At Stripe, the design process is collaborative, with designers, engineers, and product managers working closely together to ensure a coherent user experience.

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

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.

We thought, why isn't there a straightforward payment solution like Slicehost for payments? This idea led us to build a prototype for Stripe in January 2010, which we launched to a few friends.

Design not only makes business sense but is also a core value at Stripe, driving decisions and fostering a culture that prioritizes quality and user experience.

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.

The pride that the Stripe team takes in their work is evident, and it sets a high standard for product quality that all founders should aspire to achieve.

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.

Articulating the reasons behind Stripe's investments in certain tools and features is crucial for understanding their user experience and mission.