Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Focus on the Customer's First Problem

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Don't get lost in the craft of what you're building and forget that people are not interested in what you create if it doesn't solve their main problem. Customers get out of bed for their first problem, not the second one. It's crucial to listen carefully to customers without pitching them. This advice is applicable to companies of any size. People don't want to be pitched; they want their problems solved. When interacting with customers or prospects, avoid immediately talking about your company and products. Instead, focus on understanding the customer's top problem before pitching any solutions.

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:

• The power of customer obsession and how to operationalize it in the product development process

• How to pick the right metrics and use them to drive impact

• Techniques for getting things done at big companies

• A group practice Jeff started to uplevel product craft, called Study Group

• The story behind Stripe Atlas and its mission to increase entrepreneurship globally

• Lessons from working with the founders of Stripe

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/creating-a-culture-of-excellence

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Where to find Jeff Weinstein:

• X: https://x.com/jeff_weinstein

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwweinstein/

• Email: jweinstein@gmail.com

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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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

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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/