I often get asked what I do at Stripe (and contrary to many cold call emails, I am neither the head of our corporate travel programme, nor a buyer of outsourced developers!).
Defining one’s mission is pretty important, so I usually reply (a) to make Stripe the go-to tech partner for all things payments in Travel & Leisure, and (b) to make sure Stripe’s growth in Travel & Leisure outpaces the rest of Stripe’s growth.
I centre this around 3 strategies:
1. Champion that innovation in travel should be bolder, faster and easier - so leaders can stay ahead of key traveller and technology opportunities and resolve big problems fast
2. Educate that travel payments are a strategic theme - I wish I knew earlier, what I now know, but we all need to keep up with key external trends and tech. Indeed payment friction is at the heart of most C-Suite problems in travel - including low book-direct numbers, hassle at check-in/check-out, managing aggregated supplier/partner ecosystems, back office inefficiency and much more
3. Showcase that Stripe isn’t just another tech-vendor, it’s absolutely world class, building at unmatched speeds and focused on partnering with tonnes of leading travel organisations on these topics already. It’s simply not worth companies building this tech themselves, or leaving their payment-tech as it is
I’m still pretty new to payments, and it’s complicated - so every day’s a school day. But amazing to be surrounded by amazing colleagues, patient customers, and industry peers who help me out!
If you get time today and want to learn more about payments or Stripe, I’d start with our annual letter, which sums this up way better than me, or check out some of the keynotes from our conference.
If you want to catch up to explore, drop me a DM, or find me at one of our upcoming events
Stripe Tour - our event in London or Paris
Travel meetups - Barcelona or Dublin in June - https://lnkd.in/gyjPNtn8
Travel Innovation evening - London June 27th - https://lnkd.in/gGZkfjy4
