Jack Dorsey
Co-founder 2009Background
Jack Dorsey was born on November 19, 1976, in St. Louis, Missouri. He developed an interest in dispatch routing software as a teenager, writing his first programming projects related to taxi dispatch systems at age 14. He attended the Missouri University of Science and Technology and New York University before dropping out to pursue software development. He co-founded Twitter in 2006 and served as its first CEO until 2008, when he was removed from day-to-day operations. After departing Twitter, he began working with Jim McKelvey on what would become Square. He returned to Twitter as Executive Chairman in 2011 and became CEO again in 2015, ultimately leaving Twitter permanently following the company's acquisition by Elon Musk in 2022. Dorsey is a prominent public advocate for Bitcoin, embracing a maximalist philosophical position on cryptocurrency.
Role at Block Inc
Block (originally Square) was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, born out of a personal frustration with the exclusionary nature of the traditional financial system. Dorsey was already legendary in Silicon Valley as the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter. After being ousted from Twitter in 2008 (he would later return) Dorsey was exploring new ventures. He reconnected with McKelvey, a long-time friend and former boss from St. Louis who was working as a glassblowing artist. The foundational 'aha' moment for the company occurred when McKelvey lost a $2,000 sale on a piece of glass art because he could not accept American Express. At the time, accepting credit cards was a logistical nightmare for small merchants; it required signing complex, multi-year contracts with banks, undergoing extensive credit checks, and purchasing expensive, clunky hardware terminals. The system systematically excluded independent artists, food trucks, and small vendors. Dorsey and McKelvey realized that almost everyone was beginning to carry a supercomputer in their pocket (the iPhone), which could easily function as a point-of-sale terminal. They designed a tiny, elegant, square-shaped piece of white plastic that plugged directly into the iPhone's headphone jack, allowing anyone to swipe a credit card. More importantly, Square handled all the complex banking regulations on the backend, offering merchants a simple, flat-rate fee with zero hidden costs. This hardware and software innovation democratized access to the financial system, instantly transforming millions of small vendors into legitimate businesses and launching one of the most successful fintech companies in history.