YC
Why Design Matters: Lessons from Stripe, Lyft and Airbnb
@ Y Combinator
10/16/24
Takeaways
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Design is crucial for startups to build trust and confidence in their products, especially when introducing novel concepts like Airbnb's home-sharing model.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
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.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
High levels of trust are essential for companies like Stripe, Lyft, and Airbnb, as they involve users engaging with strangers or handling money online.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Design decisions should focus on solving user problems and enhancing the user experience, rather than just moving numbers or metrics.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Creating a culture of high-quality design from the early days of a startup is vital, and founders must exemplify this commitment to design.
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Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
A high-quality product must be functional, usable, and crafted beautifully, as these elements significantly enhance user experience and satisfaction. When evaluating a product, first ensure it solves a problem; if it doesn't, it shouldn't move forward, as it only adds maintenance costs later.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Design should be intentional; choose options that are appealing, easy to use, and bring joy to users, especially in enterprise software.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Craft and beauty in design are essential; they are not just nice-to-haves but must-haves that prevent users from questioning the product's functionality.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Founders who lack a design background can improve their design skills by using a checklist to identify what to look for in good design.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Adopting a mindset of questioning every detail in your product can help identify issues and improve user experience, especially before launching.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
User feedback is crucial; it should be an ongoing process where users express their thoughts while interacting with your product.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
To improve design skills, observe both products you dislike and those you enjoy, noting what works and what doesn't.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Hiring great designers involves understanding what good design looks like and helping them see their role in the company.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Taste in design can be developed, but it's often easier to teach the tools and domain knowledge than to instill a passion for design.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
At Stripe, the design process is collaborative, with designers, engineers, and product managers working closely together to ensure a coherent user experience.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
The design process starts with understanding the user and their needs, often informed by direct feedback from users engaged with the product.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Iterative feedback cycles with a diverse range of users help reveal insights that improve product execution and user experience.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
A culture of using the product as a user would, including all team members, is essential for understanding the user journey and improving the product.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
Every founder experiences the challenge of launching a product, focusing on other priorities, and then returning to find that the product has deteriorated over time.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
It's essential to continuously evolve your product to maintain its quality and coherence across all features, much like ensuring that a newly renovated room in a house doesn't clash with the rest of the home.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
At Stripe, we have a program called 'Essential Journeys' where we identify the top 17 user flows that are crucial for our users, and team members review and score these experiences quarterly to ensure they remain effective.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
We maintain a scoreboard for user experience scores, using a simple color system to track progress and encourage teams to improve their scores to green, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
When team members from different departments conduct 'walk the store' exercises, they provide valuable feedback on user experiences, highlighting issues that those deeply involved in the product might overlook.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
We have a dedicated email alias for reporting bugs, allowing anyone in the company or outside to report issues, which helps us gather diverse feedback and improve the product.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
After redesigning an email to improve clarity and hierarchy, we increased product conversion by 20%, demonstrating the significant impact of thoughtful design on user engagement.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
The 'Workbench' tool we launched helps developers maintain their flow state by integrating debugging and prototyping capabilities directly into the Stripe dashboard, reducing context switching.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
By creating a community forum called 'Insiders', we continuously gather feedback from developers, ensuring that our products are user-centered and responsive to their needs.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
The culture at Stripe emphasizes deep integration with users, encouraging everyone in the company to engage with the product and share feedback, which is crucial for creating well-designed products.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
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.
KD
Katie Dill
10/16/24
@ Y Combinator
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.