Jim McKelvey

Jim McKelvey
Born	James Morgan McKelvey Jr. Template:Birth year and age
Birthplace	St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Entrepreneur, glassblower, author
Known for	Co-founding Block, Inc. (formerly Square), founding LaunchCode, founding Third Degree Glass Factory
Education	Washington University in St. Louis
Awards	Distinguished Alumni Award (Ladue Horton Watkins High School, 2012)

James Morgan McKelvey Jr. (born 1966) is an American entrepreneur, glassblower, and author best known as the co-founder of Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.), a financial technology company he started with Jack Dorsey in 2009. The origin story of Square has become one of the more distinctive founding narratives in Silicon Valley history: McKelvey, working as a glassblowing artist in his St. Louis studio, lost a sale because he could not accept American Express cards, prompting him to develop a small device that could turn a smartphone into a credit card reader. Beyond Square, McKelvey has founded or co-founded multiple ventures across a range of industries, including glassblowing, technology, education, and media. He founded Third Degree Glass Factory, an independent glass art studio and educational center in St. Louis, and LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization aimed at creating pathways into technology careers. In January 2017, McKelvey was appointed as an independent director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In 2025, McKelvey and his spouse joined the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Early Life

James Morgan McKelvey Jr. was born in 1966 and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Ladue Horton Watkins High School, where he was later recognized as a distinguished alumnus in 2012.

McKelvey has described his career trajectory as nonlinear and eclectic. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, he characterized his professional life prior to Square as feeling like a "dumpster fire," reflecting his tendency to move between vastly different fields and pursue a wide range of entrepreneurial interests rather than following a conventional career path. His interests spanned technology, art, and education, and he has been noted as a serial entrepreneur who started multiple businesses before co-founding Square. According to a Forbes profile, McKelvey had started six businesses by 2020, including Square.

McKelvey has remained deeply connected to St. Louis throughout his career, becoming a prominent advocate for the city's potential as a technology and entrepreneurship hub. In interviews, he has discussed his belief that St. Louis can compete on a global stage in technology and innovation.

Education

McKelvey attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied economics and computer science. His connection to the university has remained strong throughout his career. In 2016, the university announced the renaming of its engineering school, naming a new engineering building after McKelvey in recognition of his contributions to the institution. The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University bears his family name, reflecting both his and his family's long association with the university.

Career

Early Ventures and Glassblowing

Before entering the technology industry, McKelvey pursued a career as a glassblowing artist and entrepreneur. He founded Third Degree Glass Factory, an independent glass art studio and educational center located in St. Louis. The facility operates as both a working studio and a public venue where visitors can observe and learn about the art of glassblowing. Third Degree Glass Factory has been a fixture of the St. Louis arts community, celebrating multiple years of operation as an active studio and community space.

McKelvey's glassblowing practice was not merely a hobby but a professional pursuit that he maintained alongside his technology ventures. His identity as both an artist and a technologist became a defining feature of his public persona and factored directly into the founding of Square.

Co-founding Square (Block, Inc.)

The genesis of Square dates to 2009, when McKelvey, working in his St. Louis glass studio, lost a sale because he was unable to accept American Express credit cards from a customer. Frustrated by the inability of small merchants and independent artists to process credit card payments—a service that at the time required expensive equipment and complex merchant accounts—McKelvey approached Jack Dorsey, a friend and former colleague, with the idea of building a small card reader that could plug into a smartphone's headphone jack.

Together, McKelvey and Dorsey co-founded Square, Inc. in 2009. The company's initial product was the Square Reader, a compact, white, square-shaped device that attached to a mobile phone and enabled anyone to accept credit card payments. The product lowered the barrier to entry for small businesses, individual sellers, artists, and service providers who had previously been excluded from electronic payment systems. The simplicity and accessibility of the Square Reader attracted significant attention, and the company grew rapidly into one of the most prominent financial technology firms in the United States.

McKelvey has discussed the founding and growth of Square in multiple public forums. In a 2025 interview with STLtoday.com, he reflected on how he started Square with Dorsey and shared his views on the role of original ideas in entrepreneurship.

A significant chapter in Square's history involved competition with Amazon. Amazon launched a competing product, Amazon Register, in 2014 to challenge Square's dominance in the mobile payments space. However, Amazon eventually withdrew its product from the market, and Square survived and grew. McKelvey has discussed this episode in detail, including in his book and in interviews, explaining how Square's approach to innovation allowed the company to outlast a far larger and better-resourced competitor.

By 2020, Square's market capitalization had reached approximately $33 billion. In 2021, the company rebranded as Block, Inc., reflecting its expanded range of products and services beyond the original Square payment reader. McKelvey has served as a director of the company.

LaunchCode

In addition to his work in the for-profit sector, McKelvey founded LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization headquartered in St. Louis that aims to create pathways into technology careers for people who lack traditional credentials such as computer science degrees. LaunchCode provides free coding education, job placement assistance, and apprenticeship programs to help individuals transition into technology roles.

LaunchCode was recognized by the Riverfront Times as the "Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis" in 2014, reflecting its impact on the city's workforce development and technology ecosystem. The organization has expanded beyond St. Louis, with the Kauffman Foundation providing funding to support LaunchCode's operations in Kansas City.

McKelvey founded LaunchCode based on his observation that the traditional hiring process in the technology industry often excluded talented individuals who had acquired skills through nontraditional routes. The organization's model pairs candidates with employers for paid apprenticeships, allowing both parties to evaluate fit before making permanent hiring decisions.

Invisibly

McKelvey founded Invisibly, a technology company focused on the media and publishing industry. A 2020 Forbes profile described McKelvey as "betting millions on his crazy idea to save American journalism," outlining his vision for a platform that would provide an alternative revenue model for publishers and content creators in an era of declining advertising revenue and paywalls. The Invisibly platform was designed to allow consumers to engage with content while providing publishers with a sustainable source of income. McKelvey was identified as the founder of Invisibly in a 2025 Crain Currency report on new members of the Giving Pledge.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

In December 2016, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis announced McKelvey's appointment as an independent director to its board of directors, effective January 2017. McKelvey subsequently served as chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve's board, a role noted in a 2022 Forbes profile.

Author

McKelvey is the author of The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, a book that draws on his experiences at Square and other ventures to present a framework for how companies can build layers of interlocking innovations to create competitive advantages that larger firms struggle to replicate. The book discusses how Square survived competition from Amazon and other large incumbents by developing what McKelvey terms an "innovation stack"—a series of original solutions to problems that, taken together, create a business model that is difficult for competitors to copy.

McKelvey has spoken publicly about the themes in the book, cautioning entrepreneurs about the limitations of advice from successful people. In an interview with Inc. magazine, he explained why he believes successful entrepreneurs' advice can be misleading, since the conditions that led to their success may not be replicable.

Advocacy for St. Louis

McKelvey has been a vocal advocate for St. Louis as a center for entrepreneurship and technology. He has spoken about his desire to help transform St. Louis into what some have called a "Silicon Prairie," encouraging technology investment and startup activity in the region.

In a 2025 two-part interview series with STLtoday.com titled "Winning STL," McKelvey discussed a range of topics related to the city's future, including entrepreneurship, public safety, and the potential for St. Louis to become "one of the world's safest cities." He has also appeared on the Fast Forward STL podcast, discussing his journey from St. Louis native to global technology leader.

Personal Life

McKelvey resides in St. Louis, Missouri, and has maintained close ties to the city throughout his career, even as his ventures have taken on national and global scope. He continues to practice glassblowing and has operated Third Degree Glass Factory as both a personal studio and a community arts institution.

In May 2025, McKelvey and his spouse joined the Giving Pledge, the philanthropic initiative founded by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in which signatories commit to donating the majority of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetimes or in their wills.

McKelvey has been open in interviews about his unconventional career path and his belief in pursuing diverse interests rather than specializing narrowly. His identity as both an artist and a technologist has been a recurring theme in media profiles.

Recognition

McKelvey received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in 2012.

His contributions to St. Louis have been recognized through multiple channels. LaunchCode, the nonprofit he founded, was named "Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis" by the Riverfront Times in 2014. Washington University in St. Louis renamed its engineering school—the McKelvey School of Engineering—in recognition of the McKelvey family's connection to the university.

McKelvey's appointment to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in 2017, and his subsequent service as chairman, represented significant recognition of his standing in the business and finance communities.

His book, The Innovation Stack, received attention in business and entrepreneurship media, and McKelvey has been profiled by publications including Forbes, Inc., St. Louis Magazine, Foundr, and The Profile.

The MIT Technology Review has covered McKelvey's work in technology.

Legacy

McKelvey's most lasting contribution to the technology industry is the co-founding of Square (now Block, Inc.), which fundamentally altered the landscape of electronic payments by making credit card processing accessible to small merchants, independent sellers, and individuals. Before Square, accepting credit card payments required costly equipment and merchant account agreements that were impractical for many small businesses. The Square Reader democratized payment processing and helped catalyze the broader mobile payments industry.

Beyond Square, McKelvey's founding of LaunchCode has had a measurable impact on workforce development in the technology sector, particularly in the St. Louis metropolitan area and beyond. By providing free coding education and paid apprenticeships, LaunchCode has helped individuals without traditional computer science backgrounds enter the technology workforce.

McKelvey's concept of the "innovation stack," articulated in his book and public speaking, has contributed to the discourse on entrepreneurship and competitive strategy. His argument that companies can defend against larger competitors by building interlocking layers of innovation—rather than relying on any single product or feature—has been discussed in business education and media contexts.

His sustained commitment to St. Louis, including his work with the Federal Reserve Bank, LaunchCode, Third Degree Glass Factory, and his public advocacy for the city's development, has positioned him as one of the most prominent business figures in the city's recent history. His joining of the Giving Pledge in 2025 signaled a commitment to deploying his wealth toward philanthropic goals on a significant scale.