Kassen Qian

4. Don't Confuse Micromanagement with Miscommunication: Contextualize why it needs to be done in the first place.

Stripe has a very, very long time horizon. If you know where you’re going over time, you can reason clearly about which specific asks are one-offs vs indicative of emerging trends relevant to many users. We talk a lot about building multi-decade abstractions. That long time horizon comes from the top, and it’s in the culture.

3. Empowered Product Teams: in strong product companies, teams are instead given problems to solve, rather than features to build, and most important, they are empowered to solve those problems in the best way they see fit.

" Brian and most everyone at the company is comfortable failing publicly , which I admire. But it’s definitely a challenge for us: figuring out how to be more successful merging that vision-oriented approach with an organizational muscle that helps us reduce failure."

You’re a janitor: You do as much of the dirty work as possible so everyone else doesn’t have to (so the team operates more efficiently)

The Walt Disney Company inspired Airbnb’s founders, especially the storyboarding technique used by animators. Airbnb, the product, isn't our app. The product is staying at a guest’s home.

1. Focus only on what warrants discussion

Ownership: I can give you a problem statement, but you’re the one who determines what your job is. You don’t get driven around by the team; you figure out what the team needs, and you deliver that.