The President of a $159 Billion Startup Says College Students Should Use This Strategy to Stand Out in a Competitive Job Market
He says the strategy is “not that hard” to enact.
Key Takeaways
- John Collison is the cofounder and president of the $159 billion payment processing startup Stripe.
- He says college still matters and advises students to double major in two different fields to broaden their skills.
- The idea isn’t new; influential business leaders like the late investor Charlie Munger have long encouraged studying multiple disciplines to stand out.
As AI handles entry-level tasks at firms like McKinsey, both leaders and young professionals are starting to question if a college degree is still worth it. Workers are increasingly concerned about student debt and lackluster job prospects.
However, John Collison, the cofounder and president of $159 billion payment processing startup Stripe, argues that college still matters and urges students to pursue two different majors to broaden their skills.
“If you understand software and understand finance, or if you understand software and understand marketing, you can now go massively improve the entire marketing funnel for your company,” Collison recently said on the TBPN podcast. “One person can do what would have taken 20 people dredging through all these systems.”
Collison said that double majors have an advantage over more single-minded peers in finding successful careers. Instead of looking at a single career path, workers who understand multiple fields can better adapt to rapidly changing technology and job demands.
Collison’s advice reflects a long-standing belief among top business leaders. Charlie Munger, the late vice chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and longtime business partner of Warren Buffett, strongly advocated for what he called “multidisciplinary thinking.” He believed that combining knowledge from different fields would lead to better decision-making.
“Charlie Munger talked about the importance of being multidisciplinary,” Collison added. “Getting a functional understanding of many disciplines is not that hard. You can just go read the books now, or you can talk to your AI about it. I think multidisciplinary thinkers are going to do incredibly well.”
Here’s who has an advantage in an AI age
Collison studied physics and math at Harvard University before dropping out in 2010 to start Stripe with his brother. He and other tech leaders increasingly say that the workers who will win in the AI era are those who can connect ideas across fields and work fluently with both humans and machines.
One such leader is Anthropic cofounder and president Daniela Amodei. In an interview with ABC News earlier this year, Amodei, who majored in English Literature in college and doesn’t regret it, said that AI is already strong in science, technology, engineering and math, so the real advantage now lies in human-centered skills like emotional intelligence, communication and ethical judgment.
“I actually think studying the humanities is going to be more important than ever,” Amodei said. “I think this idea that there are things that make us uniquely human, understanding ourselves, understanding history, understanding what makes us tick, I think that will always be really, really important.”
Amodei predicted that critical thinking skills and interacting with others will be “more important in the future, rather than less.”
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon agrees that critical thinking is a vital skill for the future.
“My advice to people would be critical thinking, learn skills, learn your EQ [emotional quotient], learn how to be good in a meeting, how to communicate, how to write,” Dimon said last year in an interview with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “You’ll have plenty of jobs.”
Key Takeaways
- John Collison is the cofounder and president of the $159 billion payment processing startup Stripe.
- He says college still matters and advises students to double major in two different fields to broaden their skills.
- The idea isn’t new; influential business leaders like the late investor Charlie Munger have long encouraged studying multiple disciplines to stand out.
As AI handles entry-level tasks at firms like McKinsey, both leaders and young professionals are starting to question if a college degree is still worth it. Workers are increasingly concerned about student debt and lackluster job prospects.
However, John Collison, the cofounder and president of $159 billion payment processing startup Stripe, argues that college still matters and urges students to pursue two different majors to broaden their skills.
“If you understand software and understand finance, or if you understand software and understand marketing, you can now go massively improve the entire marketing funnel for your company,” Collison recently said on the TBPN podcast. “One person can do what would have taken 20 people dredging through all these systems.”
