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John Collison: The World's Best Chess Player Also Knows the Most Chess Trivia. That's Not a Coincidence.

By Patrick Collison · Mindset & Career · 1 min read

Magnus Carlsen entered a chess trivia contest and won it. The world's number one player has also studied the most about chess history. Collison says founders should be the same — you have to be curious about what makes companies work.

Key Points

Businesses are different at every scale — you have to be curious about what's required at each stage
Apple and Amazon work completely differently, yet both are wildly successful — you need a framework for how that works
Borrow the best mental models from different domains — finance, engineering, product, sales

Magnus Carlsen entered a chess trivia contest and won it. The world's number one player has studied the most about all the chess history. That's not a coincidence.

Curious About What's Required

John Collison: Businesses are different at every scale. Stripe has been different at 2 people, 50 people, currently 7,000 people. You have to be curious about what is required to run a good company at that stage.

One thing we try to do is spend a lot of time looking at all the other companies and what they've done. Not that you want to blindly emulate them — but you should at least understand.

Stripe has been different at 2 people, 50 people, 7,000 people. You have to be curious about each stage.

Magnus Carlsen Knows the Most Trivia

Collison: Tyler Cowen commented that Magnus Carlsen entered a chess trivia contest — literally about chess trivia — and won it. He knew the most out of anyone. That's not a coincidence. The world's number one player has also studied the most about all the chess history.

It's a little bit like that for us. I don't know if we could win a business trivia contest, but I think we'd have a respectable showing.

The world's best chess player also knows the most chess trivia. That's not a coincidence.

Apple vs Amazon

Collison: You really have to understand what makes companies work. Apple versus Amazon — you cannot imagine two companies that work more differently. One is totally functional. One is this GM model. And yet they're both really successful.

I think it's useful to have a framework for how that stuff works.

Apple and Amazon work completely differently. Yet both are really successful. You need a framework.

Charlie Munger's Mental Models

Collison: I was reading the galley for Poor Charlie's Almanack — Charlie Munger's famous speech about multiple mental models. Cribbing the best mental models from different industries.

I think it's probably effective to know the top mental models from finance, from engineering, from product, from sales. I don't see how you could be that effective without being pretty curious about the most important mental models from each domain.

Know the top mental models from finance, engineering, product, sales. You can't be effective without curiosity.