Question 1

True or false: John Collison dropped out of Harvard to co-found Stripe with his brother Patrick.

Accepted Answer

True. John and Patrick Collison both left Harvard to launch Stripe, now a payments giant valued in the billions.

Question 2

True or false: John Collison was a professional Irish dancer before becoming a programmer.

Accepted Answer

False. John was a child programming prodigy, not a dancer. He won the Young Scientist Exhibition for coding.

Question 3

True or false: John Collison holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest IPO in tech history.

Accepted Answer

False. Stripe has never had an IPO. John holds no such record; this is a fabricated achievement.

Question 4

True or false: John Collison’s first startup, Auctomatic, was sold for $5 million when he was 17.

Accepted Answer

True. He co-founded Auctomatic with Patrick at age 16; it was acquired by Live Current Media for $5 million in 2008.

Question 5

True or false: John Collison once turned down a job offer from Google to finish high school.

Accepted Answer

False. John was already building companies as a teen; there’s no record of a Google offer or him declining it for school.

Question 6

True or false: John Collison co-authored a programming book on Lisp at age 16.

Accepted Answer

True. At 16, he wrote a book on Lisp programming, published by Apress, showcasing his early genius.

Question 7

True or false: John Collison is an avid collector of vintage mainframe computers.

Accepted Answer

True. He owns a collection of old mainframes, including an IBM System/360, reflecting his love for computing history.

Question 8

True or false: John Collison was the youngest person ever to receive a Thiel Fellowship.

Accepted Answer

False. The Thiel Fellowship is for individuals under 23, but John never applied; his brother Patrick was a fellow.

John Collison Trivia Questions