How to Beat Amazon and Build an Unbeatable Business with Jim McKelvey, Co-Founder of Square

Today's guest, Jim McKelvey is a serial entrepreneur, engineer, and glassblower, the co-founder of Square, a $35 billion company that changed the way businesses could get paid. McKelvey also founded Invisibly, a project to rewire the economics of online content; LaunchCode, a non-profit that trains people to work in technology; and Third Degree Glass Factory, a publicly accessible glass art studio & education center in St. Louis. He’s the author of “The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time”, in which he shares the story of building Square and beating Amazon, amongst others.

Timestamps and main topics we discuss: 

00:00 - 04:17 - Introduction to Jim McKelvey 04:18 - 11:26 - How Did Jim Decide To Write His Book? 11:30 - 15:55 - What Is An Innovation Stack? How to Build an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time 16:06 - 23:31 - Real Innovation Doesn't Have a Checklist To Follow 23:32 - 27:57 - Finding The Perfect problems That We Have The Courage And Power To Solve 27:58 - 31:40 -  The Story Of Meeting Jack Dorsey 34:20 - 43:40 - What is Jim’s Advice On Starting An Innovative Company 43:40 - 49:31 - About him as a person 52:55 - 55:02 - Jim’s new ventures

Resources:

Book: https://www.jimmckelvey.com/books/ Website: https://www.jimmckelvey.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mckelveyjim/