What Is a Collison Install?
The startup tactic that became our entire business model.
The origin
Early at Stripe, Patrick and John Collison tackled user adoption differently than most startups. Instead of sending follow-up emails or documentation after a meeting, they would ask prospects directly: “Right then, give me your laptop” — and set up Stripe on the spot. No delays, no excuses, no drop-off between “I'm interested” and “I'm using it.”
Y Combinator made it a principle
Paul Graham and the YC partners embraced this approach so thoroughly they coined the term “Collison installation” and taught it across batches. The philosophy aligns with YC's broader ethos: “do things that don't scale.” Early manual onboarding of individual users is both acceptable and a competitive advantage — it reveals product friction, uncovers user confusion, and builds loyalty that no automated onboarding flow can match.
“At YC we use the term ‘Collison installation’ for the technique they invented... the Collison brothers weren't going to wait. When anyone agreed to try Stripe they'd say ‘Right then, give me your laptop’ and set them up on the spot.”
Why it works
Eliminates friction
Closes the gap between interest and active use to zero.
Builds trust
Physical presence signals confidence beyond any landing page.
Catches problems early
Reveals setup failures in real environments, not test labs.
Creates evangelists
Memorable experiences generate organic word-of-mouth.
That's literally what we do
OpenClaw is an incredible open-source tool that connects to 50+ services. But proper configuration, security hardening, and integration requires substantial effort. Most teams don't want another project to maintain — they want leverage.
CustomClaw is the Collison Install for OpenClaw. We show up (in person or remotely), set up your Mac Mini or VPS, configure everything, lock down security, and make sure it's running before we leave. You go from “I'm interested” to “my bot is triaging my email” in a single session.