How we scaled Stripe from 4 to 94 employees

My talk from BV.IO 2014.

1. How we scaled Stripe from 4 to 94 employees Greg Brockman Stripe CTO // @thegdb
2. You only get to pick one top priority
4. Tier 1: 4 → 8
5. Tier 1: 4
6. “Learn it on the job” is just a nice way of saying “make it up as you go” Tier 1: 4
7. How Stripe got its name Tier 1: 4
8. Communication, communication, communication Tier 1: 4
9. In January 2011, we went on a “hack trip” to Rio Tier 1: 4
10. Tier 1: 4
11. Tier 1: 4
12. Tier 1: 4
13. Friends make great candidates, if you can get the timing right Tier 1: 4
14. Tier 2: 8 → 20
15. Tier 2: 8
16. First time we didn’t magically know what everyone else was working on Tier 2: 8
17. The Great API Debate Tier 2: 8
18. Tier 2: 8
19. Launch was just a month away… ! (for 11 months) Tier 2: 8
20. ISO8583 Night Tier 2: 8
21. Launch day! Tier 2: 8
22. Teams as buckets of work Tier 2: 8
23. CTF Tier 2: 8
24. Tier 2: 8
25. Tier 2: 8
26. Tier 3: 20 → 50
27. Tier 3: 20
28. Tier 3: 20
29. Build vs run Tier 3: 20
30. Teams as organizational units Tier 3: 20
31. “Org scaling” meetings Tier 3: 20
32. First investments in cultural documentation Tier 3: 20
33. We’re still learning on the job… Tier 3: 20
34. Tier 3: 20
35. Tier 3: 20
36. Tier 4: 50 → 94
37. Tier 4: 50
38. Teams as units of identity Tier 4: 50
39. Organizations have emergent behaviors. Pay attention, and tune the behaviors that don’t make sense. Tier 4: 50
40. Lack of structure used to help us get things done. ! Now lack of structure was getting in the way. Tier 4: 50
41. If it’s not written down, it’s lost Tier 4: 50
42. Tier 4: 50
43. Tier 4: 50
44. Team hacktrips: Hawaii, Mexico, Montreal, North Dakota… Tier 4: 50
45. Tier 5: 94 → ??
46. Talk to lots of people who have done it Tier 5: 94
47. High risk, high reward system improvement projects Tier 5: 94
48. Will let you know in a year Tier 5: 94
49. Greg Brockman Stripe CTO // @thegdb