Being from Ireland myself, hugely proud of the Collisons and what they've achieved. But I'm rooting for them for another reason. A few years ago when I was in

Being from Ireland myself, hugely proud of the Collisons and what they've achieved. But I'm rooting for them for another reason. A few years ago when I was in college, I randomly emailed Patrick looking for advice on where to begin on the path to eventually doing a startup. I was only half expecting a response, I mean he doesn't know me from Adam and it was an email out of the blue from me. Instead, he gave me his mobile number and told me to ring him to have a proper conversation. I had like a half hour+ conversation, about web frameworks, visa advice for the US, and so on. Incredibly guy, unbelievable generosity. I was floored by it. I've no doubt Stripe will go public some day (unless it gets bought for a huge sum by Visa or someone), I'll be rooting for those guys all the way.