korrents

Patrick Collison

@patrick-collison · 6 positions · 0 changes of mind

Co-founder and CEO of Stripe and co-founder of the Arc Institute. Keeps a personal site of reading lists, open questions and notes on scientific progress and how research is funded.

Patrick Collison did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. 30 Aug 2026

    Our reading

    The OpenAI-Hugging Face attack is one of the most important things to happen this year, and has gone strikingly under-covered.

    Their wordsOverall, I’m very surprised at how little media coverage there’s been around the OpenAI / Hugging Face attack. It’s clearly one of the most important things to happen this year.

    ↗@patrickc on Xx.com

    OpenAIHuggingFace

  2. 1 day earlier

  3. 29 Aug 2026

    Our reading

    The difficulty of incorporating a company in Germany is understated rather than exaggerated, and it pushes founders to incorporate elsewhere.

    Their wordsMet a German founder this week and asked him if all the stories one reads about the challenges of startups in Germany are exaggerated. "No, they're understated." Proceeded to describe spending a full day having a 90-page investment contract read to him (mandatory under German law; § 13 BeurkG) by a notary that then charged €30,000. That was for his first company. His second company, needless to say, was not incorporated in Germany.

    ↗@patrickc on Xx.com

    startups

  4. 7 years earlier

  5. by 18 Nov 2019

    Our reading

    The cognitive costs of air pollution are almost certainly still significantly under-emphasised -- most EPA materials do not mention them at all.

    Their wordsAir pollution is a very big deal. Its adverse effects on numerous health outcomes and general mortality are widely documented. However, our understanding of its cognitive costs is more recent and those costs are almost certainly still significantly under-emphasized. For example, cognitive effects are not mentioned in most EPA materials.

    ↗Pollutionpatrickcollison.com

  6. 16 months earlier

  7. by 5 Jul 2018

    Our reading

    Returns to effort do not visibly diminish; the binding constraint is how much hard work you actually enjoy, not where the curve flattens.

    Their wordsTo the extent that you enjoy working hard, do. Subject to that constraint, it's not clear that the returns to effort ever diminish substantially.

    ↗Advicepatrickcollison.com

  9. by 5 Jul 2018

    Our reading

    A large fraction of what the people around you believe is mistaken, and nobody is going to teach you to think for yourself.

    Their wordsMore broadly, nobody is going to teach you to think for yourself. A large fraction of what people around you believe is mistaken. Internalize this and practice coming up with your own worldview.

    ↗Advicepatrickcollison.com

  11. by 5 Jul 2018

    Our reading

    Great work is usually done far younger than its fame suggests: people were grey-haired when they became famous, not when they did the work.

    Their wordsPeople who did great things often did so at very surprisingly young ages. (They were grayhaired when they became famous... not when they did the work.)

    ↗Advicepatrickcollison.com