Jim McKelvey
Overview
- Source of Wealth
- Mobile payments
- Industry
- Technology
- Residence
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Education
- Washington University in St. Louis (Bachelor of Arts/Economics)Washington University in St. Louis (Bachelor of Science)
- Marital Status
- Married
- Children
- 2
Assets
- Block Inc Class A12,073,000 shares @ --XYZ-US
- Cazoo Group0 shares @ --CZOOF-US
Biography
Jim McKelvey cofounded payments firm Square with Jack Dorsey in 2009 after he had trouble selling a $2,000 art piece from his studio; the company was renamed Block in 2021.
McKelvey remains on Block's board He started a new company, Invisibly, which powers micropayments for journalism and publishing.
He owns nearly 5% of Block stock and has netted at least $270 million from selling Block shares over the years.
A serial entrepreneur, he has started at least seven companies, ranging from a CD cabinet maker to a glass-blowing studio.
He also sits on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and started a nonprofit, LaunchCode, to teach people how to program.
In March 2020, he released "The Innovation Stack," a book detailing Square's battle with Amazon to create a better payments system.
About
McKelvey is the author of two textbooks on computer science and one textbook called "The Art Of Fire: Beginning Glassblowing."
He hired Jack Dorsey as a teenager to be an engineering intern for his first tech company, Mira.