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> Stripe is a fundamentally boring business I understand what you're trying to say here, but I disagree. What someone finds interesting or boring is of course

> Stripe is a fundamentally boring business I understand what you're trying to say here, but I disagree. What someone finds interesting or boring is of course subjective, but you'd be surpised at how many people find finance endlessly interesting - and especially the overlap between finance and software ("fintech"). On the surface, it might be bewildering that some people are more interested in internet payment processing than say, stem cell research, but that's just how peoples interests work!

Retric 2y ago
High level topics aren’t what people are doing day to day though. There’s definitely parts of any business that are interesting but that only goes so far. Science also involves a great deal to tedious work. Comparatively high fintech pay suggests it needs those wages to attract people.
cj 2y ago
Some people get satisfaction out of solving problems and learning, regardless of what the problem is or what they’re learning. Building a company is a constant exercise of problem solving and learning, especially at the early stages. I grew a SaaS to millions of ARR but the thing that keeps me interested isn’t really the industry we’re in, it’s all of the tangential things that are required to build and grow (learning how to hire well, learning how to build company culture, pitching to investors, M&A, figuring out how to be a good leader, etc) Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not as directly passionate about the product itself as I should be, and am more passionate about the people and company and the journey it’s on.
- Jerrrrrrry 2y ago
  >Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not as directly passionate about the product itself as I should be, and am more passionate about the people and company and the journey it’s on. That's because you are a human, that built a company. You are not that company, even if you must embody it - literally and figuratively.
ninetyninenine 2y ago
I hate it when someone tries to take it in a subjective direction without accounting for fundamental human biases. Like any human can understand why space x catching a freaking rocket is less boring than stripe payment processing. I mean come on! Do you really expect me to believe you fundamentally think payment processing is so much more cooler than catching a freaking rocket? If anyone believes that I’d point to them having more of an axe to grind with Elon then any depiction of what they really feel. I subjectively think I am god. That’s just my subjective opinion and it’s valid because everything on the face of the earth is subjective.
rgmerk 2y ago
The company I work for runs a wrap platform [1]. Not one developer in the company has ever mentioned that they find the area intrinsically exciting to work on. There is a sense of collective responsibility that we are the custodian for the retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of people, so you do not want to screw that up. There is also satisfaction in that our efforts as developers mean that our platform is consistently rated the best on the market. But nobody, least of all management, is kidding themselves that people are working for the company because of the problem domain - they’re working for the company because of the pay, conditions, and company culture. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. [1] https://www.finance-monthly.com/2020/03/the-benefits-of-wrap-platforms/ https://www.finance-monthly.com/2020/03/the-benefits-of-wrap... (NB: not the company mentioned in the article).

Retric 2y ago

High level topics aren’t what people are doing day to day though. There’s definitely parts of any business that are interesting but that only goes so far. Science also involves a great deal to tedious work. Comparatively high fintech pay suggests it needs those wages to attract people.

cj 2y ago

Some people get satisfaction out of solving problems and learning, regardless of what the problem is or what they’re learning. Building a company is a constant exercise of problem solving and learning, especially at the early stages. I grew a SaaS to millions of ARR but the thing that keeps me interested isn’t really the industry we’re in, it’s all of the tangential things that are required to build and grow (learning how to hire well, learning how to build company culture, pitching to investors, M&A, figuring out how to be a good leader, etc) Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not as directly passionate about the product itself as I should be, and am more passionate about the people and company and the journey it’s on.

Jerrrrrrry 2y ago
>Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not as directly passionate about the product itself as I should be, and am more passionate about the people and company and the journey it’s on. That's because you are a human, that built a company. You are not that company, even if you must embody it - literally and figuratively.

ninetyninenine 2y ago

I hate it when someone tries to take it in a subjective direction without accounting for fundamental human biases. Like any human can understand why space x catching a freaking rocket is less boring than stripe payment processing. I mean come on! Do you really expect me to believe you fundamentally think payment processing is so much more cooler than catching a freaking rocket? If anyone believes that I’d point to them having more of an axe to grind with Elon then any depiction of what they really feel. I subjectively think I am god. That’s just my subjective opinion and it’s valid because everything on the face of the earth is subjective.

rgmerk 2y ago

The company I work for runs a wrap platform [1]. Not one developer in the company has ever mentioned that they find the area intrinsically exciting to work on. There is a sense of collective responsibility that we are the custodian for the retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of people, so you do not want to screw that up. There is also satisfaction in that our efforts as developers mean that our platform is consistently rated the best on the market. But nobody, least of all management, is kidding themselves that people are working for the company because of the problem domain - they’re working for the company because of the pay, conditions, and company culture. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. [1] https://www.finance-monthly.com/2020/03/the-benefits-of-wrap-platforms/ https://www.finance-monthly.com/2020/03/the-benefits-of-wrap... (NB: not the company mentioned in the article).