Stripe Sessions 2026 | Indexing the economy
John Collison and Emily Sands discuss the current economic landscape, analyzing trends in profitability, trade policy, and labor markets through Stripe's data. They highlight the transformative impact of AI on business dynamism, leading to a surge in solopreneurs and global-first startups, alongside the emergence of agentic commerce and the changing nature of competitive advantage. The episode concludes by drawing parallels to historical technological shifts, suggesting AI is initiating a rapid re-platforming of the global economy.
- AI is behind a new wave of solopreneurs and global-first startups, growing at unprecedented rates. Learn the 3-step 'New AI Startup Playbook'. Read →
- The current lack of broad productivity gains from AI isn't a failure, but a classic "Solow Paradox," echoing how electricity's early adoption didn't immediately boost output. Read →
- John Collison, co-founder of Stripe, outlines five escalating levels of "agentic commerce," where software agents gain increasing autonomy in making purchasing decisions, moving beyond simple automation to reasoning and independent action. Read →
- Software Market Value ≠ SaaS Health: While the software sector famously lost a trillion dollars in market value in under 30 days in January, Collison points out that "SaaS payment volumes on Stripe, they're actually a good chunk higher today than before the sell-off." Don't confuse public market se… Read →
- Ronald Coase won a Nobel Prize for explaining why firms exist: they reduce internal coordination costs, acting as mini "central planning" units within otherwise efficient markets. Read →