Jim McKelvey

Best known for being the co-founder of one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups, Square, Jim McKelvey is a leading technologist, inventor, entrepreneur, artist, author and licensed pilot. Jim McKelvey’s payment device has changed the way we pay, and chances are you’ve seen a Square device before at a retail store or mobile food truck. The tiny square piece of plastic allows you accept wireless payments through credit/debit cards, smartphones or tablets. The business has become so successful that they now employ well over 600 people from all around the world.

However, Jim isn't just known for his venture with Square, he is also known for being a master glass artist and author, having written the world's most widely read text on glass art, The Art of Fire. At the start of his business career, Jim used his passion for glass art to develop the Third Degree Glass Factory, which is one of the America’s main centres of glassblowing arts. During his early career, the skilled entrepreneur had founded the Third Degree Glass Factory and Mira Digital Publishing.

Mira Digital Publishing specialises in digital technology, and was here that Jim offered the opportunity of an internship to a young programmer called Jack Dorsey. Under the encouragement of Jim McKelvey, Jack developed his programming skills and went on to create the social media platform, Twitter. Jim’s most recent venture is LaunchCode, a non-profit organisation that helps to set up paid apprenticeships in technology, making it possible for anyone to learn to programme and land a full-time job. Furthermore, in 2017, Jim was appointed as an Independent Director of the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

As an author of three highly regarded textbooks that are used in universities all around the globe, Jim himself also teaches at Washington University and lectures internationally on art and entrepreneurship. As a result of overseeing a number of his own diverse businesses, Jim is perfectly positioned to advise businesses, small or large, and corporate leaders on how to revolutionise your business, how to create a start-up business, future trends, technological benefits and setbacks, and problem solving. He can use his own personal experience and challenges he’s faced to provide a fresh outlook on the future of the business landscape and how to propel your business into success.