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Lessons from scaling Stripe | Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe)

5 Mar 2023 21 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Claire Hughes JohnsonLenny Rachitsky

Claim mix

evaluation 7belief 6recommendation 3commitment 3prediction 1preference 1

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

21 published records

01 / evaluation

Eli ends up sharing this story at this offsite that we had. And the transparency value actually was a little bit problematic to manage because Eli would tell everyone everything, including his team, even when we weren't finished with the plan, right?

“Eli ends up sharing this story at this offsite that we had. And the transparency value actually was a little bit problematic to manage because Eli would tell everyone everything, including his team, even when we weren't finished with the plan, right?”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

02 / recommendation

We have two teams that seem like they both own a piece of work and are in conflict with one another. But I would say if you do those two things, ask a question, own the observation yourself, don't pass a judgment, you will get way farther than you would've ever thought sharing.

“We have two teams that seem like they both own a piece of work and are in conflict with one another. But I would say if you do those two things, ask a question, own the observation yourself, don't pass a judgment, you will get way farther than you would've ever thought sharing.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

03 / belief

Having really smart communication practices is something that I think a lot of companies don't invest in early, and it's partly because it feels like extraneous, but it's a lot of time.

“Having really smart communication practices is something that I think a lot of companies don't invest in early, and it's partly because it feels like extraneous, but it's a lot of time.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

04 / evaluation

Is a lot about what they're working on. And it's because it is, again, an unsung thing that is critical and that I don't think people naturally come to.

“Is a lot about what they're working on. And it's because it is, again, an unsung thing that is critical and that I don't think people naturally come to.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

06 / commitment

The concept is the following, which is when you yank people out of their day-to-day routine, you create space, and also you imprint memory. And so if you say, "We're going to do a very different thing with your time today or the next two days, we're not going to do our emails, we're not going to do our regular meetings, we are going to sit and work together, we're going to brainstorm," you're basically activating new parts of their brain, and then you're also having a group experience that cements a belief system usually, or a set of plans.

“The concept is the following, which is when you yank people out of their day-to-day routine, you create space, and also you imprint memory. And so if you say, "We're going to do a very different thing with your time today or the next two days, we're not going to do our emails, we're not going to do our regular meetings, we are going to sit and work together, we're going to brainstorm," you're basically activating new parts of their brain, and then you're also having a group experience that cements a belief system usually, or a set of plans.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

07 / belief

Instead, I would say take some data, form a hypothesis, and then explore it with the person. Because if you're well intended, which I think any good manager is, I'm bringing up this thing because I'm trying to help you see it and tell me if it's true so that we can both help make it more effective, better.

“Instead, I would say take some data, form a hypothesis, and then explore it with the person. Because if you're well intended, which I think any good manager is, I'm bringing up this thing because I'm trying to help you see it and tell me if it's true so that we can both help make it more effective, better.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

08 / belief

Self-awareness to build mutual awareness is actually the most fundamental thing you need to crack if you're going to succeed at company building or management, in my opinion.

“Self-awareness to build mutual awareness is actually the most fundamental thing you need to crack if you're going to succeed at company building or management, in my opinion.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

09 / belief

Actually, one of our big lessons, I think companies that are moving quickly and that are younger tend to resist some of the calendar based cadences of more mature companies because they seem slow.

“Actually, one of our big lessons, I think companies that are moving quickly and that are younger tend to resist some of the calendar based cadences of more mature companies because they seem slow.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

10 / commitment

I will admit that, as I am with most things they pushed me into, but it was a lot more work than I thought it would be, and it's very rewarding to have it done.

“I will admit that, as I am with most things they pushed me into, but it was a lot more work than I thought it would be, and it's very rewarding to have it done.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

11 / belief

I think that I've come to believe that often your biggest strength, one, is also your weakness, but two, is something that you don't know is a big strength because it's almost like breathing.

“I think that I've come to believe that often your biggest strength, one, is also your weakness, but two, is something that you don't know is a big strength because it's almost like breathing.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

12 / evaluation

He said, what I love about that story, yeah, it's funny and embarrassing, but actually that guy was comfortable saying to me, "I wouldn't trust you to manage a McDonald." And I think that actually I found inspiring because I don't think everybody who founded a company or who's managing someone has created an environment with how much trust in it, right?

“He said, what I love about that story, yeah, it's funny and embarrassing, but actually that guy was comfortable saying to me, "I wouldn't trust you to manage a McDonald." And I think that actually I found inspiring because I don't think everybody who founded a company or who's managing someone has created an environment with how much trust in it, right?”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

13 / evaluation

ve your solar panels, but you got to bring in the heat, you got to bring in the cooling and plumbing, and then you have foundational stuff that you have to build or the whole structure will fall over. And I think of putting in the posts and beams and the mechanicals and the foundation as actually essential to scale.

“ve your solar panels, but you got to bring in the heat, you got to bring in the cooling and plumbing, and then you have foundational stuff that you have to build or the whole structure will fall over. And I think of putting in the posts and beams and the mechanicals and the foundation as actually essential to scale.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

14 / evaluation

I think if anything, the advice pushed me to go faster on some of my intuitions about, for example, using vendors and outsourcing parts of the model. And I realized we're not going to scale all this internally, especially not at the speed that we're going, but it's hard to start to use outside sort of contractors if you haven't filled figured out all your tools and processes.

“I think if anything, the advice pushed me to go faster on some of my intuitions about, for example, using vendors and outsourcing parts of the model. And I realized we're not going to scale all this internally, especially not at the speed that we're going, but it's hard to start to use outside sort of contractors if you haven't filled figured out all your tools and processes.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

15 / commitment

When I say to people at Stripe in our onboarding, I used to run a session, I was like, if you're not sure who the decision maker is, one, it's probably you, and I'd rather you act that way than not because you're going to slow the whole company down.

“When I say to people at Stripe in our onboarding, I used to run a session, I was like, if you're not sure who the decision maker is, one, it's probably you, and I'd rather you act that way than not because you're going to slow the whole company down.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

16 / recommendation

You don't have to send them the packet or have them sit in the onboarding. But the minute that you're starting to get any kind of hiring speed, you're going to want to document it more and you're going to want to start to put some very lightweight processes of how you get things done in place, because again, you're trying to replicate velocity.

“You don't have to send them the packet or have them sit in the onboarding. But the minute that you're starting to get any kind of hiring speed, you're going to want to document it more and you're going to want to start to put some very lightweight processes of how you get things done in place, because again, you're trying to replicate velocity.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

17 / evaluation

And so the minute you start titling a lot, you're signaling hierarchy and authority. And the culture piece to Stripe still today, which is I think we could use more, at least more overt trappings of structure because it can get confusing.

“And so the minute you start titling a lot, you're signaling hierarchy and authority. And the culture piece to Stripe still today, which is I think we could use more, at least more overt trappings of structure because it can get confusing.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

19 / evaluation

You're immediately getting into something that feels pretty suboptimal, but it is worse to have nothing because it starts to feel very unfair in the environment, especially if you have to start to change up compensation and reward or reward systems, right?

“You're immediately getting into something that feels pretty suboptimal, but it is worse to have nothing because it starts to feel very unfair in the environment, especially if you have to start to change up compensation and reward or reward systems, right?”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

20 / prediction

I just did the math, and I was like, this company should be probably twice the number of people it is right now, which of course freaked everybody out, but it was very obvious to me because I was coming in outside with that perspective.

“I just did the math, and I was like, this company should be probably twice the number of people it is right now, which of course freaked everybody out, but it was very obvious to me because I was coming in outside with that perspective.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

21 / preference

I do have a video on YouTube about running an effective meeting, but I think the number one thing is the work of a meeting is not calling the meeting.

“I do have a video on YouTube about running an effective meeting, but I think the number one thing is the work of a meeting is not calling the meeting.”
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast
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