"from 0 to $3,5b, scaler la culture chez stripe" by guillaume princen
TRANSCRIPT
Scaling culture @Stripe
Guillaume Princen
Head of France & Southern Europe @Stripe
Startup DreamTeam @TheFamily
May 19, 2015
Have a global long term vision (and apply it!)
Source: MIT Technology Review (January 26, 2015)
Stand by your vision… whatever the risks
Transparency
Source: Wired (12.19.14)
TransparencyTransparency
Transparency
Transparency
Fear
Uncertainties
Doubts
All
The
Hands
Trust & risk-free environment
Recruitment – take it seriouslyMy recruitment process
• 1 skype with recruiter in SF
• 1 skype with Head of International
• 1 written project (“My plan for Stripe in France”)
• 1 visit to London:
– Interview with UK Country Lead
– Interview with Head of International
– Lunch with the 2 above + an Account Support + an Engineer
• 1 skype with COO
• 1 trip to San Francisco, and interviews with
– Patrick (co-founder)
– John (co-founder)
– COO
– Head of Risk
– Head of Global Operations
– Head of BizOps
– Lunch with Legal officer, Data engineer, Product engineer
– Coffee with Recruiter
Recruitment – take it seriouslyMy recruitment process
• 1 skype with recruiter in SF
• 1 skype with Head of International
• 1 written project (“My plan for Stripe in France”)
• 1 visit to London:
– Interview with UK Country Lead
– Interview with Head of International
– Lunch with the 2 above + an Account Support + an Engineer
• 1 skype with COO
• 1 trip to San Francisco, and interviews with
– Patrick (co-founder)
– John (co-founder)
– COO
– Head of Risk
– Head of Global Operations
– Head of BizOps
– Lunch with Legal officer, Data engineer, Product engineer
– Coffee with Recruiter
• 2 references to provide
11 “formal” interviews+ 1 written project
+ 2 lunches+ 1 coffee
+ 1 Eurostar trip+ 1 American Airlines flight to SF
+ 2 references
Recruitment – take it seriouslyMy recruitment process
• 1 skype with recruiter in SF
• 1 skype with Head of International
• 1 written project (“My plan for Stripe in France”)
• 1 visit to London:– Interview with UK Country Lead
– Interview with Head of International
– Lunch with the 2 above + an Account Support + an Engineer
• 1 skype with COO
• 1 trip to San Francisco, and interviews with– Patrick (co-founder)
– John (co-founder)
– COO
– Head of Risk
– Head of Global Operations
– Head of BizOps
– Lunch with Legal officer, Data engineer, Product engineer
– Coffee with Recruiter
– 2 references to provide
Sunday afternoon test
Customer-centric
Rituals & folklore
• Twin Peaks jog (Tuesday)
• Board games night (Wed)
• Hacktrips
• ATH
Beware when you scale!
• Dunbar’s number: somewhere between 100 and 250 employees
• Social relationships between people are not enough anymore to get things done: you need more processes…
• …but processes can kill your (startup) culture
Beware when you scale!
• Email transparency can become a little chaotic with 250 people…
• …we created notes@ and decisions@ mailing lists to make the most critical information available to all in a frictionless manner
• E.g., for France, now we have:
– [email protected] (new)
– [email protected] (new)
3 things to take-away
• Culture is a Founder topic, and the Founders have to embrace them everyday
• Long term vision and actions are key to maintain culture
• Beware of culture as you scale!
Thanks!