In this episode of "Social Radars," Jessica Livingston and Carolyn Levy interview Patrick and John Collison, the co-founders of Stripe, diving into their journey from teenage Lisp programmers to building a global payment processing powerhouse.
The conversation begins with a nostalgic look back to Patrick's early encounters with Paul Graham, revealing how a series of sophisticated Lisp-related questions led to a meeting with Graham in Boston when Patrick was just 16. This meeting, marked by Graham's initial fluster and subsequent dinner invitation, introduced Patrick to the Y Combinator ecosystem and a young Aaron Swartz. John’s initial interaction with Paul Graham also leads to an eyebrow comment that haunts him to this day.
The Collison brothers then recount their experiences with Automatic, a company they joined after building a better eBay alternative called Shapa, which led to their involvement with Bozo, a YC-funded company with a similar concept. This period introduced them to the startup scene in San Francisco, including now-prominent figures like Robbie Walker, Daniel Gross, and the Justin.tv crew. Their time with Automatic also exposed them to the frustrating realities of online payments, planting the seed for what would eventually become Stripe.
They discuss their involvement with a Wikipedia app where they discovered how easy it was to monetize a product on the app store which was very thought-provoking. They joke about how easy it would be to build offline LM style apps in the iPhone in comparison to everything being online.
John’s discussion of traveling as an unaccompanied minor wearing striped shirts and knee socks led to further discussion about the original YC batches. The conversation shifts towards the early days of Y Combinator, highlighting the unique magic and density of talent in the initial batches, where intrinsic motivation and a genuine passion for building startups outweighed the allure of credentials.
The discussion focuses on Stripe's origins, initially named "/dev/payments." John talks about his mother encouraging him to go to school for 4 years, where he planned on it until they started working on Stripe a couple of months later. They describe recognizing a void in the payment processing landscape, inspired by the emergence of services like Slicehost, which simplified server management. They envisioned Stripe as "Slicehost for payments," providing developers with a low-level API that offered control and ease of setup.
Stripe's emphasis on developer-friendliness and exceptional documentation is discussed, stemming from a commitment to empowering programmers and addressing the broader issue of bottlenecks in software development. They share anecdotes about how companies would make business decisions regardless of the implementation which motivated them even further. The Collison brothers acknowledge the role of luck in their success. They emphasize that choosing the problem and pursuing this vision were the keys to their success.
Their mother’s story is shared about how Tommy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at a young age. The family was told Tommy would never walk. But their mother did not give up. The doctors proved to be wrong. He is now successful in tech and can walk and bike. They note how their parents were supportive of their journey. This story showcases how they can persevere.
Livingston asks if the brothers argue. They mention how they are consistent in their actions and that they avoid arguing as it is seen as bad for the business. They will debate issues, but they do not bicker. They also talk about how it would be viewed as bad if employees found out that they were fighting.
The conversation closes with reflections on Stripe's journey and the brothers' vision for the company's future. They express gratitude for the support they received from Y Combinator and reaffirm their commitment to Stripe. They also mention Ark as a separate project to Stripe. Livingston notes how impressive they are.