00:10well thank you all for having me this is
00:13a an amazing honor and I want to use
00:17this time to share a few ideas that I
00:21like to think about and that have helped
00:23guide me throughout my career and have
00:25gotten me out of out of school into into
00:29building companies but also I want to
00:32get as quickly as possible to questions
00:34because I believe that the best sort of
00:36invention the best sort of conversation
00:37happens in this in this dialogue so I'm
00:39excited to hear not only questions but
00:42also ideas that we can share together so
00:44my name is Jack and I never grew up
00:48wanting to be an entrepreneur it's not
00:51something I woke up and you know the
00:54middle of the morning middle of the
00:56night saying I really need to be an
00:57entrepreneur it's something that I never
01:01really never entered into my vocabulary
01:04at all and I've never thought about
01:05building companies never thought about
01:09becoming a CEO never thought about
01:12becoming a leader when I was a kid I
01:14wanted to do some pretty simple things
01:16which I thought were simple at the time
01:18which was I wanted to be a sailor
01:20I wanted to sail around the world by the
01:23time I was 21 I completely failed in
01:26that ambition I want to sail by myself
01:28and have a cat as well again failed with
01:32that ambition as well I wanted to be a
01:34sailor because I wanted to explore the
01:36world I've always had a curiosity about
01:37how the world works and I want to see
01:39the world I've always wanted to see
01:42every aspect of it and really be
01:44wherever wherever I thought was most
01:46interesting and and that was the sailing
01:48aspect for me I wanted to be a tailor
01:51and and this is it not a picture of the
01:55water this is actually a picture of
01:56denim what was interesting about
02:00tailoring was the aspect of craft
02:02building something with your hands that
02:06someone else would delight from and not
02:08being delighted just in the end product
02:12not being proud of just the end product
02:14but all the work going forward into it
02:16right the actual craft of building
02:20acting something like denim and I was
02:22always fascinated by denim because it's
02:24this natural journal that you wear as
02:27you wear jeans if you put your phone in
02:29your back pocket all the time it's going
02:31to actually make an imprint so you can
02:32look at someone's jeans you can actually
02:34see how they live how they move and what
02:38they do with their life and I thought
02:39there was just an amazing amazing
02:40concept and and wit really well crafted
02:42and I wanted to be a surrealist painter
02:46and this was a the one that my parents
02:49never really understood all that well in
02:51many ways I didn't either
02:53but I've learned so much from artists
02:57I've learned that you can see the world
03:01in the completely different way in fact
03:03you can make up how the world should
03:04look and then you can build it and you
03:07can paint it and you can actually share
03:09with people and that actually inspires
03:11action inspires people to move inspires
03:14people to think in a very very different
03:16way and I thought that was just an
03:19amazing amazing idea and if I could
03:21explore the world if I could craft
03:23something and really learn how to build
03:25and and how to build a vision of what I
03:29wanted to see in the world I could do
03:30amazing things always and and that was
03:34the concept that I've realized over time
03:37is the most important thing for me to do
03:39is to see a picture of where I want to
03:42go see a picture of what I want to do in
03:45the world and then figure out how to
03:46work backwards from that and to make
03:49sure that every single detail of working
03:51backwards from that I'm proud of
03:52something that I love to do I love the
03:55work not just the end product not just
03:57the end picture but every step along the
04:00way and in that sense also be able to
04:03explore the world and I found this great
04:05quote by William Gibson anyone know who
04:09William Gibson is just by show hands
04:11unfortunately too few sir William Gibson
04:14is a science fiction author and he
04:17coined the term cyberspace he coined the
04:19term cyberpunk in a novel called
04:22Neuromancer and he is this great quote
04:24which I think really captures everything
04:27that we're trying to do in this world as
04:29entrepreneurs as founders as builders of
04:32companies and products and ideas
04:34in that the future has already arrived
04:37it's just not evenly distributed yet
04:40which is an amazing thing to think about
04:42and this is exactly how we run our
04:45companies as well we get before the
04:47company and say an idea that can change
04:49the course of the company can happen
04:50anywhere in the company the future is
04:53already in all of your heads and your
04:55work everything that you have to do in
04:57your life is to distribute it it's to
04:59make sure that other people can see it
05:01it's sharing it with other people so
05:02that it resonates in a way that speaks
05:04to them and then they want to build it
05:06as well right and over the course of of
05:11doing that of realizing that picture and
05:14making sure that I am distributing my
05:17idea distributing my picture to folks I
05:21realize that's the most important thing
05:23it's to have that strong vision to have
05:27that sense of what you want to do in the
05:29world to be selfish to build something
05:31for yourself and then be able to
05:34convince others to do the same and by
05:37showing them what to do we talk a lot in
05:40the valley we talk a lot in technology
05:43about one word and that word is
05:46disruption and this is disruption
05:51disruption is moving things around
05:53moving things scattering it around has
05:57no purpose has no vision has no values
06:02no leadership this is not what I want to
06:06do in the world this is not what I want
06:10to see more of in the world I want
06:12something with purpose I want something
06:14with direction I want something with
06:17thoughtfulness so instead of constantly
06:19talking about disruption I believe that
06:22we should talk and focus more on things
06:24like revolution revolution actually has
06:26shared purpose revolution has an idea it
06:29has values it has leadership at house
06:32direction it has something that people
06:34can see it has an end state that
06:36actually has a positive impact but most
06:38importantly it's a cohesive and and
06:41experience that people can really get
06:43behind and join and sometimes revolution
06:47thing and it's loud and it's violent
06:50sometimes revolution is silent and it
06:53moves just as much and move can move the
06:56entire world and just one image one
06:58action so revolution can also take on
07:03the power of you know the individual
07:05there was a someone I looked to all the
07:08time lived a very complicated life did a
07:10lot of great things but also did a lot
07:12of poor things but a very simple action
07:14of collecting salt created a revolution
07:18in the country that actually brought
07:20India back inspired people to take their
07:24own steps inspired people to think in
07:27their own way and to really question
07:29everything that was going on around them
07:32we talk a lot about disruption we don't
07:35talk enough about revolution we don't
07:37talk enough about values and purpose we
07:40talk a lot about founders we talk a lot
07:42about founding moments we put so much
07:44emphasis on the founding moment of a
07:47company the founding moment of an
07:49organization the founding moment of an
07:50idea and these are the rockstars and the
07:53organization's this is what everyone
07:55wants to be and I think that's actually
07:57not reality the great companies don't
08:00have just one founding moment they have
08:02multiple founding moments and just to
08:05show an example of this we would look at
08:06the United States this is one of my
08:08favorite paintings because it shows that
08:10these guys had a good idea but their
08:14best idea is captured in the phrase a
08:16more perfect union a more perfect union
08:19we did not get everything right today
08:22we're not going to get everything right
08:24right now others will come and they will
08:27finish the painting others will come and
08:28actually finish the organization in a
08:31way that we just can't predict we can't
08:33project right now in in fact they did
08:36weed people like Lincoln who completely
08:38changed how everyone thought about
08:43everyone thought about living in a
08:44United States of America had a
08:47significant impact and I would consider
08:49him a founding father of our nation of
08:52our ideas we had not just individuals
08:56but also movements like the woman
08:59completely questioning every single
09:01thing that we took for granted before
09:03having another founding moment that set
09:05the tone for the rest of the country and
09:07how the country would move forward
09:09JFK not only doing it in this country
09:12but also pushing us to explore outside
09:15of our planet itself and pushing
09:18ourselves to make sure that we're taking
09:21on significant engineering challenges
09:23we're really going beyond what we
09:25consider possible and that is what we
09:29always want to strive for in our
09:30companies is that we have multiple
09:32founding moments we don't have just one
09:34right a lot of people look at biz and F
09:38and myself and this Greendeer is the the
09:42founders of Twitter and then just stop
09:45but the thing is Twitter has had
09:48multiple founding moments throughout its
09:50we had one spark in 2006 we built and
09:55rebuilt sand built sand then we listened
09:56we listened to the people using the
09:58service and in fact a lot of what you
10:00see in Twitter today the app symbol the
10:03hashtag the retweet the the word tweet
10:07came from the people using the service
10:10there was not something that was
10:11invented by the company it's not
10:13something that was invented by any these
10:15guys up here we just made it easier
10:17because we were really good listeners we
10:20built a simple utility that anyone could
10:22come to and build their own social
10:24products on top of it and then use it in
10:27a way that made sense to them on a daily
10:29basis tweet by tweet by tweet and with
10:31every single thing that they did we were
10:33able to make that a little bit easier
10:36and make that with less friction and
10:38that increased the usage increased the
10:40conception of all the people who were
10:43going to use a service and going to use
10:45a system so the world certainly places a
10:51lot of attention on these founding
10:52moments but in fact you don't really
10:54need to start a company to have founding
10:57moments you don't need to start a
10:58company to actually take the company in
11:01a completely different direction and a
11:04lot of emphasis is also placed on the
11:06word entrepreneur someone who is thought
11:10to start something new
11:11but if you look at the definition
11:13of entreprenuer it's actually someone
11:15who just takes significant financial
11:17risk in order to create something in the
11:19world it doesn't say you need to start a
11:21company it doesn't say you need to be a
11:24CEO it doesn't say that you need to
11:26build a business says you need to take
11:28significant risk to build something new
11:30and the quote that kind of captures the
11:34way that I've always thought about
11:36building that picture that I want to see
11:38in the world is by Steve McQueen this is
11:41him in San Francisco he only had one
11:43really good quote that's worth
11:44remembering or or mentioning but is when
11:49I believe in something I fight like hell
11:51it's when I believe in something I fight
11:53like hell for it and that has been my
11:56life I've had a picture of what I wanted
12:00and I did whatever it took to make sure
12:03that it succeeded to make sure that it
12:06thrived in both company and in the case
12:09of both companies Twitter started
12:12because I had this fascination with
12:13cities I had this obsession with what
12:16was happening around the street corners
12:17in st. Louis Missouri that I wasn't
12:19present at and I had this obsession
12:21because my parents had always lived in
12:24the city they had a police scanner I
12:26could hear the police cars and the fire
12:28trucks and the ambulances roam around my
12:30city and my parents bought a Macintosh
12:33in 1984 when I was 8 years old and I was
12:35blown away by that and I decided that if
12:40I really wanted to see what was
12:42happening in the city I needed to make
12:43these maps that I was obsessed with move
12:45around and I could do that with the
12:47computer so therefore I had to learn how
12:49to program I never wanted to be a
12:51programmer I never wanted to be an
12:52engineer I just had to do it to see this
12:54idea or got in 14 I actually learned how
12:57to do enough where I could draw the map
12:59on the screen and I could draw some dots
13:01and I can move the dots around and I
13:03figured out how to constrain it within
13:04the streets which was a great day for me
13:07and then I would listen to these
13:09ambulances and there would be I'm at
13:11fifth and Broadway I'm going to st.
13:13John's mercy I have a patient and
13:14cardiac arrest I would type that into my
13:16program I could see the dot move and
13:19that would be an ambulance move in my
13:21city of Santos Missouri so suddenly I
13:23had this picture of the city was doing
13:25and I had added more and more data
13:27I figured out how to get into some
13:29databases that I could actually see some
13:31of these things myself and then I could
13:33put him in my program and then one day I
13:34realized that 16 that there's a whole
13:38industry around this it's called
13:39dispatch so I should find the biggest
13:42dispatch firm in the world and I should
13:45go work there because then I can see the
13:47entire city and I found one it was
13:49called dispatch Management Services in
13:51New York City they just got on public
13:53and I could not figure out how to
13:55contact them so I was by this time
13:57pretty good with computers very curious
14:00curious kid and I figured out that they
14:03had a hole in their system and I got
14:06into their system and I found their
14:08email address list for the entire
14:09corporation and I got the email for the
14:11CEO and I got the email for the chairman
14:13and I sent them in the amount said I'm a
14:16I'm jack you have a hole in your system
14:19here's how to fix it and by the way I
14:21write dispatch software and a week later
14:25I was hired and that was my resume so I
14:28moved out to New York City I dropped out
14:29of school for the first time I went to
14:32NYU I started working on the system I
14:36was loving it because I could see the
14:38entire city now we had taxi cabs we had
14:40black cars we had couriers we had
14:42emergency I could see swarms of taxi
14:44cabs going to the Met for an event it
14:47was just an amazing amazing thing
14:49somewhere along the line after that I
14:52then dropped out of NYU so I'm a double
14:56dropout which I don't think anyone else
14:57can claim in that in the dropout League
15:01I dropped out of NYU I went to San
15:06Francisco and we started a web-based
15:08dispatch firm the company was a complete
15:11and utter failure but the one thing that
15:14I did realize during my time there was I
15:16had all these verticals I could actually
15:19see the city in a very very interesting
15:21way but I was missing one key element
15:24and those were the people where were the
15:26people what were they doing and where
15:27were they what are they thinking and
15:29that's where the idea for Twitter came
15:31from 2001 I tried to build a system with
15:33my roommate 50 which was a little snub
15:36nose pager email pager
15:38I spent a weekend I wrote a simple
15:40could email it it would send an email
15:42out to all my friends that I listed out
15:44and I went out to Golden Gate Park I
15:46said I'm at the Bison paddock in Golden
15:48Gate Park typed in an email I went out
15:50to the service and I quickly learned two
15:52things first no one cared no one cared
15:56that I was at the Bison paddock and then
15:58second no one else had a blackberry so
16:00it was the completely wrong time and the
16:04wrong technology for this I put the idea
16:07on the Shelf in 2006 2005 2006 SMS got
16:11really big in this country because you
16:14could send a message from Verizon to
16:16singular which is the first time you
16:18could cross carriers because singular
16:20was GSM which was what SMS was built off
16:24of and then Verizon was CDMA and they
16:27had no way to talk to each other but in
16:292006 she actually could so it just
16:31became huge even though the rest of the
16:33world had it for 10 years and was using
16:35it very effectively for 10 years I just
16:37fell in love with the technology this is
16:39a technology that barely works but it's
16:42on every single device and once I saw
16:44that technology I said this is the time
16:47I was working at a the first company I
16:49they'd actually write a resume for which
16:51was oh do a podcasting company and I had
16:55not a care in the world about podcasting
16:58when I joined the company I also learned
16:59that no one else cared about podcasting
17:01at the company so the company had no
17:04direction it had no passion for what it
17:06was doing but had an amazing group of
17:08people including my two co-founders and
17:11they had started bloggers before and
17:14they had a sense of what text mediums
17:16could do so I could bring up this idea
17:18as a very simple idea and said can I
17:21have two weeks to work on it and they
17:22said yes and we built Twitter in two
17:24weeks and the first human written tweet
17:27is inviting co-workers which was
17:29inviting all my co-workers of the system
17:30and then two weeks after that we invited
17:32friends and then invite invite invite
17:34and I just has taken off ever since but
17:37a lot of what you see today hasn't
17:40really changed from those initial two
17:42weeks it's stayed fairly consistent but
17:44it's gotten better and better and better
17:46and more refined as we've learned from
17:49how people are using it and what they're
17:52in in 2008 at the end of 2008 I departed
17:57I switched roles with my co-founder of
18:00he was chairman Iowa CEO he became CEO I
18:04became chairman and I reconnected with
18:07my roots I reconnected with with where
18:11I'm from which is st. Louis Missouri and
18:12I met reconnected with my friend Jim
18:17McKelvey who was my first boss when I
18:20was 15 years old he was actually my
18:21second boss my first boss was my mother
18:23when I was 14 years old at her coffee
18:25store making cappuccinos for people who
18:28didn't know what really a cap chena was
18:30saying Santos was not that sophisticated
18:32at the time and I would make cappuccinos
18:34and I hated coffee and I would serve a
18:36cappuccino and give to someone they
18:38would say this is the best cappuccino
18:39I've ever had and I said really that's
18:41the first one I've ever made so I knew
18:45the bar was very low and I could only go
18:47up from there but Jim came in to my
18:51mother's coffee store and said you know
18:54anyone who loves computers works with
18:56computers and I said I did and I worked
19:01at his office that night and we just
19:04developed this great friendship I went
19:05back to st. Louis in 2008 for Christmas
19:08and we wanted to work together we wanted
19:10to do something together we didn't
19:12really know what we didn't know what to
19:14do together so he had an idea of like
19:16let's build an electronic car I said
19:18okay I have no idea how to do that but
19:20I'd really love to work with you on
19:21figuring it out and then we kept coming
19:25up with ideas and nothing was really
19:26sticking and then he called me in
19:28frustration when dang saying Jack I
19:31he's a glass artist Jack I just lost a
19:34sale because they couldn't accept a
19:36credit card and you know we both had
19:39these phones next to hers he's I phones
19:41and super computers that could do
19:43anything right next to our ears and we
19:45wondered like why was that so difficult
19:47why was it so difficult for Jim to
19:49accept a credit card and we took a month
19:52and we figured that one and that month
19:56was the answer to that question why and
19:59that month was the beginning of square
20:02since then we've realized what we're
20:05actually building and it's all around
20:07making commerce easy so with Twitter we
20:11made communication easy we simplified it
20:13down to its base essence we're square
20:16we want to make commerce just as easy
20:18and the interesting thing about
20:19communication and commerce is I don't
20:21really see a very large difference
20:24we were actually trading goods as a
20:28civilization before we're using language
20:30to speak with one another
20:32commerce actually was occurring before
20:34communication was occurring and
20:37communication has always been worked on
20:39to be more efficient and more free and
20:42more frictionless and easier simpler and
20:45you see that with Twitter and Instagram
20:47and Facebook and in vine today but
20:50commerce for whatever reason became more
20:53complicated and more abstract and more
20:55expensive and it departed from
20:58communication but when you really think
21:00about what commerce is it's not payments
21:02it's a simple activity between buyer and
21:05seller it's a simple exchange of value
21:08exchange of value is just communication
21:10so our mission at square is to make
21:13commerce as free as communication to
21:15make sure that it goes back to its
21:17natural state to make sure it goes back
21:19to something social something that is
21:21conversational and the way we started is
21:23we looked at the system and we realized
21:26that hey everyone in the world is paying
21:28with plastic now everyone is paying with
21:30credit cards are not paying with cash
21:32anymore they're not carrying their
21:33checkbooks around so you have all these
21:36people using these cards but you barely
21:38have anyone who can accept them no one
21:40can accept them for whatever reason we
21:42didn't really know what the reasons were
21:44but we found out we saw that people were
21:47not only charged for the hardware they
21:50were charged monthly they were charged a
21:53PCI fee they were charged a fee for the
21:56transaction they were charged a
21:58percentage fee which is called the
21:59interchange which is just this giant
22:01guessing game of things that you have to
22:03do and it took anywhere from a week to
22:07four weeks to even start accepting
22:10credit cards right so if the economy is
22:13moving to plastic and you can't
22:15participate as a small business as a
22:17medium-sized business or even as
22:19large business then how do you build
22:22your business up how do you remain
22:23relevant the answer is you can't so
22:25that's the problem that we wanted to
22:27solve immediately because Jim had that
22:30problem because we wanted him to be able
22:32to accept credit cards that was the
22:34picture initially and it was something
22:37that we could achieve we decided that we
22:39wanted to get it down to such simplicity
22:41that someone could download an app and
22:44start accepting credit cards download an
22:46app put in their name put in their
22:49mailing address we would send them a
22:50free credit card reader and they were in
22:52business so this is square you plug it
22:56into the phone and it's very simple and
22:58we actually were able to do that we
23:00actually were able to build the hardware
23:02girls a build the software and we did
23:05that in one month and this was the best
23:08company to pitch and demo in the world
23:10because I would go around to all my
23:12friends and to all these investors and
23:14say do you want to see my new product
23:16and they would say yes I would say well
23:19give me your credit card and they would
23:21say no and I would say well I'll show
23:23someone else then I would say ok and I
23:26would take anywhere from five dollars to
23:28$500 depending on who it was some people
23:32would give me a black Amex and you know
23:34exactly what I would do with that so we
23:36ate very very well in the early days of
23:38the company but the thing is like when
23:42people saw that when people saw that
23:43swipe they said Wow and the second time
23:47they said wow was when they signed on
23:49the screen with her finger and it seems
23:51very simple now it seems very obvious
23:53now but at the time it was seen as the
23:56superpower you just took money off my
23:58card I said yeah check your statement
24:01it'll say Jack Dorsey $500 and they
24:05brought up you know their Amex statement
24:07and they saw Jack Dorsey $500 and just
24:11an amazing feeling and then I would say
24:12see ya but it was a it was a great it
24:17was a great thing because you could
24:19actually like it you had this visceral
24:20reaction to something that you only see
24:23behind counters you only see behind
24:25barriers and now it was right in your
24:27pocket and it really resonated with not
24:30just individuals like Jim
24:33but also larger merchants and and folks
24:36who folks who are growing at the same
24:39time after we built the original credit
24:43card terminal we really looked and
24:44listened to our customers and how they
24:46were using the system and we realized
24:49that the following thing happened on
24:51most counters around the country this is
24:55what most mom-and-pop stores have in
24:58their businesses they have what's
25:00effectively a calculator on top of a
25:03cash box and then they have a credit
25:05card terminal if they accept credit
25:07cards which most don't right next to it
25:09and the interaction that happens for the
25:12buyer is this I walk into this store and
25:14I order a cappuccino and they find the
25:18cappuccino button and they press the
25:20cappuccino button the receipt pops out
25:22and says three dollars and 25 cents and
25:24I hand over my credit card and they look
25:27up and they groan or they sigh and I say
25:29okay I'm gonna take this type-in 324
25:32into the terminal into the machine right
25:35next to it they swipe the card another
25:38they give me that receipt to sign take
25:41that receipt back take the other receipt
25:43take a coffee card to staple that
25:44together give that to me and then I
25:46throw that away it's a come it's a
25:49complete waste and at the end of the day
25:52they don't have any information about
25:53what just happened all they have is how
25:56much they made the dollar amount if they
25:59try to figure out how many cappuccinos
26:00they sold during the day and they press
26:03the button like the report button the
26:04receipt starts flying out and at the end
26:07like the ink runs out so they can
26:09actually get the answer like the whole
26:10thing is terrible the way they count
26:12cappuccinos is actually the number of
26:14cups coming out of dishwashers right if
26:17they need to buy more inventory simple
26:19simple simple things like that allow you
26:22to make great decisions on how to build
26:24your business oh yeah allow you to make
26:26decisions whether you want to have a
26:28lifestyle company like my mother's
26:29coffee store she only wanted to have two
26:31employees or you want to build a global
26:33business like Howard Schultz all you
26:36need is data you need to be able to see
26:38what's happening in your business and
26:40this doesn't matter what scale you're at
26:42so the only way to really do this is not
26:46systems but to build one system and
26:48that's exactly what we recognized and
26:50exactly what we did and we built
26:52something called square register so took
26:55all the mess off put something in an
26:57iPad and there's some really important
26:59things that we realized in doing this
27:01number one is that merchants put all of
27:05this attention and craft into their
27:07aesthetic they they really build up
27:09their store and then they have to
27:11compromise at the counter they have to
27:13compromise at the payment system you
27:15know they're so proud of what they built
27:17and then they have to have this these
27:18ugly systems right on the counter and
27:20worse it's right before their customers
27:23like this is the thing that is in front
27:25of their customers when they walk in and
27:27there's a few folks who have realized
27:29how bad this is if you go to any luxury
27:32store you go to like a hermas or a Prada
27:35or armani and you buy something first of
27:38all you enter in this like weird
27:40universe where you can't really tell
27:42what time it is and everything looks
27:43magical and if you buy that you're going
27:45to be a completely different person if
27:47they were to put this on the counter
27:49that would completely bring people back
27:51to reality so what they do is if you buy
27:53a belt or you buy a tire you buy
27:55anything what they do is they say okay
27:57can I please have your credit card and
27:59they take your credit card and then they
28:01go off into the back room and they close
28:04the door and then they swipe the credit
28:06card and they print a receipt and then
28:07they put the receipt and this like
28:09beautiful leather envelope they come out
28:12and they say please sign it's like this
28:15head the heaviest pen you'll ever feel
28:16you sign it like oh my god this
28:18experience is so amazing why can't this
28:20happen all the time they closed it in
28:21one minute please and then they go back
28:23into the back room and then they take
28:25that receipt and they put it in the most
28:27expensive envelope you'll ever see and
28:30they take that out and they hand it with
28:32two hands and they give you that
28:33envelope but it's just a receipt in it
28:34it's a paper receipt but they've removed
28:37everything that looks mechanical they
28:39removed everything that looks like has
28:41friction to contain that experience and
28:44that actually builds loyalty it actually
28:48builds a desire to come back and to
28:50really continue to exist in this magical
28:53world that they created every single
28:55merchant in the world wants to do this
28:57they can't they don't have the
28:58infrastructure they don't have the
28:59basic simple things the other thing that
29:02we learned is that the folks who are
29:04using this iPad their two-year-olds are
29:06using the iPad in fact in many cases
29:08their two-year-olds are teaching them
29:09how to use the iPad right
29:11so if we use commodity hardware that
29:13people already know how to use people
29:15are already familiar with there's no
29:18it's just intuitive people spend 6 hours
29:20of their day behind one of these things
29:22right so a better well damn feel amazing
29:25and not something that is constantly
29:26complicating so we focused a lot of our
29:30energy on the merchants but again we
29:35were being quite selfish because we go
29:37to get coffee every day we go to have
29:38food at restaurants every day we go
29:40through all these commerce transactions
29:42that we love every single day and we
29:44have to put up with all this mechanical
29:46crap all the time so if we can fix this
29:49side of the counter we can actually
29:51improve the buyer experience our
29:53experience not all of us in the company
29:55are merchants barely anyone in the
29:57company is merchants is a merchant I
29:59hope they may be doing a site business
30:02I'm not sure but we we've always
30:05approached in this this very selfish way
30:07of let's let's improve the buyer
30:09experience because if you improve the
30:11buyer experience you'll have more buyers
30:12and that means more commerce for sellers
30:15that means more transactions for sellers
30:17but we can do even more so we built the
30:20credit card terminal then we realized we
30:22have to actually build a register to
30:24account for someone's entire business we
30:26have to give them great analytics so
30:27they can build their business up make
30:29simple decisions around it but we can do
30:31more than that we can actually improve
30:32the payment experience and we can make
30:35and I got in front of the company one
30:37day and I said I want us to build an
30:40experience where I can walk into a
30:42coffee store I can order a cappuccino I
30:44can take the cappuccino and I can walk
30:47out and on my way out I will wonder if I
30:49paid or not right it should feel that
30:52intuitive and it should disappear
30:53completely and the company came back
30:55three months later and built it and we
30:58called it square wallet and what it does
31:00is you have a consumer with a phone they
31:06download square wallet they link their
31:08credit card once and then you have all
31:11these merchants around
31:13and for your favorite merchants you can
31:14turn on hands-free payment and what that
31:17means is you put your phone in your
31:19pocket you keep your phone in your bag
31:21you leave your wallet at home
31:24you walk up to the merchants you walk
31:27into their store and as you walk in your
31:29name and your face appears on the
31:31register it says Jack is entering the
31:33store and it's likely that he's going to
31:35order a cappuccino because that's his
31:38favorite he gets it every single day so
31:39what the tool we just gave the merchant
31:42is that they can recognize you by name
31:44they can say hey Jack would you like
31:46your regular I'm like whoa how did you
31:48how did you do that how did you how did
31:50you know that this is what Starbucks did
31:53with their entire business they trained
31:54baristas to ask a very simple question
31:56how is your day going very very simple
32:00things and then the barista learns about
32:02that customer they recognize when they
32:03come back in that's what builds loyalty
32:05so every single merchants they use ask
32:08where has this tool where they can
32:10recognize their customers coming in they
32:11can say hey Jack and then all I have to
32:15do is say you know I'd like a cappuccino
32:17you can put it on Jack
32:19they hand me the cappuccino I walk out
32:22and as I'm walking out to ask me if I
32:24want to leave a tip or not right
32:26very very simple on my speed doing what
32:31I want to do I'm actually tipping the
32:32quality of the cappuccino I'm enjoying
32:34right now instead of someone's ability
32:35to enter in to a point-of-sale system
32:37and our merchants have seen a 22 percent
32:40increase in tips because of this very
32:42very simple thing but this is giving the
32:45merchants a tool to build natural
32:46loyalty they don't need coupons they
32:48don't need Groupons they don't need
32:49sales they just need a great product and
32:52they need to be able to recognize their
32:53customer and what this means it's not
32:55just at that place do I have this VIP
32:57experience but anywhere I go that's
33:00using square I can walk in and they know
33:02who I am and they know what I like and
33:04they can treat me like a VIP which means
33:07that I'm going to keep coming back there
33:08again and again and again because it
33:10feels like my place it feels like
33:12something I own and in fact it's another
33:15one of those superpowers it's another
33:17one of those things that when people see
33:19someone walk up to the counter and say
33:21like hey cappuccino please
33:23okay thanks for walking away like
33:26how'd that guy do that like who's he
33:28know who's he friends with I want to do
33:30that and those are the products those
33:32are the products we want to build these
33:34are the products that they give they
33:37give people these superpowers that they
33:38want to show off naturally Twitter was
33:41very very similar in that you can
33:43communicate with the entire world
33:45from wherever you are you could see what
33:47was happening in the entire world
33:48wherever you are it doesn't matter if
33:50you're in front of TV if you're out if
33:53you're in front of a computer all of
33:55that has the power to make you better
33:57and to give you a better experience and
33:59it's so great that people want to show
34:02it off and that's how products really
34:04really spread we think a lot about this
34:07you know this end-to-end experience and
34:10one of the things that we derive a lot
34:13of inspiration from is something that
34:15would find in our own area which is the
34:18Golden Gate Bridge something that we we
34:22have the opportunity to cross every now
34:24and then we really built the company
34:28around this very simple idea there's
34:30many many aspects of this bridge that I
34:32love but going back to something I said
34:34earlier it's not just the end product
34:37that was magical is also the way they
34:40built it if you look at just the end
34:42product for a minute what it is is it's
34:45a bridge it has one purpose it has one
34:48feature and that feature is it doesn't
34:50fall down that's all it has to do it
34:53just doesn't fall down right and most
34:56people who are crossing that bridge
34:58they're not thinking about oh is the
34:59bridge gonna fall down because they know
35:00bridge is probably not gonna fall down
35:02there's gonna be some people who are
35:04thinking of the bridge is gonna fall
35:05down and like why do I have to do this
35:07and it's gonna be an earthquake and you
35:09know the whole thing but they were
35:11actually they're actually protected from
35:12that so the bridges goal the bridges
35:15function is to get people from point A
35:17to point B and most of the commuters
35:19that go on this bridge every single day
35:21all they're thinking about is point B
35:23they're thinking about what's on the
35:25other side like what do I have to do at
35:26work today what's for dinner tonight
35:29like what what am i what are my kids
35:31going to say tonight like you know where
35:33am I going you know I'm going to this
35:35concert I can't wait to get there
35:36they're thinking about point B and
35:38they're thinking about point B so much
35:40that the bridge completely disappears
35:42they don't even notice it right it
35:45served its function it served its
35:46utility it's a utility that does it so
35:49well it's so intuitive that it
35:51disappears completely and that is
35:53magical that's a product those are
35:55products that I want to build things
35:56that are so intuitive and such a part of
35:58people's lives that they disappear when
36:01you're using them right and and that's
36:03how we think about square that's how we
36:04think about Twitter people come to
36:06Twitter for a very simple reason it's
36:08another A to B they want to get some
36:09information from someone or they want to
36:11communicate and share with the world
36:12with square they want to move money from
36:14one place to another or they want to
36:15build their business and our job in both
36:19cases is to make sure that it stays up
36:20100% of the time if we have any failures
36:23if we go down if we have any issues then
36:26we are putting ourselves and our issues
36:29in front of our customers and they're
36:31going to notice it they're going to
36:33start thinking about all the failures of
36:34the bridge they're going to start
36:35thinking about the failures of Twitter
36:37you're gonna start thinking about the
36:38failures of square instead of the
36:40reasons they came to us for so we wanted
36:43disappear disappear but the amazing
36:45thing about this bridge is if you
36:48actually do take a moment to notice it
36:49is absolutely breathtaking when you're
36:52coming down to Sausalito tunnels and you
36:53see the two towers rise above the city
36:55which is normally rising out of clouds
36:58because it's always foggy there and
36:59unlike here which is absolutely gorgeous
37:03it's breathtaking and it literally takes
37:06your breath away and you notice that
37:07it's not just a bridge that provides
37:09utility but it's something that's iconic
37:10it's something to be proud of it's
37:13something that everyone who worked on
37:15this bridge is immensely proud of so
37:17proud that they're their grandkids are
37:20proud of it today and that's one of the
37:23most amazing things about this bridge
37:24it's just the story of building it this
37:26is a bridge that is crossing one of the
37:29most tumultuous spans on the west coast
37:31it's this this area underneath the
37:35bridge that this area right here is
37:37about 60 feet deep underneath the bridge
37:39it goes down to 400 feet deep all the
37:42weather is forced right through this
37:43Golden Gate you have these high winds
37:45and you have earthquakes it's the last
37:48place on the planet you want to build a
37:50bridge 1.7 miles span
37:53across the Golden Gate and not only did
37:56they have the ambition and the audacity
37:58to cross this band and to build
38:01something that would last but they also
38:03had the audacity to make it beautiful
38:04something that people would be proud of
38:081300 people worked on this bridge 1300
38:11people they cost 1.3 million dollars
38:15which would be about I'm sorry 33
38:18million dollars which would be about 1.3
38:19billion dollars in today's money they
38:23gave themselves the goal of building it
38:25in five years they built it in three
38:27years in 1934 which is amazing and it
38:33just celebrated its 30 its 75th
38:36it's still up it's still it's still
38:39something that you know we we look at
38:41and we we wonder at and are proud of you
38:45contrast that with what's happening with
38:47the Bay Bridge right now the Bay Bridge
38:50has been working on by over two hundred
38:51thousand people this extension right
38:54it's not over a very tumultuous area
38:56it's pretty pretty simple
38:59it was completely manufactured in China
39:02shipped over here to be assembled the
39:05goal was originally about seven years
39:07it's been over 12 years now
39:10no one is proud of this bridge
39:13no one is proud of that huge amount of
39:16bureaucracy and and the teams and and
39:18all the mass and the resources it took
39:20so small teams can do really audacious
39:23amazing things if they have a vision for
39:27what they want to see they didn't just
39:28build this bridge and said well you know
39:30we need to we need to build a bridge
39:32across and we'll figure out what it
39:34looks like when we're building it we
39:38don't know where it's going but we'll
39:39figure it out no they had a specific
39:41vision of what that would look like and
39:43it wasn't just an engineer saying this
39:45is what's going to look like it wasn't
39:46just an architect saying this is what
39:48it's going to look like it's the pairing
39:50of the two if you give an engineer this
39:52job of building this bridge it would
39:54stay up 100% of the time but it wouldn't
39:56be something that anyone would want to
39:58remember if you gave an architect the
40:01same job it would be something that
40:02would look absolutely gorgeous but it
40:05wouldn't stand up no
40:06could use it right so it's this pairing
40:08between the two that actually creates
40:10something like this there justice
40:12absolutely stunning when you when you
40:15see it in person from every single angle
40:17so we want to build companies we want to
40:20build products we want to build ideas
40:23that have a timeless effortless value
40:28such as the Golden Gate Bridge something
40:30that we can look at and draw inspiration
40:32every single day but every company ever
40:35idea everything that we do has to have
40:38some sort of purpose it has to have the
40:41answer to the question why and and this
40:43is a question that I think is one of the
40:45most important to ask it's the easiest
40:47question asked which is why kids ask it
40:50all the time and it's the hardest
40:52question to answer which is why adults
40:54get so frustrated by answering the
40:56question but if you keep asking why you
40:59keep getting to the essence of what's
41:01most important and that is where it
41:04truly great ideas where truly great
41:06companies come from is the constant
41:08asking of this very very simple question
41:11getting deeper and deeper and deeper
41:13simpler and simpler and simpler into a
41:15great question but that's how you drive
41:17your your purpose and your vision
41:20there's this great quote by Bill Clinton
41:24which really speaks to Squares purpose
41:27and what we're trying to do in the world
41:28which is work is about more than making
41:30a living as vital as that is it's
41:33fundamental to human dignity to our
41:35sense of self-worth as useful
41:37independent free people so when I was
41:40starting square I was really nervous
41:42like how can we attract people to work
41:45on payments it is the least sexy thing
41:47in the world like no one wants to work
41:50on payments no one wants to even deal
41:51with it it's not something that people
41:53wake up and say oh my god I need to work
41:55on payments today I want to
41:56revolutionize payments like nobody says
41:59that but we can focus on what's really
42:03meaningful in payments and it's not and
42:05within the realization it's not about
42:06payments it's about the experience it's
42:08about that end to end it's about
42:10building something that allows more
42:12conversation happen it's about building
42:14something that fades away and disappears
42:16completely so people can focus on what's
42:18most meaningful to them
42:20so before we get into questions I
42:24thought I'd end a very simple founding
42:27story of my own which were at where I
42:30came from my father when he was 19 years
42:34old in st. Louis Missouri started pizza
42:38restaurant with his best friend and they
42:40called the pizza restaurant two nice
42:41guys and they were very nice guys
42:45my father didn't finished high school
42:46his best friend didn't finish high
42:48school they never went to college they
42:50just loved making pizza again they
42:51didn't wake up thinking I need to be a
42:53founder I want to be an entrepreneur
42:55they just loved making pizza they loved
42:58the delight on someone's face when they
43:00were enjoying what they made it's very
43:02very simple very pure and the business
43:05started doing really well because they
43:06put a lot of their heart into it and
43:08they they loved everything they did and
43:10they wanted to preserve their friendship
43:13and they wanted to preserve the sanctity
43:14of the business so they made one rule I
43:16had to hire waitstaff and their one rule
43:19was they would not date any other way
43:21stuff and the first person that hired
43:24was my mother and my father fell in love
43:29with this girl Marsha in a week and
43:33realized that oh my god and I'm about to
43:36break the rule so he went to his best
43:37friend he said I fell in love with this
43:40girl you can the business as yours I
43:43broke the rule and then I was born ten
43:45months later when I was my funding story
43:49so I thought I would end the speech and
43:52the start the questions keeping the baby
43:55picture up so that always takes the edge
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