Jim McKelvey

Jim McKelvey
Born	(1965-10-19) October 19, 1965 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Residence	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Washington University in St. Louis
Occupation	Director of Square, Inc., Mira, Inc., LockerDome, Emerald Automotive, Calpian, Inc., Entrepreneur

Jim McKelvey (born October 19, 1965) is an American computer science engineer and businessperson who co-founded Square, a mobile payments company.

Early years

James Morgan (Jim) McKelvey, Jr., is the eldest son of Edith McKelvey and James Morgan McKelvey, Sr., former dean of engineering at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). McKelvey Jr. was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and is a Distinguished Alumni of Ladue Horton Watkins High School.^[1] He majored in economics and computer science at WUSTL where, as a freshman Economics major in 1984, he wrote and published a replacement for the computer programming textbook used in one of his classes.^[2] The book was a success, and at the age of 19 McKelvey signed a contract with a publisher for a second book, which became a bestseller.^[3] McKelvey spent his junior year abroad at the London School of Economics. After graduation, McKelvey worked at IBM's Los Angeles Scientific Center and was simultaneously a glassblowing instructor and founder of a CD cabinet manufacturing company.^[4]

Entrepreneurial work

Mira Digital Publishing

After his mother's sudden death a week before Christmas in 1989, he founded the Mira Corporation with college friend David Mitchell and focused his entire effort on it.. Mira developed one of the first PC document imaging systems, "Look", in 1991. The software had limited success and Mitchell left in 1992. Unable to compete with Adobe Acrobat, McKelvey successfully moved the company into tradeshow publishing until the advent of the Internet decimated that business in the mid-1990s. In 1995, with the assistance of one of Mira's summer interns, Jack Dorsey, McKelvey pivoted the company into conference publishing where it remains today. He left daily management at Mira in 2000, but remains its owner and Chairman.

Third Degree Glass Factory

McKelvey began blowing glass as a student at WUSTL and later studied briefly with master Lino Talgiapietra. In 2000 after giving a demonstration at WUSTL, he met Doug Auer and together they founded Third Degree Glass Factory^[5] in St. Louis.

In 2006, McKelvey wrote and published an instructional textbook for glassblowing,^[6] later translated into Norwegian.^[7] That same year, Third Degree hosted the world's largest conference for art glass, GAS 2006, and in preparation for this conference McKelvey designed and produced a line of all-glass faucets.

Though not originally intended for sale, the demand for the faucets eventually led McKelvey to form another company^[8] to sell them.

Square, Inc.

Partly in response to McKelvey's frustration at being unable to sell his glass faucets by credit card, Dorsey and McKelvey founded Square.^[9][10][11] McKelvey sits on the board of Square and served as its chairman until 2010. McKelvey designed the hardware used by Square in 2009.^[12] In 2011, McKelvey's iconic card reader design was inducted into the Museum of Modern Art.

Cultivation Capital

McKelvey teamed with St. Louis-based serial entrepreneurs Brian Matthews, Clifford Holekamp, Peter Esparrago and Rick Holton to found Cultivation Capital in 2012. Their venture capital firm manages three funds: an early stage tech fund, an early stage life sciences fund, and a series A growth fund.^[13]

Calpian, Inc. (MoneyOnMobile)

In May 2016, McKelvey joined the board of directors of Calpian, Inc.,^[14] which offers mobile money solutions through its Indian subsidiary MoneyOnMobile, enabling Indian people to pay for goods and services and transfer money to other persons via their mobile phones.

Affiliations

• Square, Inc. – Director, Co-Founder
• Mira, Inc. – Chairman, Co-Founder
• STL Programs, Inc. – Owner
• Third Degree, LLC – Co-Founder
• LockerDome^[15] – Director
• Arch Grants - Advisory Board
• Kabbage - Advisor
• Emerald Automotive^[16] - Director
• Cultivation Capital^[17] - General Partner
• SixThirty^[18] - Managing Director
• LaunchCode^[19] - Co-Founder
• Calpian, Inc.^[20] - Director
• McKelvey worked with Emerald Automotive.^[21]

Public Speaking

McKelvey is a frequent public speaker, lecturing on topics from art to entrepreneurship.

McKelvey shared his entrepreneurial philosophy on May 10, 2012, during Big Omaha 2012. The presentation describes a realization that he was "a mediocre IBM programmer" and how the death of his mother in 1988 compelled him to follow his passions. From digital publishing to glass blowing and through the invention of the foundational technology behind the Square Credit Card Reader in 2009, McKelvey walked attendees ultimately through the launch of a Silicon Valley startup.

On June 22, 2012, McKelvey spoke at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center event "Seeds of Change",^[22] on the subject of hacking solutions to what he described as St. Louis's most pressing challenges: retaining talent, attracting industry, and curbing crime.

McKelvey was profiled by CNN's The Next List, a weekly newsmagazine-style national television broadcast. The half-hour episode aired January 6, 2013.

McKelvey spoke at the University of Southern California on April 10, 2013 for Professor Belasco's Taking the Leap - The Entrepreneurial Mindset.

Philanthropy

McKelvey is an active philanthropist in the St. Louis area, including a donation of $15M to the Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science to build a new computer science and engineering building named after his father.^[4]

Non-profit work

LaunchCode

In September 2013, McKelvey conceived of and co-founded LaunchCode, a non-profit organization that aims to grow new talent and create pathways to on-the-job training and employment.^[23] LaunchCode partners with companies to set up paid apprenticeships in technology for talented people who lack the traditional credentials to land a good job.^[24] In 2014, LaunchCode was named "The Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis" by the St. Louis Riverfront Times.^[25]

References