Lenny's Newsletter - Lessons from scaling Stripe
Brought to you by Linear—The new standard for modern software development | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security. | Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision. — Claire Hughes Johnson is the former COO at Stripe, which she helped scale from a small startup to the legendary company it is today. She also spent close to 10 years at Google, where she filled several executive roles, including VP of Global Online Sales and Director of Sales and Ops for Gmail, YouTube, Google Apps, and AdWords. Claire shares invaluable insights from her upcoming book, Scaling People, on how to successfully build and scale organizations. We talk about the importance of building self-awareness, and Claire gives tons of tactical advice on how to say things that are hard to say, as well as how to improve your internal communications, and so much more. Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, and YouTube. Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT. Where to find Claire Hughes Johnson: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/chughesjohnson • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-hughes-johnson-7058/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ Referenced: • Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building: https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-People-Tactics-Management-Building/dp/1953953212 • John Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbcollison/ • Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/ • Discord: https://discord.com/ • Toast: https://pos.toasttab.com/ • High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People: https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil/dp/1732265100 • Myers-Briggs personality types: https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ • Enneagram types: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions • Disc assessment: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc • Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values: https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Business-Build-through-Values/dp/1622032020/ • Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ • Eeke de Milliano on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-foster-innovation-and-big-thinking-eeke-de-milliano-retool-stripe/ • Running an effective meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIiaFW874q8 • Gokul’s S.P.A.D.E. framework: https://coda.io/@gokulrajaram/gokuls-spade-toolkit In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Claire’s background (04:47) How writing Scaling People helped Claire crystallize learnings (07:58) How she got started writing her book (11:11) Advice that changed the way she operates (15:18) The lack of job titles at Stripe (19:01) Scaling your organizational structure (23:46) What founders need to think about in the early days (26:38) Personal operating principles (29:04) How to crystallize your own values to gain self-awareness (34:29) Advice for saying uncomfortable things (37:12) Being an explorer, not a lecturer (43:57) Come back to the operating system (47:17) Organizational structure using Claire’s house metaphor (50:50) Why some chaos is normal (52:45) Founding documents you need (58:30) The components of a company’s operating system (1:01:31) Finding the right cadence (1:04:48) COOs and which types of businesses need them (1:11:30) Advice on scaling quickly (1:13:56) The importance of internal communications (1:16:03) Running effective meetings (1:17:17) Advice for aligning and making decisions as a manager Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. |
Key phrases
Older messages
Lessons from working with 600+ YC startups | Gustaf Alströmer (Y Combinator, Airbnb)
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Listen now (86 min) | Brought to you by Linear—The new standard for modern software development. | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments. | Pando—Always-on employee progression. — Gustaf Alströmer
How Duolingo reignited user growth
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
The story behind Duolingo's 450% growth acceleration, leaderboards, streaks, notifications, and their innovative growth model
Behind the scenes of Calendly’s rapid growth | Annie Pearl (CPO)
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Listen now (62 min) | Brought to you by Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life: https://miro.com/lenny | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs: https://coda.io/lenny | Vanta—
An inside look at how CNN builds product | Upasna Gautam
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Listen now (58 min) | Brought to you by Amplitude—Build better products: https://amplitude.com/ | OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify
How to be prepared for layoffs
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
What you can do today to avoid getting caught off guard in case layoffs come for you
You Might Also Like
Converso, Mood Board AI, For Future, Editor.do, and AI Chat
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Help solve humanity's existential risks with your talent/money/time BetaList BetaList Daily Win a $100 Amazon gift card? Fill out this one-question survey about domain names. Marc Converso AI
Partnering with Dropzone: Automating Security Operations with AI
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Tomasz Tunguz Venture Capitalist If you were forwarded this newsletter, and you'd like to receive it in the future, subscribe here. Partnering with Dropzone: Automating Security Operations with
if I were starting over today…
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Read time: 1 min, 20 sec A lot of people ask me: “Pat, what would you do if you were starting all over today?” Most of the time, I think they're looking for a quick fix. (hint: there's no such
Free ecomm coaching from multi-7-figure founders >
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Sign up for foundr+ to learn more > , Here at Foundr, we believe that taking initiative should ALWAYS be rewarded. That's why YOU, as a summit attendee, will get to join an exclusive 4-week
[SaaS Club] The Long Road to Building a Scalable Enterprise SaaS
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Hey Reader Let's connect on LinkedIn! Follow me to stay in touch! Here's a quick round up of what's been going on at SaaS Club: 🎧 Podcast SightCall: The Long Road to Building a Scalable
📂 Virality can be engineered even if it’s not inherent to the product
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Today's newsletter is proudly supported by Videodeck 🎉 One of the most common questions I've gotten in the last year is: "How do we get started with video marketing?" So I
My #1 regret in life
Thursday, April 25, 2024
This email is from THIS podcast - Spotify - iTunes HAPPY THURSDAY! I'm hosting a private office hour at 12pm CT on April 26th for people on this email list ONLY. If you wanna hang out and ask me
🗞 What's New: An underrated way to find marketing channels
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Also: Building for other founders!
The Growth Newsletter #174
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Demand Curve Read on demandcurve.com The Growth Newsletter #174 How to actually write a strategy document We all obsess over the business “idea.” 9 times out 10 what we mean is the product: An electric
How to name a business
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Lots of people have asked me: "how do I stay up to date with your podcasts with all those free startup ideas?". Good news! If you want to be added to get notifications for when new The