
Interview. Billionaire Square (Block) Cofounder Jim McKelvey on Competing Against Amazon
From The Synopsis by Drew Cohen
March 12, 2026 · 44 min · Episode 143
About this episode
Jim McKelvey discusses his experiences competing against Amazon and shares insights from his book 'The Innovation Stack'.
In this exceptional interview, we talk to Cofounder of Square (Block) Jim McKelvey on competing against Amazon. From his time at Square, he saw how they were able to outcompete Amazon and he wasn't sure how that was possible given their superior resources, merchant network, and large base of talented employees. After better understanding how that was possible, he wrote a book on his insights called "The Innovation Stack". In this interview we touch on some of his key learnings, as well as talk about why it is so hard to copy some businesses. **Purchase Jim's Book, The Innovation Stack, Here AlphaSense has a repository of over 200k expert call transcripts that are similar to this conversation. Sign-up for access here . *~*~*~*~* Get access to all of Speedwell Research's in-depth Research Reports here. If you need help getting Speedwell added as an approved research vendor for your investment firm, please reach out to info@speedwellresearch.com -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Show Notes (0:00) — Amazon vs Square (13:22) — Why Amazon Quit Against Square (24:58) — Southwest (37:33) — Copying a Companies Innovation Stack (40:53) — Advice to Build a Business -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Become a…
People in this episode
Host: Drew Cohen
Guest: Jim McKelvey
Topics covered
- business competition
- innovation
- entrepreneurship
- Amazon
- Square
- business strategy
Keywords
- Jim McKelvey
- Square
- Amazon
- The Innovation Stack
- business competition
- entrepreneurship
- innovation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Square, Amazon, AlphaSense, Speedwell Research
Books & works: The Innovation Stack
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