Patrick Collison’s advice for people in their 20s: “Work at a place with high standards”

When asked for career advice for people in their 20s, Patrick recalls the book Apprentice to Genius. It follows three generations of scientists that mentored each other and were all extremely successful. It then reflects on what was transferred.

One important thing that the mentees say they learned from their mentors was problem selection. In science, you have to choose problems that are sufficiently important yet not so intractable that you can’t actually make any progress.

The other thing the mentees describe is just learning about high standards and what high standards actually are.

Patrick believes this is a really important point:

“When I talk to people in other domains, this is so frequently the thing that I hear from them. That when they worked with X person or Y organization or in Z environment, they learned what great actually is, and that just permanently changed their sense for what their own standard for their work ought to be.”

He continues:

“So maybe one versions of the ‘what people in their twenties should do’ is get some idea as to the domains you’re interested in, but then figure out where you can learn the highest standards. Where are the highest standards embodied? And where can you go and experience that firsthand?”

Full video: Dwarkesh Patel “Patrick Collison (Stripe CEO) - Craft, Beauty, & The Future of Payments“ (Feb 2024)

P.S. We’ve put together a YouTube playlist with every Patrick Collison insight we’ve ever shared. You can watch it here: "Best startup advice from Patrick Collison"