← Stripe
Stripe role-play cheat sheet
For the mock cold call at the end of most SDR interviews.
What they sell, in one line
Software that lets businesses take payments online and in person, bill customers, and move money.
Who you'd be calling
Founders, heads of finance, product or engineering leads, and ecommerce or operations managers at startups, SaaS firms, online stores and marketplaces.
Your opener
“Hi Sam, this is Alex from Stripe. I know I'm calling out of the blue. Do you have 30 seconds for me to tell you why I called, and then you can tell me if it's worth a longer chat?”
Problems you solve for them
- Payments break or get declined, so sales are lost
- Building and maintaining billing and subscriptions in-house takes engineering time
- Taking payments in many countries and currencies is complicated
- Fraud and chargebacks cost money
Discovery questions to ask
- How do you take payments from customers today?
- What happens when a payment fails or a customer wants to be billed on a schedule?
- Are you planning to sell in new countries or add new ways to pay this year?
Objections they'll throw at you
“I'm busy right now.”
→ Totally fair, I'll be quick. Can I ask one question about how you take payments, and if it's not relevant I'll let you go?
“Not interested.”
→ No problem, most people I call aren't until they hear a specific example. Can I ask what's most annoying about how payments work for you today?
“We already use something for payments.”
→ Good, that means payments matter to you. Is there anything it doesn't do well, like billing, international sales or reporting?
“Just send me an email.”
→ Happy to. So I send you something useful and not generic, what is the one payments problem you'd most like solved?
Competitors worth knowing
Adyen, Braintree, Square, Checkout.com
Interview tips for this company
- Learn the basics: Stripe is used by startups and big companies, so ask discovery questions to find which kind of buyer you have.
- Know the product groups in plain terms: payments, billing/subscriptions and Stripe's money-movement tools.
- Practice asking about the buyer's current setup instead of pitching features.
Written from public information about Stripe to help you practice. Ask an insider what their role play looked like; it's the best prep there is.