Some of the best founders, like Patrick and John Collison of Stripe, have focused solely on startups since they were young, making them exceptionally skilled at building successful companies. Starting a startup when you're young allows you to harness your highest energy and optimism, which is crucial for building a world-changing company.

The founding story of Stripe isn't dramatic; my brother John and I started building iPhone apps together while in school, which helped us pay our college tuition.

The founders of Stripe worked directly with their customers to implement their API, which created strong connections and allowed them to learn about customer needs and pain points effectively.

The relationship between co-founders, like John and me at Stripe, is crucial for the company's effectiveness, as we bring complementary skills and a shared commitment to the company's mission.

The founders of successful companies like Airbnb and Stripe paid close attention to every detail of the user experience, which helped instill confidence in users.

The first users of Stripe were mostly from the Y Combinator community or friends of those who had gone through YC, which helped us gain traction.

The first version of Stripe was called 'slash depth payments' and lacked many features. It was so basic that even Twitch couldn't use it initially, but it was sufficient for early-stage startups to accept credit card payments.

The first version of Stripe was built with basic tools and was enough to understand the product experience, allowing users to charge credit cards easily.

Stripe was created to address the pain points that Y Combinator founders experienced with existing payment solutions, which were cumbersome and difficult to use.