Collison Install

The startup tactic that became our entire business model.

The origin

In the early days of Stripe, Patrick and John Collison had a problem every startup has: getting people to actually use the thing. Most founders would demo their product, hear "looks cool, I'll try it later," and watch that lead go cold. The Collisons did something different.

Instead of waiting, they'd say "give me your laptop" and set up Stripe on the spot. Right there, in the meeting. No follow-up email, no onboarding doc, no "when you get a chance." Just done.

Y Combinator made it a principle

Paul Graham and the YC partners loved this so much they coined the term "Collison installation" and started teaching it to every batch. The idea is part of a broader YC philosophy: do things that don't scale. In the beginning, manually onboarding each user one-by-one is not just acceptable — it's a competitive advantage. You learn what breaks, what confuses people, and what makes them stay.

At YC we use the term "Collison installation" for the technique they invented. More diffident founders ask "Will you try our beta?" and if the answer is yes, they say "Great, we'll send you a link." But 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. The gap between "interested" and "using it" is where most products lose people. A Collison install closes that gap to zero.

Builds trust. When someone physically shows up and puts their name behind a product, it signals confidence in a way no landing page can.

Catches problems early. You see exactly where the setup breaks in real environments — not in your test lab.

Creates evangelists. People remember the experience. They tell other people. The kind of word-of-mouth you can't buy.

That's literally what we do

ClawEasy exists because self-hosting AI is powerful but the setup is a pain. OpenClaw is open-source, fully local, and connects to 50+ services — but getting it properly configured, hardened, and connected to your actual life takes real effort. File permissions, network binding, credential management, skill vetting. Most people either skip the security steps or give up entirely.

So we show up. In person, to your home or office, with a Mac Mini under our arm. We install it, configure it, lock it down, and make sure it's working before we leave. The original Collison install, turned into a service.

Ready for your own Collison install?

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