Making Media
Episode 47 The Story of Stripe Press
Making Media

Episode 47: The Story of Stripe Press

Making Media

Episode 47

The Story of Stripe Press

Tamara Winter is the Commissioning Editor of Stripe Press. We cover why a payments company has a publishing arm, how Tammy and her team measure success, and how they make such beautiful books.

(01:59) - (First Question) - The origin story and purpose of Stripe Press

(08:07) - Choosing between tactical guide-like books and inspirational open-ended books 

(15:56) - Tammy's personal story and educational background

(20:54) - Intersecting with prominent people using Twitter to advance professionally 

(24:00) - How they measure success at Stripe Press

(30:43) - Measuring success without numbers

(35:00) - Why produce physical books

(36:48) - Design conception and the process behind creating the books 

(40:19) - Where books like Poor Charlie’s Almanack originally come from

(45:17) - Tammy's reflections on the media industry and what she’s learned in her career 

(51:24) - Debrief

 

The Story of Stripe Press

Introduction

Dom
As the name suggests, Stripe Press is a division within Stripe. If you aren't familiar with Stripe, it's one of the most successful private businesses started in the 21st century. Two Irish brothers, John and Patrick Collison founded the payments pricing business back in 2010 and has successfully been fulfilling their mission to increase the GDP of the Internet ever since.

Now from the surface, there doesn't seem to be great synergies or reasons why payments business would incubate a publishing arm, so if you want to focus on publishing or republishing physical books. But as Tammy explains, there is a lot more than meets the eye. We explore the origin story, how Tammy and her team measure success, and we also get the inside scoops on how they make such beautiful works.

And as a proud owner of a few of them, they really do stand out on a bookshelf, not just for their covers, but also the curation of ideas, which is excellent. We recorded this conversation on Tuesday morning last week before the incredibly sad news that investing Icon Charlie Munger passed away. Stripe Press republished Poor Charlie's Almanack earlier this week, and we talk about that two-year project with Tammy in our discussion.

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