#258 Cristina Cordova: Linear’s COO on Catching Taxis Alone to School, scaling Stripe as the 28th hire and more

Episode #258 features Cristina Cordova — employee number 28 at Stripe, an early hire at Notion, former Partner at First Round Capital, and now COO of Linear.

This conversation is less about startup tactics and more about ambition, identity and operating inside some of Silicon Valley’s most respected companies before they became obvious to everyone else.

Cristina reflects on growing up in Los Angeles with a single mother, becoming fiercely independent from a young age, and navigating worlds that initially felt completely foreign to her own. She shares the emotional complexity of spending more than a decade inside elite tech environments, from joining Stripe in its earliest days to helping scale Notion during its breakout years.

Vidit and Cristina explore what separates companies that become deeply loved from those that simply grow fast, why some people thrive in ambiguity while others struggle as organisations scale, and how her “run through walls” mentality became both a superpower and a source of tension as companies matured from dozens to thousands of employees.

They also discuss partnerships and developer ecosystems at Stripe, community-led growth at Notion, building products with taste and quality, AI and modern software companies, founder psychology, career reinvention, and the challenge of building a meaningful life when work becomes such a large part of who you are.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

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