John and Patrick Collison on Stripe's Growth, Agent Commerce, and the Future of Software

2026-04-28 · Source: The a16z Show · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technology, Software Development & Engineering · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, long

Summary

Stripe cofounders John and Patrick Collison discussed the company's 34% growth last year. They reported processing over a trillion dollars in payments and announced a new employee tender offer. The 2025 cohort of businesses on Stripe is outperforming prior groups. This accelerating trend suggests 2026 Q1 could mark a "first quarter of the singularity." The conversation also explored "agentic commerce," where AI agents will drive a torrent of transactions. This necessitates high-throughput blockchains capable of billions of transactions per second. Existing payment rails do not currently meet this need. Furthermore, they posited a fundamental shift in software economics. This moves from mass-produced products to bespoke, on-demand systems "cooked fresh at the moment of use." This shift is driven by inference costs and custom creation. Stripe is actively building infrastructure to support buyable product catalogs within AI applications.

Key takeaway

For AI/ML Directors evaluating future infrastructure, recognize that agentic commerce will demand payment rails. These must be capable of billions of transactions per second. You should prioritize exploring high-throughput blockchain solutions. Also, design software for bespoke, on-demand creation, not traditional mass production. This shift impacts your strategic investments in both payment processing and software development paradigms.

Key insights

AI-driven agentic commerce and bespoke software demand new high-throughput blockchain infrastructure and a shift in software economics.

Principles

• Agentic commerce requires billions of transactions per second.
• Software economics shift from fixed cost to inference-driven bespoke creation.
• New businesses on Stripe are performing better than prior cohorts.

Method

Stripe is building API and protocol infrastructure to enable buyable product catalogs within AI applications for agentic commerce.

In practice

• Explore high-throughput blockchain solutions for agent-driven transactions.
• Design software for custom, on-demand creation rather than mass production.
• Integrate product catalogs with AI apps for agentic purchasing.

Topics

• Agentic Commerce
• High-Throughput Blockchains
• Software Economics
• AI Applications
• Stablecoins
• Stripe Growth

Best for: CTO, VP of Engineering/Data, Executive, Director of AI/ML, Entrepreneur, Investor

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by The a16z Show.