Jim McKelvey wanted to build electric cars, but his friend Jack Dorsey said he didn’t know anything about building cars. So, the two entrepreneurs decided to work on a software project….after many ideas, rejected or abandoned, they came up with what looks like a simple device called “Square.” It’s simply revolutionizing the way commerce works.

McKelvey shares the backstory on Square’s creation with MBA’14, Kasey Joyce in this segment of an interview recorded recently when Jim was on campus to talk to students in the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Platform.

Jim McKelvey is a serial co-founder. From a glass-blowing factory in St. Louis to Square, a high-tech mobile payment system that is disrupting the way people pay for goods and services around the world, McKelvey is a 21st century entrepreneur.

McKelvey visited Olin and spent a few hours with students in the entrepreneurship concentration talking about startups, problem-solving, and why it’s good to have a partner when you start a business.

Olin MBA’14 student Kasey Joyce interviewed McKelvey Nov. 1, 2013. This is the first in a video series of Kasey’s one-on-one interview with Jim.

Video by Sohrab Golestani and edited by Tucker Pierce, both are WUSTL undergrads.

Photo credit: Sid Hastings/WUSTL Photos

Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Square, Inc., co-founder of Twitter, spent an hour with business and engineering school students in May Auditorium April 5 before the start of the Clinton Global Initiative University.

Kasey Joyce, MBA’14, got an exclusive one-on-one interview with Dorsey after his presentation and asked Jack about the relationship between engineering and business in the startup world. Check back this week for more excerpts from this interview.

Photo by Joe Angeles / WUSTL Photos

Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and co-founder and CEO of Square, spent the morning with engineering and business students before participating in the opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative University this evening at Wash U.

Dorsey grew up in St. Louis and shared some special memories of his hometown, childhood and what inspires him in a presentation that waxed poetic about art and revolution and wove philosophical thoughts on meaning with practical advice to future entrepreneurs.

“Growing up, I never wanted to be an entrepreneur,” said Dorsey at the outset of his talk in Simon Hall’s May Auditorium.

He wanted to be a sailor and explore the world.

Then he wanted to be a tailor – he loved watching people who take pride and care in their work.

Then he wanted to be a surrealist painter.

He showed this photogram by Man Ray.

Jack Dorsey spoke eloquently about how artists see the world in a different way and, in turn, show the world different perspectives.

He said he read a lot of Sci Fi when he was a kid and shared a quote from one of his favorite authors, William Gibson:

“The Future has already arrived. 

It’s just not evenly distributed yet.”

“Remember this quote,” Dorsey advised the audience. “Your job is to create and distribute the future evenly.”

Come back to the blog, to watch video excerpts from an interview with Jack Dorsey that was recorded immediately after his Simon Hall talk with Kasey Joyce, MBA’14 and student videographers Emma Kane (Arts & Sciences ’15), and Marc Niemeyer (Arts & Sciences ’14). All pictured above in the makeshift studio outside May Auditorium.