How Two Brothers Changed the World with Three Lines of Code

5–7 minutes

Even though various services have emerged worldwide, a service introduced by two brothers on September 29, 2011, stands out as a prime example in a specific field. Just as the Wright brothers introduced the airplane to the world, this instance also features a pair of siblings who changed the world. It’s called Stripe.

Today, Stripe is an online payment processing service that provides financial facilities to millions of websites and over a hundred thousand businesses worldwide. Recently, it has reportedly entered a secret partnership with Amazon to manage a significant portion of the e-commerce giant's online transactions, raising the possibility of seeing Stripe as a key payment processor for Amazon in the future, similar to how PayPal is used for eBay.

The Importance Over Traditional Payment Gateways

When conducting transactions between a website and a customer online, an intermediary service is required to facilitate the transfer of funds between banks. For example, if your account is in a Sri Lankan bank and the website owner's account is in an American bank, the Sri Lankan Rupees must be converted to US Dollars, and the funds transferred accordingly. This transaction is subject to the regulations, taxes, and fees imposed by both the Sri Lankan and US governments. Additionally, the identities of the parties involved, as well as bank documentation, must be verified and recorded.

Traditionally, if you were selling something on your website, you would have to go to a bank, fill out lengthy application forms, pay fees, present identity and income verification documents, prove you are a registered company, and submit the necessary paperwork. Even then, the process would not be complete. You might be required to maintain a deposit of around one million rupees, after which the bank would provide you with details to use their online payment gateway. Setting up this gateway on your website would also involve paying a software developer to integrate the necessary code for transactions.

Three Lines of Code?

Imagine if this months-long process could be completed in less than a second with just three lines of copy-pastable HTML code via Stripe. Though it can be expanded to 12 lines for ease of use, only two HTML tags (form and script) are used:

html

src="https://checkout.stripe.com/checkout.js" class="stripe-button"  
data-key="pk_test_6pRNASCoBOKtIshFeQd4XMUh"  
data-amount="999"  
data-name="Stripe.com"  
data-description="Widget"  
data-image="https://stripe.com/img/documentation/checkout/marketplace.png"  
data-locale="auto"  
data-zip-code="true">  

The variable values in this example are for demonstration purposes only.

By embedding this special code provided by Stripe in your website, it becomes a payment button that customers can click to directly make payments to your Stripe account. Additionally, you can modify and integrate the code for any button or section of the website using their API.

While no upfront payment is required, a small percentage is charged for each transaction. Though PayPal's process is similar, it still does not support receiving payments in Sri Lanka, making Stripe the only available option.

The Beginning

Patrick and John Collison were born in Limerick, Ireland, and grew up in the village of Dromineer. Patrick showed a keen interest in books, secretly reading various books during classes without getting caught. Later, he learned that the headmaster had instructed teachers not to interrupt him. Although not attentive in class, Patrick showed great learning skills. "I was in a bookstore on a Saturday and found a book about programming. So, I started coding," Patrick told The Financial Times.

Their father was an electrical engineer and their mother worked in microbiology, but later, they ventured into their own businesses. For the Collison brothers, following in their parents’ footsteps was natural. At ages 26 and 28, respectively, John and Patrick launched a payment processing service called /dev/payments. However, the name was difficult for people unfamiliar with Linux and coding, so they later renamed it Stripe, with Patrick serving as the CEO.

Supported by Y Combinator, an investment firm for startups, in 2010, the Collison brothers’ company Stripe reached a valuation of 1.575 billion rupees by 2016. Forbes reported that "John is the world's youngest self-made billionaire." Today, Stripe is a company worth over $9.2 billion, reaching the upper echelons of Silicon Valley.

2024-10-22     vishwa thilina