Personal Customer Onboarding

The Collison Installation is a high-intensity approach to customer acquisition where founders personally onboard early customers instead of relying on automated processes. This concept comes from Stripe's early days and demonstrates the power of hands-on, intense execution.

Core Philosophy

• Big things come from accumulation of smaller things
• Startups take off because founders make them take off
• Manual effort early on creates momentum that leads to automated growth later

The Collison Method

• When someone shows interest, immediately offer to help them set up
• Ask "Do you have your laptop? I can set you up right now"
• Physically sit with customer and install/configure the product
• Guide them through the entire onboarding process personally
• Focus on getting customers activated immediately vs future follow-up

Why Others Don't Do This

• Shyness
• Fear of rejection
• Misconception that big results require big actions
• Preference for scalable solutions too early

Impact of This Approach

• Creates immediate customer activation
• Builds strong early relationships
• Provides direct feedback loop
• Forces product improvement through direct observation
• Demonstrates commitment to customer success

Key Insight

• How you do one thing is how you do everything
• This level of intensity in customer acquisition likely reflected in all aspects of business
• The approach seems obvious but requires overcoming natural tendencies to automate too early

Results

• Stripe onboarded first 100-200 customers manually this way
• Led to deep understanding of customer needs
• Created foundation for future growth
• Demonstrated difference between common knowledge and committed execution