Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead)
Brought to you by: • Pendo—The all-in-one platform for product-led companies building breakthrough digital experiences — Jeff Weinstein is a product lead at Stripe, where he helped grow their payment APIs to hundreds of billions in volume and transformed the way founders start companies into a few simple clicks with Atlas. Prior to Stripe, Jeff led several startups and sold companies to Groupon and Box. He’s known for his customer obsession, craft, quality, and building beloved products businesses rely on. In our conversation, we discuss:
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-product-at-stripe-jeff-weinstein Some takeaways:
6. Stripe uses “study groups” to get participants in the mindset of customers, thereby gaining fresh insights into product usability and customer experience. Anyone in the company can show up for study groups, and they are asked to completely detach from their roles at the company and immerse themselves in the persona of a customer of a fictional company (e.g. Dolphin Aquarium Industries). They adopt the goals and challenges of this fictional customer to simulate real-world scenarios. The primary goal of study groups is to build empathy and understanding, not to solve problems or critique the product. Where to find Jeff Weinstein: • X: https://x.com/jeff_weinstein • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwweinstein/ • Email: jweinstein@gmail.com In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Jeff’s background (10:16) The “go, go, go ASAP + optimistic, long-term compounding” approach (15:38) The importance of craft and quality (24:15) Effective customer communication strategies (28:57) The importance of speed in customer interactions (33:19) Narrowing your focus (36:53) Why you should pay attention only to paying-customer feedback (40:24) Practicing silence when communicating (45:33) The role of metrics in product success (54:08) Empowering teams with a single metric (58:23) Picking the right metric for your audience (01:05:10) The importance of metric hygiene (01:11:33) How Stripe uses “study groups” for product improvement (01:37:20) Stripe’s Atlas: simplifying company formation (01:50:38) Automation and operational efficiency (01:55:13) Diversity and team building (02:03:09) Building new products within a large company (02:21:10) Lightning round Referenced: • Atlas: https://stripe.com/atlas • Stripe: https://stripe.com/ • SQL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL • GitHub: https://github.com/ • Linear: https://linear.app/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Jeff’s tweet about Stripe’s bug-finder program: https://x.com/jeff_weinstein/status/1777487507934040300 • The “Collison installation”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18400504 • How we use friction logs to improve products at Stripe: https://dev.to/stripe/how-we-use-friction-logs-to-improve-products-at-stripe-i6p • Fidelity: https://www.fidelity.com/ • 83(b) election: https://docs.stripe.com/atlas/83b-election • Jeff’s tweet about Atlas’s NPS score: https://x.com/jeff_weinstein/status/1788644576330469638 • What is a Delaware corporation? Here’s what makes this state so attractive to businesses: https://stripe.com/resources/more/what-is-a-delaware-corporation • Incorporating in Delaware explained: Why it’s such a popular option for businesses: https://stripe.com/resources/more/incorporating-in-delaware-explained • 7 of Pixar’s Best Storyboard Examples and the Stories Behind Them: https://boords.com/blog/7-of-pixars-best-storyboard-examples-and-the-stories-behind-them • Alex Kehayias on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkehayias/ • Patrick McKenzie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmckenzie/ • AngelList: https://www.angellist.com/ • Dan Hightower on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danhighto/ • Stripe Atlas perks partners: https://support.stripe.com/questions/stripe-atlas-perks-partners • Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor • High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 • Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace: https://www.amazon.com/Orbiting-Giant-Hairball-Corporate-Surviving/dp/0670879835 • 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319 • Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer • Box: https://www.box.com/ • Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc • How to with John Wilson on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/how-to-with-john-wilson • The Quiet Girl on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/movie/the-quiet-girl-b50a4b8e-d3ff-4635-b806-5e7dbd292ca4 • Raycast: https://www.raycast.com/ • Quicksilver: https://qsapp.com/ • Alfred: https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/automations/ • CleanShot: https://cleanshot.com/ • John Collison on X: https://x.com/collision Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. You're currently a free subscriber to Lenny's Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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