Hamilton-Wenham Public Library

The innovation stack, building an unbeatable business one crazy idea at a time, Jim McKelvey

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The innovation stack

bibliography

1123181040

Jim McKelvey

building an unbeatable business one crazy idea at a time

"In 2009, a St. Louis glassblowing artist and recovering computer scientist named Jim McKelvey lost a sale because he couldn't accept the customer's credit card. Frustrated by this problem common to small-business owners, McKelvey decided to fix it. With no relevant experience, he and friend Jack Dorsey (cofounder of Twitter) launched Square, a start-up that would empower small merchants to accept credit card payments on their mobile phones. The key to their success? A business model McKelvey calls the Innovation Stack: a cascade of interlocking solutions that creates a massive advantage. Blending dramatic and funny stories of Square's early days with fascinating examples of other world-changing companies, McKelvey reveals a pattern of ground-breaking, competition-proof entrepreneurship that is rare but repeatable. The Innovation Stack is a thrilling business narrative that's much bigger than the story of Square. It is an irreverent first-person look inside the world of entrepreneurship, and a call to action for all of us to find the entrepreneur within ourselves and identify and fix unsolved problems--one crazy idea at a time. "--, Provided by publisher

Solving a perfect problem. Entrepreneurs and perfect problems ; Bob and the pyramids ; Squaring up ; The innovation stack ; Squaring off ; Copies of copies -- The mythical expert. Lemonade ; Entrepreneurs everywhere ; The Bank of Italy ; The boy they kicked out ; The Cloud god ; When -- Innovation physics. Stack attack ; The invisible army ; Low, not lowest ; Disrupting disruption ; How it feels ; Back to zero