Jim McKelvey (Co-founder of Square, Founder of Invisibly, Author of "The Innovation Stack") on starting Square with Jack Dorsey, how Square fought off Amazon, & his new book ("The Innovation Stack")

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Welcome back for a new episode of The Takeoff Podcast! 

This is our first-ever podcast collab. Who’d we collab with? The Seed -- The Startup Journey, a podcast hosted by fellow WashU undergrad Rick Liu.

Let’s get into the episode itself…

Today’s episode is with WashU alum, billionaire philanthropist, and author of The Innovation Stack, Jim McKelvey. Jim is best known for being the co-founder of Square, which he co-founded with Jack Dorsey in 2009.

Moderator: Roshan and Rick (The Seed)

In today’s episode, Roshan, Rick (The Seed), and Jim discuss:

How Square survived against Amazon (quick note: if you’re a truly innovative company, Jim suggests it may actually make sense to “ignore your competition”)

What it means to be an entrepreneur, versus a businessperson

Jim’s new book, The Innovation Stack

The most important skills for founders

Jim’s passion for Glassblowing

And, much more.

This was an incredibly special episode for us given Jim’s connection to WashU.

We hope you enjoy the listen and, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our Substack newsletter to have all future content sent directly to your inbox.

Items mentioned in today’s episode:

Jim’s book, The Innovation Stack
Rick’s podcast, The Seed -- The Startup Journey
Square
Amazon
Jim’s favorite book: Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.