Editor’s note: On Sept. 25 Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square, visited campus at the invitation of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club to speak about his experiences as a tech entrepreneur. As an homage to Twitter, PAW blog contributor Gavin Schlissel ’13 covered the event in a series of 140-characters-or-less observations and quotations.
Walking in the door, 15 minutes to showtime. Greeter thrusts brand new, free “Square” into my hand
10 minutes to showtime: “hello! im @jack” on the projector, “Beautiful day” on the surround sound
The event is hosted by @princetoneclub — the group also hosts hackathons on campus & leads trips to Silicon Valley
Are we here to see him or vice versa? @Square marketing team showed up in force
Dorsey ( @jack ) steps out into wing, gray sport coat with one button buttoned … He looks like he’s done this before
.@jack panders to @Princeton “one of the most beautiful campuses I’ve ever seen” #true
Completely packed house — I’ve never seen McCosh 10 this full or this quiet. Dean Dunne, President Tilghman on hand
Setting the context for the talk: it’s going to be about “how do we change something that affects every single person on earth?” >>
<< @jack has done this twice >>
<< First by untethering people from mass media (Twitter) then by delivering merchants from archaic credit-card policies (Square).
.@jack : creativity is an ongoing process. Projector shows an unfinished painting—a heavy-handed metaphor but fitting and well-received
.@jack : “An idea that changes the course of the company can come from anywhere.” Companies should embrace new ideas.
Dorsey borrows Steve Jobs’ phrase about the culture of continuing innovation: “It has to be built into the DNA of the company”
Motivation for square: credit card payment should be easier: “The industry that created it has not innovated at all” in 60+ years.
.@jack breaks down credit cards: merchants pay 3-7% on transactions to cover credit card fees that just fund reward programs
Square philosophy: buying things should be really easy: “It feels like stealing... it feels really great. Not that stealing is great...”
Square pitch: de-clutter mom and pop stores — eliminate “cash drawer with a calculator on top” and that pesky card swiper
The app even asks you if you’d like to tip — merchants have seen an increase in tips
Best sell I’ve heard yet: Square enables merchants to track sales of different products; powerful new analytics available
.@jack : “We're not just building a utility, we’re building a beautiful utility”
Forum opens up to questions, Dorsey asks for ideas for how commerce can be easier. First Q: What about Google wallet?
Square wants to be more than a payment device — wants to be a source for information and service for commerce
If I may editorialize... It seems like startups love to ascribe their success to little, idiosyncratic things >>
<< At Square they push in chairs every night and hold meetings at standing desks, keys to their success. Post hoc ergo propter hoc?
Audience question: how do you settle on a name and a brand identity?
.@jack said the name was gold once they found it: "town square... square up... fair and square... oh my god this is perfect”
Closing: @jack says the best businesses are receptive to their customers and don’t resist good ideas >>
<< #hashtags, @ signs & RTs, even the word ‘tweet’, came from users. Twitter just listened to its base. They did the hard work.
Square is hitting it big: "We are the first result on Google... we are before the Wikipedia article for the actual shape, square.”
