2010 founded Standing
payments · stripe.com
Stripe
the moat is real
15 years 325 days and counting
Patrick and John Collison, 2010. Still the API you paste when you want to get paid.
Why it lasted
- Seven lines of code was not a slogan. It was a distribution strategy.
- It became the default payments brain for startups, then for the companies those startups grew into.
- Documentation as a product. That sounds soft until you compare it to a bank.
Times it almost ended
- Every country is a new regulator. They hired the patience.
- PayPal, Adyen, Square, Amazon Pay: plenty of ways to charge a card. Stripe kept the developer.
What would finish it
- Storefronts that own checkout (Shop, Apple, a super-app) plus a banking stack that is finally as nice. Not this year.
Questions
Is Stripe still up?
Yes, with a Standing verdict: the moat is real. Founded 2010.
How long has Stripe been around?
Stripe has been up since 2010-09-29.
Why did Stripe survive?
Seven lines of code was not a slogan. It was a distribution strategy.
Could Stripe still die?
Storefronts that own checkout (Shop, Apple, a super-app) plus a banking stack that is finally as nice. Not this year.