456: How to Build an Unbeatable Business with Square Co-Founder Jim McKelvey

Jim McKelvey was a glassblower when he created the idea for the payment platform Square (now Block, Inc.). He was furious that he couldn’t accept certain credit cards as an artist and contacted a former colleague and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey to solve the problem. What took three weeks to build became a three-year journey of creating Square into a banking disruptor inspired by McKelvey’s frustrations. In the 15 years since McKelvey teamed up with Dorsey, Square has grown into a billion-dollar business and beat the world’s best company at absorbing startups—Amazon. 

Listen to Nathan and Jim discuss:

Hitting it off with Dorsey when he was his summer intern

Realizing how many laws they were breaking with Square

Convincing the banking industry to accept Square 

Taking on Amazon and winning

Researching unbeatable companies throughout history 

Why he wrote the book The Innovation Stack


How to pitch a product

Why it’s better to copy than innovate

His new foundr course

Plus, excerpts from our live community event 

And much more innovation advice...


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