From an idea to a $38B business, the early stories of Square - Sam Wen (Co-founder of Square, Partner at Green Visor Capital) - S2 Ep18

Welcome to this new episode of Explore! 😎Thank you for your continuous support, I wanted to let you know that the best way to send me some love is to give a 5 stars review ✨ on Spotify/Apple podcast. Thank you OpenVC for keeping this content free for our listeners. OpenVC is a fundraising platform used by 10,000 founders and 5,000 investors. You can use the code: "EXPLORE” to upgrade to OpenVC Premium and get a 20% discount. 📈🔥In this episode I sit down with Sam Wen, a partner at Green Visor Capital and co-founder of Square (a $38B company). You’re probably using Square’s product on a daily basis without knowing it. Square is used by 56 million users that pays with their credit card at small merchants and Starbucks shops. It is this small device that once used the iPhone headphone jack to read credit card and that became this fintech with all sort of payment devices. Look no further than a small grey Square on the payment device next time you go to a shop. This is Square.Square was co-founded in part by Jack Dorsey (the founder of Twitter), Jim McKelvey, and Sam Wen (our guest today on the show). In this episode Sam delve into the early days of building Square. Sam shares the inspiration behind creating a simple credit card reader using a smartphone headphone jack and discusses the challenges and triumphs of the startup journey. We talked about the influence of co-founders Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, and the meticulous attention to product quality that has defined Square's success. We discussed competing against Amazon and being copied by PayPal, alongside their legal challenges and fast growth. This episode offers a rich narrative on innovation, persistence, and building a game-changing fintech company.🚀Founders - this is the story behind the most successful fintech! 📈Have a great episode! Listen on 🟢Spotify or on 🟣Apple Podcast.Learn more about Explore: ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠. Learn more about ⁠⁠⁠Sam, and Green Visor.Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction and Guest Background01:20 Early Career and University Days02:45 First Job at Boeing05:20 Transition to Square09:31 Founding Square and Early Challenges14:40 Square's Product Development28:48 Fundraising and Market Strategy39:39 Competing in the Payment Industry41:53 Driven by Design: The Early Days of Square42:19 Competing with Giants: Amazon and PayPal43:03 The Simplicity of Square's Hardware45:03 Square's Legal Challenges and Industry Impact46:27 The Philosophy Behind Square's Product Development54:15 Square's Partnership with Starbucks55:48 The Intensity of Working at Square58:21 Reflecting on the Square Journey01:01:44 Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateventuresvco2.substack.com