What Lesson Stuck From the Early Stripe Team?

Darragh Buckley says one of the most impactful and meaningful lessons from the early Stripe team was how much a small empowered team can get done. He walked into an early group with John Collison, Patrick Collison, and Greg Brockman.

Stripe was finally going to talk to the credit card network more directly. On a partner call, the person in charge of certification said the next date was six weeks away and six weeks should be enough. In startup time, six weeks felt as far off as 10 years. Someone on the call asked whether any time was sooner. Tomorrow at 10 a.m. was open, along with a warning that the team was not going to be ready. They signed up anyway. The person on the call still assumed they would come back in six weeks. After the phone went down, they had 18 hours to get 150 test cases done. One person started at the top, one started at the bottom, and they worked through the night, moving from test case 36 to test case 37 and onward. Around eight in the morning they still needed a plain old telephone connection to reach the certification service, so he ran to Fry's electronic store in South Bay as it opened to get the part.

Shared stress, strife, and struggle built camaraderie, and the night turned a six-week wait into work aimed at a 10 a.m. slot.