Successful companies like Airbnb and Stripe took time to hire their first employees, focusing on building their product before scaling their teams.

Stripe's success in hiring good developers may be attributed to our focus on building tools for developers, creating a natural affinity for our company. I learned to be okay with taking a really long time to hire people, which means being painfully persistent in the process.

Hiring passionate users of your product can be advantageous, as they are often more committed and aligned with the company's mission. At Stripe, we successfully hired several early users who contributed significantly to our growth.

Investing in people who might take a long time to hire is crucial when you're early in a company's history.

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.

In our second venture, Carrot 6, we improved the time from our first line of code to our first paying customer from infinity to six months, but realized our growth pace wasn't sufficient for a large, impactful company.

In the early days, we focused on hiring the best talent to fill gaps in our skills, which helped us grow from three to over 300 employees in just a few years.

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.

At Stripe, we encourage employees to take on challenges that may not be typical for their roles, such as managing teams. This approach allows individuals to grow and find their strengths, even if they initially struggle with leadership.