Susan Fowler, the Stripe employee who exposed harassment at Uber, is named editor-in-chief of Increment, Stripe's new quarterly magazine for software engineers
As software becomes more important … ina : Login — Google's Rose Hayes, speaking at Thursday's Transform … John Kennedy / Silicon Republic : Susan Fowler to edit Stripe's new software engineering magazine James Farrell / SiliconANGLE : After a very bad year at Uber, Susan Fowler starts developer publication at Stripe Brian Kyed / Startup Grind : Uber and The Leather Jackets Ali Breland / The Hill : Ex-Uber employee who spurred sexual harassment probe to lead new publication Tweets: Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : FYI, @susanthesquark has been at Stripe since leaving Uber: Susan Fowler to lead Stripe's new engineering tips pub http://www.recode.net/... Joey Parsons / @joeyparsons : Glad to have @Airbnb be a part of the first @IncrementMag issue — thank you @susanthesquark and @stripe! http://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Two months after [[a:916706|her blog post alleging Uber HR repeatedly dismissed harassment claims against a 'high performing' manager]], Susan Fowler has landed at Stripe, which is putting her in charge of a new quarterly print magazine for software engineers called Increment. The hire converts her from whistleblower into an editorial voice inside another major payments company.
The move matters because it keeps Fowler's account in circulation just as pressure builds on Uber itself — the company had already hired Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei as SVP of leadership and strategy ahead of releasing results of its internal workplace investigation.
First-order effects
- Stripe gets immediate visibility for Increment from Fowler's name recognition rather than the magazine's content, which has not yet shipped; she shifts from writing about engineering culture as an outsider to setting an editorial agenda inside a company.
- Fowler gains an institutional platform and staff role after leaving Uber, where her essay made her employment untenable.
Second-order effects
- Uber faces continued reputational pressure with Fowler still publicly visible in the industry, reinforcing the case for structural responses like the Frances Frei hire rather than treating the episode as closed.
- Other engineering-heavy employers now have to reckon with their own HR processes being measured against the standard Fowler's essay set for documenting how 'high performer' status shields managers.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — Fowler's blog post leading to magazine leadership, later a NYT technology opinion editorship, and eventually a book — individual whistleblowers become durable media voices rather than one-time sources, changing how tech companies weigh the cost of dismissing internal complaints.
- Corporate engineering publications like Increment become a channel through which companies compete for developer talent on culture, not just compensation.
The trend: Tech's workplace-culture reckoning is shifting power toward individual employees whose public testimony forces companies into visible structural responses.