Stripes Interview Guide
Stripes Interview Guide

Tell me about yourself

Of course, happy to share. My name is Edison but I go by Eddie. Academically, I study Economics at the University of California, Davis with minors in Environmental Policy and Tech Management. I grew up in the Bay Area surrounded by some of the world’s most innovative and exciting businesses and I knew that one day I wanted my career to somehow be a part of this economy.

Apple: Walking from the beginning, my first experience was at Apple on the Apple Pay Team as a Strategy Intern. I worked on the product go-to-market team for Apple Pay Later, a buy now, pay later fintech offering allowing customers to split Apple Pay payments. Super exciting, but this product just released to the public yesterday so it’s definitely exciting to be able to say that I was a part of something.

Sumeru: Continuing my passion for technology, I spent last summer at Sumeru Equity Partners—a private equity firm that invests in growth stage software businesses. I spent time on both the operating and investing teams, as a strategy intern at GoGuardian (an edtech), helping integrate the latest acquisition into various technical teams across the business while also laying groundwork for a future IPO.

PJT: This summer I’m fortunate to be at PJT Partners as a summer analyst in the advisory team focused on activism defense, shareholder advisory, and complex M&A situations. Working on transactions and situations with some of the world’s largest healthcare and technology clients is extremely rewarding and exciting, especially as they’re rapidly changing and shifting.

Badminton: But that’s only the “career” side of who I am. Unique about my background is that I played badminton professionally for 10 years at the national level, and represented Team USA internationally at the 2016 Pan American Games. Badminton has taught me the value of patience, teamwork, and giving back—both on and off the court. I cherish my time as an athlete, and I feel it has equipped me with many valuable skills that [insert industry] draws upon.

I think these unique experiences of building a new fintech product, evaluating the software landscape, and being able to advise some of the world’s most well-recognized companies have led me here today, hoping to invest in the technology that will change the world.

Why growth equity?

I think my interest in growth equity stems from the intersection of my past experiences, the work focus, and the what differentiates it from other investment stages.

Aspects to touch upon:

Past Experience: being at Apple, Sumeru, and growing up in the dynamic innovation economy of SV meant I loved everything that growth stands for → tech investing is about what’s changing and that’s what I want

Work Focus: Sourcing → talking to founders, getting to know their business/product, and if they’re what we’re looking for, trying to convince them why we shoudl be their partner of chocie as they scale into a world-class business

Difference: helping companies scale, exposure to best-in-class operators and managers, parter of choice, focus on collaborating with management teams

In sum, as an investor, I want to invest in the latest companies with the best-in-class products at their peak of innovation. And I want to take them from good to great, just like Stripes has done with many of its investments. We’re currently living through a generational shift that will rapidly transform the way we work, live, and play. AI is no doubt finding its way into everything we do. And I don’t think there is a better time to be a growth investor within the software economy.

Sector you’re interested in?

HealthTech: the way people approach their health is rapidly shifting and new advances in AI. I was diagnosed with a heart condition at the beginning of this year and it drastically cahnge the way I approached living my life. I started doing much deeper research into understanding the healthtech landscape and found that there is so much opportunity to invest in exciting software businesses that have an actual change and impact on the ordinary lives of people. From areas such as care delivery, to whole person care, to mental wellbeing, to disruptive technology enablement —there is so much opportunity to improve the lives of people.

Tally Health

Everly:

TetraScience:

Maven Clinic

Oui Therapeutics

Included Health

Unite Us

I believe there is so much more to come and there will be large investment focus into areas such as Generative AI, virtual care/telemedicine, and wearables. Broaders domains include mental health, women’s health, and alternative care.

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Why Stripes?

I think it’s a blend of the culture, the people, and the nature of the work. I found out about the firm many many years ago as a runner. I’ve always known about On Running, and I’ve loved their shoes for years. I always had a bet that the firm would one day make it big, and no doubt its one of Stripe’s most successful investments. But I think this goes back to what I see in the firm. Stripes invested in On in the seed stage and was a day 1 partner. From the website, I saw that Stripes helped with key leadership hiring decisions, international expansion, and omnichannel expansion. And it didn’t stop there, since Stripes also helped prepare for the IPO. These are the kind of people who I want to be surrounded by. Genuinely. People who will back me and support me from Day One as I hone my investment process, as I Iearn how to source, as I grow and eventually rise upwards, as many of the people at Stripes have done through the years. This culture of success and collaboration is something I hope to be apart of.

I’ve always felt that you want to work for the company whose products you love. As a child I really wanted to work since I loved and still love Apple’s products. I love Monday.com, On Running, A24, Levain’s choco cookies, I have a friend who loves Kosas, and I’ve come across Hello Heart when I was evaluating devices for my treatment. The point is — I love the companies that Stripes has invested in and

Also, I can’t wait to have my face up on the Stripe’s website and see what my Simpson’s cariacture looks like too!

Where do you get your news?

Passive: I split the way I learn into active and passive. Active refers to me attending conferences (Axios BFD in SF for instance), speaking to founders at events, watching Youtube videos or reading LinkedIn news online, or catching up and networking with investors and people at Sumeru to hear their thoughts and opinings about the latest across the software economy. TechCrunch & Venturebeat

Active: Every morning on my way to work or school, while I’m on the bus, I read Axios Pro Rata and Fortune’s Term Sheet to catch up with what’s going on in the world at large, but also in the investor landscape. What new venture funds are being raised, new investments being done, and what M&A or exit activity is occuring. Other great newsletters I subscribe to include Jamin Ball (Altimeter) → Clouded Judgement, where he shares everything you need to know about SaaS in the publci markets, Rex Woodbury’s Digital Native, which focuse on how technology is changing society, and Kirsten Green from Forerunner’s the CQ (”Consumer Quotient”) on everything consumer.

CQ: Threads → how it’s becoming the next big thing (

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Digital Native: Roblox → resurgence into gaming giant (

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Clouded Judgement: the rebounding economy (

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But for me, I’ve always loved technology and it’s only been amplified by the resoruces around me in SV. I’ve always been naturally curious about technology and how humans can interact with it, and its a key reason why I’m drawn to the opportunity to invest in the next generation of software technologies at Stripes.