Stripe

Stripe’s operating principles describe how we work—how we make decisions, collaborate, and serve our users. They began as a way to make our implicit culture explicit, and we’ve refined them over time as Stripe has grown. These principles don’t aim to capture everything about working here, but they express the few behaviors that matter most to building a high-trust, high-impact company.

Users first. We serve millions of businesses and a meaningful fraction of global GDP. We have a weighty responsibility to those businesses and to society. We work backwards from our users’ needs, indexing especially on feedback from the most innovative. Everyone at Stripe talks to users.

Create with craft and beauty. With careful thought, anything can be made surprisingly great. Across every part of Stripe, we are committed to doing so. Well-crafted work indicates care for the user, and beautiful work indicates care for the world.

Move with urgency and focus. We move with speed on what matters most and take the time to invest in what will make us faster tomorrow. Whereas many companies get slower until they’re eventually mired in mediocrity, we aspire to become the world’s fastest company.

Collaborate egolessly. We work as one team: no fiefdoms, no hoarding information, no “not my problem.” We question assumptions, debate energetically, and abandon ideas when better ones emerge. We’re generous with credit and stingy with blame. We learn from mistakes together.

Obsess over talent. It’s every Stripe’s responsibility to help hire the best and to push for excellence everywhere. Managers must relentlessly uphold our high talent bar, lead their teams with clarity and context, foster development, and ultimately support Stripes in accomplishing the best work of their careers.

Stay curious. Stripe is an applied exercise in learning about how businesses tick and how the world works. Since the details and possibilities are infinite, we are always seeking to learn. We’re energized by the unfamiliar, preferring the joy of discovery to the comfort of certainty.

Alongside the principles, we’ve long relied on a few shorthand phrases that help make our culture catchy. Here are a few of the ones you’re likely to encounter during your work here:

• We haven’t won yet
• Be meticulous about the foundations
• Disagree and commit
• Really, really, really care
• We are exothermic and macro-optimistic
• Elevate ambitions