When Patrick Collison and his brother John Collison founded digital payment company Stripe in 2010, he didn't come in with “any kind of enlightened leadership expertise or genetic muscle memory.” As the company took off and grew to a dominant platform with $1 trillion in total payment volume and millions of customers, its culture grew more intentional—and strategic.

“Because Stripe's domain is really complicated and the details really matter, if we make a mistake—just one mistake—there's a very good chance that somebody's paycheck is wrong…There's a culture at Stripe of just really prizing the small details,” he says.

In this bonus episode of The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer, Collison shares his leadership journey and the evolution of Stripe’s unique culture in a fireside chat with hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava. This interview took place on April 16, 2024 as part of the Dean’s Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation. Bringing in a diverse mix of preeminent business leaders, the Dean's Speaker Series provides the Haas community with insightful perspectives on effective leadership and opportunities for thought-provoking discussions. Learn more.

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You can learn more about the podcast and the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation at https://haas.berkeley.edu/culture/culture-kit-podcast/.

*The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*