Jim McKelvey on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and How to Beat The Competition

The Square co-founder opens up about working with Jack and building a billion dollar business

Jim McKelvey is a serial entrepreneur and inventor, co-founder of Square with Jack Dorsey, and author of The Innovation Stack. Jim is also the co-founder of LaunchCode, a non-profit which helps people learn to code and get hired, and founder and CEO of Invisibly which aims to give consumers control over how their personal data is monetised by advertisers. He also serves as an Independent Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and co-founded a glassblowing studio and gallery, Third Degree Glass Factory.

Newnham: I always like to start with people’s background and, specifically, I’ve heard you mention that you consider yourself an outcast. Can you tell me more about that?

McKelvey: I was the kid that didn’t really fit in that well. I had some friends but I was never considered cool. I was never considered popular. I’m not complaining about it, it was just how it was. And I guess a lot of kids feel that way. And it’s been funny now because I still live in St. Louis where I grew up and now people are much more accepting of my opinions and my presence, than they were forty years ago.