brian O’Driscoll.
The Web Summit will move to Lisbon under a three-year deal from 2016.
It will run at the same time of year and remain an English-speaking event. The company’s operations are to stay in Ireland.
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