Tokens Are the New Dollars | Stripe with a16z

a16z General Partner David George is joined by Will Gaybrick, President of Product & Business at Stripe, to discuss how AI is changing the way Stripe builds products, organizes teams, and thinks about the future of internet commerce. Stripe has evolved from a payments company into a multi-product financial infrastructure platform, while a new generation of AI companies is growing and monetizing faster than previous software cohorts. Will explains why Stripe sees AI productivity as an opportunity to build more rather than simply cut costs, including how its internal coding agents now generate thousands of pull requests each week. They discuss creating founder-like agency inside large companies, building smaller and flatter teams, and why Stripe believes dramatically more software will be created as the cost of building continues to fall. They also look ahead to agentic commerce, why checkout pages could disappear, the potential return of micropayments, stablecoins as infrastructure for a global economy, and a future where AI agents increasingly buy software and services from other machines. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - What Is Stripe Today 08:00 - The AI Cohort Explosion: 50% More Signups & Software Creation Booming 14:25 - Stripe Minions: From 1,200 to 7,000 PRs a Week 19:24 - Build Everything: Going Long vs Going Short on Your Future 28:00 - Agentic Commerce: The Missing Primitives 37:28 - Stablecoins & the Global Money Movement Platform 49:00 - Scaling Taste at Stripe Resources: Follow Will Gaybrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-gaybrick-5730347/ Follow Will on X: https://x.com/gaybrick Follow David George on X: https://x.com/DavidGeorge83 Follow Stripe on X: https://x.com/stripe Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.

Will GaybrickguestDavid Georgehost

Aug 17, 202653mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: August 17, 2026
Duration: 53m
Channel: a16z
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

a16z General Partner David George is joined by Will Gaybrick, President of Product & Business at Stripe, to discuss how AI is changing the way Stripe builds products, organizes teams, and thinks about the future of internet commerce. Stripe has evolved from a payments company into a multi-product financial infrastructure platform, while a new generation of AI companies is growing and monetizing faster than previous software cohorts. Will explains why Stripe sees AI productivity as an opportunity to build more rather than simply cut costs, including how its internal coding agents now generate thousands of pull requests each week. They discuss creating founder-like agency inside large companies, building smaller and flatter teams, and why Stripe believes dramatically more software will be created as the cost of building continues to fall. They also look ahead to agentic commerce, why checkout pages could disappear, the potential return of micropayments, stablecoins as infrastructure for a global economy, and a future where AI agents increasingly buy software and services from other machines. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - What Is Stripe Today 08:00 - The AI Cohort Explosion: 50% More Signups & Software Creation Booming 14:25 - Stripe Minions: From 1,200 to 7,000 PRs a Week 19:24 - Build Everything: Going Long vs Going Short on Your Future 28:00 - Agentic Commerce: The Missing Primitives 37:28 - Stablecoins & the Global Money Movement Platform 49:00 - Scaling Taste at Stripe Resources: Follow Will Gaybrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-gaybrick-5730347/ Follow Will on X: https://x.com/gaybrick Follow David George on X: https://x.com/DavidGeorge83 Follow Stripe on X: https://x.com/stripe Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.

SPEAKERS

Will Gaybrick
guest
Stripe executive leading product/platform strategy and payments infrastructure initiatives.
David George
host
a16z partner/investor interviewing Stripe leadership about fintech, crypto, and tokenized payments.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of a16z, featuring Will Gaybrick and David George, Tokens Are the New Dollars | Stripe with a16z explores stripe’s AI-driven build velocity, agentic commerce, stablecoins, token economy future Stripe now frames itself less as payments-plus-add-ons and more as a multi-product financial infrastructure platform focused on reducing friction and increasing customer agency across revenue and cash workflows.

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