You Probably Can’t Hire Stripe’s First COO But Soon You’ll Be Able To Read Her Book

Claire Hughes Johnson Joined Stripe in 2014 After a Decade at Google. Her Management Tips Are Legendary. Now They’re Published.

Imposter syndrome manifests itself in different ways. In my early career, it was primarily feeling that I *did* belong in the room (but just barely), and then trying to prove this to others around me. Eventually I relaxed a bit and got to just enjoy learning from my smart colleagues versus seeking approval. And what I found out was that some of them were really, really good at what they do. Claire Hughes Johnson belongs solidly in that cohort.

We overlapped at Google where she was a VP on the business side of the house but more notably she left the Plex in 2014 to join Stripe as COO when it was just a few years old. Claire got to experience, and played a large part in, Stripe’s proverbial rocketship, blossoming into thousands of employees, generating billions of dollars in revenue and valuation. While at the company — and especially once she departed — Claire became one of the people I always hoped to add to a cap table or startup board. There were just very few people who had the practical experience and framework-driven thinking she could bring.

But the truth is that human Claire can’t possibly scale to all the wonderful companies and teams that called on her. So instead she wrote a book, coming out March…