Podcasts Technology Acquired Episode 43: The Square IPO

Episode 43: The Square IPO

Published: Aug. 16, 2017, 9:59 p.m.

Unicorns and ratchets and lawsuits, oh my! Our heroes dive into the history of Jack Dorsey\u2019s famous \u201cother\u201d company, Square. Was the Square IPO a canary in the coal mine signaling doom & gloom for the so-called unicorn companies of the early 2010\u2019s, or a mispriced and misunderstood diamond in the rough? Acquired weighs in.

Sponsors:
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta


Topics Covered Include:

  • Square\u2019s deep origins in the early 90\u2019s in St. Louis, MO with the initial meeting of its co-founders, Jack Dorsey & Jim McKelvey
  • McKelvey\u2019s side glass blowing business and the \u201cinspiration\u201d for Square that came much later in the late 2000\u2019s
  • The complicated involvement of Washington University (in St. Louis) professor Robert Morley, who had worked for years developing payment card reading technology
  • The company\u2019s early meeting with Scott Forstall at Apple, and its \u201csignificant\u201d impact on the its name and design
  • The real disruptive innovation of Square and its business model (hint: not just building a mobile card reader)
  • Square\u2019s massive payments deal with Starbucks in 2012 and its impact on the company
  • The evolution of Square\u2019s business from a simple card reader to cloud-based Point of Sale (PoS) system and entire suite of merchant tools & business management services
  • The drama leading up to Square\u2019s IPO (including at Jack Dorsey\u2019s \u201cother\u201d company, Twitter), dynamics and narratives affecting its pricing, the effect of IPO \u201cratchets\u201d, and the company\u2019s performance over the ~2 years since\xa0

The Carve Out: