Episode 43: The Square IPO

Unicorns and ratchets and lawsuits, oh my! Our heroes dive into
the history of Jack Dorsey’s famous “other” company, Square. Was
the Square IPO a canary in the coal mine signaling doom &
gloom for the so-called unicorn companies of the early 2010’s, or
a mispriced and misunderstood diamond in the rough? Acquired
weighs in.


Sponsors:


WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25

Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry

Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25






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Topics Covered Include:


Square’s deep origins in the early 90’s in St. Louis, MO with
the initial meeting of its co-founders, Jack Dorsey & Jim
McKelvey

McKelvey’s side glass blowing business and the “inspiration”
for Square that came much later in the late 2000’s

The complicated involvement of Washington University (in St.
Louis) professor Robert Morley, who had worked for years
developing payment card reading technology

The company’s early meeting with Scott Forstall at Apple, and
its “significant” impact on the its name and design

The real disruptive innovation of Square and its business
model (hint: not just building a mobile card reader)

Square’s massive payments deal with Starbucks in 2012 and its
impact on the company

The evolution of Square’s business from a simple card reader
to cloud-based Point of Sale (PoS) system and entire suite of
merchant tools & business management services

The drama leading up to Square’s IPO (including at Jack
Dorsey’s “other” company, Twitter), dynamics and narratives
affecting its pricing, the effect of IPO “ratchets”, and the
company’s performance over the ~2 years since 



The Carve Out:


David: Bob Iger on Nick Bilton’s  Inside the Hive
podcast

Ben:  The World After Capital on GitBooks