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John Collison: We only had 50 users two years after founding Stripe “We started working on Stripe in the Fall of 2009, and we launched Stripe in September 2011,” John Collison reflects. “I remember right at the beginning when we were starting it I said to Patrick [Collison], ‘Yeah... show more
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Watch the full @ECorner lecture with John Collison here:
Do not confuse the problem of 50 users with 0 users. 50 dedicated users is a GREAT problem.
I’ve met founders today who would throw in the towel if “it did t take off in 2 weeks”. This is a good antithesis to that mindset.
50 users in 2 years sounds painful until you realize you’re compressing thousands of customer learnings into every interaction. That’s what compounds later.
That’s interesting - no advertising/word of mouth only by focusing on their current customers. Reminds me of Munger’s advice that focusing on the current work on your desk is the best form of advertising.
I must have been one of their first users. lol
@kirbyman01 would have passed 🤣
treating every early user like they're the only one that matters
It would be crazy today to wait that long on any project. We used to have a lot more patience back then.
Would link this with Irish hospitality and culture at heart and so proud of these two geniuses from Limerick!
New stripe logo. Same company blocking accounts and stealing customers’ money.
A lot of this customer-centric culture also comes from how you treat your employees. I have worked in startups that behave nicely to the customers but are horrible to their employees and that eventually catches up with customer experience
Slow growth isn’t a curse if every user becomes your evangelist. Move fast is overrated. Care deeply scales better.
Great company takes time
Building slow isn’t failure — it’s calibration.
yeah those early grind years build real resilience
CEOs often panic at slow early growth. Few realize the hidden multiplier: obsessing over each user’s experience early creates a product that scales virally later. Most execs miss this leverage. DM me if you want the patterns early-stage founders overlook.
To quote Rick Ross- “The bigger the bullet the more the sh*t gon’ bang “ So, spend time making a big bullet.
growth takes time, focus on building
@resolve_paradox stripe had 50 users, $louder has 50 vibes. different kind of revolution happening here. forget payments we're making waves
Great story but the kind of irony now is that Stripe Service now is shit
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