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I had a small part in writing this. I think we're in violent agreement with regards to the underlying concern; here is how we phrased it in this document: Our

I had a small part in writing this. I think we're in violent agreement with regards to the underlying concern; here is how we phrased it in this document: Our users entrust us with their money, their businesses, and their livelihoods. Drivers in San Francisco and jewelry sellers in Latvia and software developers in Tokyo rely on Stripe to feed their families. When we mess up, miss a deadline, or slow down, it matters. We take that responsibility seriously. We could potentially have phrased this in terms of e.g. uptime, but the gory details are covered in an appropriate amount of detail in internal documents but not really appropriate for a guide we give candidates so that they have signal on whether they'd enjoy working here. For one thing, it's hard without an in-depth understanding of the system architecture to map a particular technical concern (like e.g. API uptime of a particular component) to the specific way that would manifest in a user's life. For another, our concerns are actually a lot broader than the technical part of the business. There is a lot of hard and important work that happens between HTTP 200 and money actually showing up in a real person's bank account. If we were shooting for "Be perfect at engineering 100% of the time" that would both probably be a poor target as an engineering matter and, incredibly, not be nearly good enough. On the plus side: we've got lots of intellectually interesting problems to be found while poking around the plumbing of the economy. If that sounds interesting, we're always happy to chat.

noir_lord 9y ago
Stripe has been one of my favourite startups in the last decade, you took a problem that was painful and solved it. On top of that every single thing I've seen stripe do publicly has been well executed and gives the overall impression of competence, solidity and good service. I guess that part is intentional, if you are handling money that's exactly what you'd want people to think.
Sleeep 9y ago
Honestly, this is a failure to write for your audience. This is not an exercise in creative writing, you aren't trying to create atmosphere, you're trying to convey information. That sort of writing requires sentences that are direct and to the point. I will be reading that page because I'm interested in working for Stripe and want more information that helps me decide if I want to, not for entertainment. So I want to know the facts. The facts we're conveyed perfectly by the GP in bullet points but your sentences put more emphasis on Latvian can drivers' families. When I read this I'm trying to achieve something, I am thinking about working at Stripe right now, so when I'm reading this I don't care about Latvian can drivers. What I do care about "highly mission critical operation."
- stephenhuey 9y ago
  Perhaps he was speaking more to me then. I find his description more compelling for me than emphasizing "highly mission critical operation" because I've worked for a giant bank, and I know they care about keeping track of money, and I do too of course if I'm being paid for it, but I personally am even more motivated if I can see how it relates to real end users whose faces I can envision.
  - Sleeep 9y ago
    The thing is, information is being lost in the wordy, flowery prose. The GP said three bullet points were missing when they actually are supposed to be there. I also felt like I missed a lot reading through it and I felt like I should start taking notes to see what it actually says. That's not good.
    - Animats 9y ago
      That's a good point. Microsoft's mission statement was once "A computer on every desk, running Microsoft software". Mission accomplished in the 1990s.
- csa 9y ago
  It seems like you and Stripe may not be a good fit due to (at a minimum) significantly different values and perspectives on standards of organizational communication. Patio11's response is stated at a reasonable level of abstraction, and he even explains why he does so. I can understand if that's not your style, but you might want to consider that some people consider his comment to be a very clear reply with actionable information.
wglb 9y ago
The beauty of this approach is that it appeals to the true significance of the business--building the cathedral rather than hammering a stupid rock. Being intentional about a company's culture and practicing it on a consistent basis, from top to bottom, is very valuable in attracting talent and getting focus on the key things in the business. In our monthly checkins with employees, we reference our core values during the conversations.

noir_lord 9y ago

Stripe has been one of my favourite startups in the last decade, you took a problem that was painful and solved it. On top of that every single thing I've seen stripe do publicly has been well executed and gives the overall impression of competence, solidity and good service. I guess that part is intentional, if you are handling money that's exactly what you'd want people to think.

Sleeep 9y ago

Honestly, this is a failure to write for your audience. This is not an exercise in creative writing, you aren't trying to create atmosphere, you're trying to convey information. That sort of writing requires sentences that are direct and to the point. I will be reading that page because I'm interested in working for Stripe and want more information that helps me decide if I want to, not for entertainment. So I want to know the facts. The facts we're conveyed perfectly by the GP in bullet points but your sentences put more emphasis on Latvian can drivers' families. When I read this I'm trying to achieve something, I am thinking about working at Stripe right now, so when I'm reading this I don't care about Latvian can drivers. What I do care about "highly mission critical operation."

stephenhuey 9y ago
Perhaps he was speaking more to me then. I find his description more compelling for me than emphasizing "highly mission critical operation" because I've worked for a giant bank, and I know they care about keeping track of money, and I do too of course if I'm being paid for it, but I personally am even more motivated if I can see how it relates to real end users whose faces I can envision.
- Sleeep 9y ago
  The thing is, information is being lost in the wordy, flowery prose. The GP said three bullet points were missing when they actually are supposed to be there. I also felt like I missed a lot reading through it and I felt like I should start taking notes to see what it actually says. That's not good.
  - Animats 9y ago
    That's a good point. Microsoft's mission statement was once "A computer on every desk, running Microsoft software". Mission accomplished in the 1990s.
csa 9y ago
It seems like you and Stripe may not be a good fit due to (at a minimum) significantly different values and perspectives on standards of organizational communication. Patio11's response is stated at a reasonable level of abstraction, and he even explains why he does so. I can understand if that's not your style, but you might want to consider that some people consider his comment to be a very clear reply with actionable information.

wglb 9y ago

The beauty of this approach is that it appeals to the true significance of the business--building the cathedral rather than hammering a stupid rock. Being intentional about a company's culture and practicing it on a consistent basis, from top to bottom, is very valuable in attracting talent and getting focus on the key things in the business. In our monthly checkins with employees, we reference our core values during the conversations.