If you’ve never used Stripe or had to implement a payment system it may be hard to understand. Like others have said, Stripe made it simple to accept credit cards online and since have expanded to offer several different products that focus on helping internet companies (sass, ecommerce, marketplace payments).

What they did right was their developer first approach. They eliminated all of the bullshit you had to do to start accepting payments. They took something that more and more companies needed to do, was unusually complex, and made it easy. It certainly qualifies as “special” if you’ve ever had to do it.