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Jim McKelvey is best known as the co-founder of Square, now known as Block, the company behind the small plastic device that enables merchants to accept credit card payments via smartphones—a tool now ubiquitous across food trucks and small businesses across the U.S. and expanding internationally to places like Australia. Co-founded with Jack Dorsey (also known for co-founding Twitter), the company has grown to employ over 2,500 people and reached a market value of more than $30 billion. Since Square’s early days and its subsequent surge to a valuation exceeding $100 billion, Jim has remained committed to fostering innovation.
He went on to found LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization that provides free programming education and has helped thousands secure full-time jobs in tech in under six months. Now in its second decade, LaunchCode continues to expand opportunities for those outside traditional education and career pathways. Jim is also the author of The Innovation Stack, a compelling exploration of how world-changing companies build competition-proof strategies through layered innovation. His other works include two textbooks on computer programming and The Art of Fire, the definitive guide to glassblowing—a craft in which he is recognized as a master artist. His glasswork is featured in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Smithsonian, and he operates Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis, one of the largest glassblowing centers in the U.S.
Beyond entrepreneurship and the arts, Jim served for six years on the board of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, where he helped recruit a new President. He also serves on the board of Emerson Electric, contributing to a major corporate transformation. His current ventures include developing the world’s first plastic-free disposable diaper, streamlining FDA drug approval, and building tools that empower people to manage their digital identities.
While many know him for his tech success, Jim remains deeply passionate about solving hard, often overlooked problems—whether in public health, education, or the environment. He frequently speaks to audiences across industries, customizing his talks to spark curiosity, inspire innovation, and offer real-world strategies for change.
Just as Square was taking off, Amazon launched a similar product, marketed it aggressively, and undercut Square on price. For most ordinary startups, this would have spelled the end. Instead, less than a year later, Amazon was in retreat and soon discontinued its service. How did Square beat the most dangerous company on the planet?
Square co-founder Jim McKelvey reveals the strategy that led to the company’s success: the Innovation Stack.
McKelvey's fascinating and humorous stories of Square's early days are blended with historical examples of other world-changing companies built on the Innovation Stack to reveal a pattern of ground-breaking, competition-proof entrepreneurship that is rare but repeatable.
The Innovation Stack is a thrilling business narrative that's much bigger than the story of Square. It is an irreverent look inside the world of entrepreneurship, and a call to action for all of us to find the entrepreneur within ourselves and identify and fix unsolved problems--one crazy idea at a time.
What’s stopping you from doing what you would like to do? We no longer need to ask anybody permission to do anything. The tools that exist today thanks to the Internet allow you to get started by ourselves and to learn as we go along, at our own pace.
Jim noticed a very talented artist who was living in his beat up car and wondered why. He was a talented artist who could be getting paid well for his work. Why wasn’t he? Jim realized the artist had no access to the systems that paid him. As he built Square, Jim always kept this one artist in mind and thought about how he was solving this one artist’s problem.
Getting out there and trying to build is one of the best ways to get started on learning technology skills. You don’t have to quit your job. See if your employer has time set aside for personal learning. Join a hack-a-thon and start tinkering. Just try building something.
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