category:
  id: side-quests
  label: Side quests
  description: Patrick and John Collison's notable projects outside Stripe, spanning science and arts funding, progress studies, governance, and hospitality.
  order: 10
events:
  - id: side-quest-omos-opens-at-millbrook-house
    date: 2026-07-07
    date_precision: day
    title: Ómós begins service at Millbrook House
    summary: Ómós opened its restaurant and guesthouse in Abbeyleix with chef Cúán Greene as majority owner and executive chef and John Collison as an investor. The restored property combines a 40-seat restaurant with 16 guest rooms; current reporting does not establish Patrick Collison as an investor in the operating business.
    confidence: confirmed
    people:
      - Cúán Greene
      - John Collison
      - Patrick Collison
    organizations:
      - Ómós
      - Millbrook House
    locations:
      - Abbeyleix, County Laois, Ireland
    metrics:
      - label: Restaurant capacity
        value: 40 seats
      - label: Guest rooms
        value: "16"
    status: Open
    related_events:
      - side-quest-collisons-acquire-millbrook-house
    tags:
      - hospitality
      - ireland
      - investment
    source_ids:
      - source-5cce599c4b7c9144e3cb
      - source-1002e320dafb67950005
      - source-1c6adfe53072cdc63578
  - id: side-quest-new-aesthetics-grants
    date: 2026-05-25
    date_precision: day
    title: Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen award 28 New Aesthetics grants
    summary: Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen published the recipients of their New Aesthetics grants after receiving more applications than expected. They funded 28 artists and projects spanning architecture, publishing, craft, software, film, furniture, public art, and experimental technology.
    confidence: confirmed
    people:
      - Patrick Collison
      - Tyler Cowen
    organizations:
      - New Aesthetics
    metrics:
      - label: Grantees funded
        value: "28"
    status: Recipients announced
    tags:
      - art
      - grants
      - philanthropy
      - aesthetics
    source_ids:
      - source-4c240f420fc0534fe6af
      - source-5a2e0ef3c00b4019656f
  - id: side-quest-patrick-collison-joins-meta-board
    date: 2025-04-15
    date_precision: day
    title: Patrick Collison joins Meta's board of directors
    summary: Meta appointed Patrick Collison and Dina Powell McCormick to its board, with both appointments effective April 15. The role added public-company governance at one of the world's largest technology platforms to Collison's work outside Stripe.
    confidence: confirmed
    people:
      - Patrick Collison
      - Dina Powell McCormick
      - Mark Zuckerberg
    organizations:
      - Meta
      - Stripe
    tags:
      - board
      - governance
      - technology
    source_ids:
      - source-475e9973e4ee494147aa
      - source-aa36e7f93ba3a24269dd
  - id: side-quest-collisons-acquire-millbrook-house
    date: "2022"
    date_precision: year
    title: The Collison brothers acquire Millbrook House for restoration
    summary: Local reporting said Patrick and John Collison acquired the derelict Millbrook House in Abbeyleix for about €400,000. The restoration later became the setting for Cúán Greene and John Collison's Ómós restaurant and guesthouse project.
    confidence: reported
    amount:
      currency: EUR
      display: About €400,000
      value: 400000
    people:
      - Patrick Collison
      - John Collison
      - Cúán Greene
    organizations:
      - Millbrook House
      - Ómós
    locations:
      - Abbeyleix, County Laois, Ireland
    related_events:
      - side-quest-omos-opens-at-millbrook-house
    tags:
      - property
      - restoration
      - ireland
      - hospitality
    source_ids:
      - source-9ad888e73adc937b1c29
      - source-1c6adfe53072cdc63578
  - id: side-quest-arc-institute-launches
    date: 2021-12-15
    date_precision: day
    title: Patrick Collison co-founds Arc Institute
    summary: Patrick Collison, Patrick Hsu, and Silvana Konermann launched Arc Institute as an independent biomedical research organization focused on complex human disease. Its model gives core investigators renewable eight-year funding, while Patrick and John Collison are listed among the institute's founding donors.
    confidence: confirmed
    people:
      - Patrick Collison
      - John Collison
      - Patrick Hsu
      - Silvana Konermann
    organizations:
      - Arc Institute
      - Stripe
    locations:
      - Palo Alto, California
    metrics:
      - label: Core investigator funding term
        value: Renewable 8-year terms
    tags:
      - science
      - biomedical-research
      - philanthropy
    source_ids:
      - source-dc2f070f6effb7cceff3
      - source-af73c6bed56faf7ea27e
  - id: side-quest-fast-grants-launches
    date: 2020-04
    date_precision: month
    title: Fast Grants launches an accelerated model for COVID-19 research funding
    summary: Patrick Collison, Tyler Cowen, and Patrick Hsu organized Fast Grants as the pandemic exposed the speed limits of conventional research funding. The program made many decisions within 48 hours and aimed to deliver funds within a week, drawing roughly 4,000 applications in its first week.
    confidence: confirmed
    people:
      - Patrick Collison
      - Tyler Cowen
      - Patrick Hsu
    organizations:
      - Fast Grants
      - Emergent Ventures
    metrics:
      - label: Target decision time
        value: 48 hours
      - label: Target time to funding
        value: Within 1 week
      - label: First-week applications
        value: About 4,000
    tags:
      - science
      - covid-19
      - research-funding
      - philanthropy
    source_ids:
      - source-89af64bf0e530b9961f2
      - source-85375dadecbd272a21c7
  - id: side-quest-progress-studies-proposal
    date: 2019-07-30
    date_precision: day
    title: Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen propose progress studies
    summary: Patrick Collison and economist Tyler Cowen argued for a focused discipline studying how economic, technological, scientific, cultural, and organizational progress happens. The essay supplied a name and research agenda for a broader movement concerned with increasing society's capacity to produce useful advances.
    confidence: confirmed
    people:
      - Patrick Collison
      - Tyler Cowen
    organizations:
      - The Atlantic
    tags:
      - progress-studies
      - research
      - writing
    source_ids:
      - source-370244a2efb2cfe025e5
      - source-6a70e99c09c187ea49b2
schema: stripe-history/history/v2