Jim McKelvey

Jim McKelvey was born on 1965 in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a degree in computer science from Washington University in St. Louis and built a career as a software developer before becoming a glassblower and artist. He co-founded LaunchCode, a non-profit coding education organization in St. Louis, and has been an active advocate for technology education and entrepreneurship in the Midwest. His experience losing a $2,000 glassware sale because he couldn't accept a credit card directly inspired the founding of Square. McKelvey served on Square's board from its founding and has been less publicly prominent than Dorsey in day-to-day company affairs, preferring to focus on his entrepreneurial writing, philanthropy, and arts practice.

Jim McKelvey is the co-founder of Block Inc (formerly Square) whose experience as a glassblower unable to accept a credit card payment directly prompted the company's founding. McKelvey contributed the original problem insight and early technical intuition that led to the Square dongle's design, working with Dorsey and hardware engineer Tristan O'Tier to build the first prototype. After the company's early growth phase, McKelvey transitioned to a board member role, later stepping down from the board entirely. He channeled his entrepreneurial experience into writing 'The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time,' published in 2020, which theorizes that true disruption requires solving multiple interconnected problems simultaneously in ways that make simple copying impossible. McKelvey remains a highly regarded figure in the St. Louis entrepreneurial community and a board member at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.