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Patrick Collison: Why Stripe's Founders Showed Up at Your House

By Patrick Collison · Leadership · 1 min read

Paul Graham calls it the 'Collison Installation.' The Stripe founders would physically go to users' offices and install their product for them. Here's why.

Key Points

Watching users struggle with your 'simple' product is incredibly sobering
People say they'll switch but never find the right moment
Showing up in person creates a 'why not now?' moment

There's nothing so sobering as watching somebody use the first version of your product.

The Most Painful Thing a Founder Can Do

The Collison brothers would show up at people's offices and install Stripe's API into their apps. Paul Graham was so impressed he named it: the Collison Installation.

The first benefit was brutal user research. You design what you're certain is the most streamlined, frictionless product possible. Then you put it in front of a user. They find it completely impenetrable. They click wrong links. They can't find the Next button — even though it's blinking and green.

"There's nothing so sobering as watching somebody use the first version of your product."

Creating the 'Why Now' Moment

The second benefit solved a different problem. Collison would suggest someone try Stripe. They'd say: sounds awesome. Then they'd postpone it. Then postpone again. There's never a natural moment where someone thinks: tonight's the night I switch payment processors.

Showing up in person fixed that. You're already here. Might as well do it now. The Collison Installation turned 'someday' into 'right now.'

"Going in person created a 'why now' moment. It's like — well, we're here at your house."