Jim McKelvey: Co-Founder of Square on Art, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

<div> <p>Jim McKelvey is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist, and artist.  He cofounded the mobile payments company Square and sits on the Board.  He also founded Invisibly, a digital content company, LaunchCode, a nonprofit that teaches technology literacy, and a glass art studio. His book is called <em>The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time</em>.</p> <p> </p> </div> <p>Some interesting insights from this episode:</p> <ul> <li>He has never had a life plan and because of that, he’s become very comfortable with uncertainty.</li> <li>He was a state debate champion and owed much of his success to the ability to read the judges and adjust his strategy accordingly.</li> <li>“If you want to be successful and make some money, copy what works. But if you want to have a phenomenally successful company, you have to do something original.”</li> <li>The big insight was rather than going after an existing market of merchants already using credit cards, Square decided to go after a market that didn’t even exist – the tiny mom and pop merchants without access to the credit card payment networks.</li> <li>They designed a small card reader that looked really cool and got your attention but was flimsy and difficult to use. But the novelty of it turned every Square sale into a Square advertisement. This allowed the product to go viral without needing to spend one dollar on advertising. </li> <li>What allowed Square to survive a competitive attack by Amazon and thrive as a standalone company was their innovation stack. An innovation stack is a series of innovations needed to provide a new product or service and that collectively work together to provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace. </li> <li>Training as an artist was a big help in mentally preparing to be an entrepreneur.</li> <li>“Excellence is something that’s above and beyond normal good. It’s something that’s surprisingly wonderful.”</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p>Show Notes</p> <p>Book: <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/