Insights and information on the business of media, marketing, advertising and entertainment through personal conversations between senior executives and marketing executive host, E.B. Moss. From the competition in creating television, best practices in audience targeting and research, and trends in voice and audio, to outdoor, retail and everything in between: Insider interviews draw out the leaders and the lessons.
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Insights and information on the business of media, marketing, advertising and entertainment through personal conversations between senior executives and marketing executive host, E.B. Moss. From the competition in creating television, best practices in audience targeting and research, and trends in voice and audio, to outdoor, retail and everything in between: Insider interviews draw out the leaders and the lessons.
Host E.B. Moss interviews "polymath" Jim McKelvey, who, with Jack Dorsey, turned a simple frustration with credit card processing into Square – the company that revolutionized mobile payments and upset the Amazon apple cart. But McKelvey's story gets way more interesting from there.
As he describes himself: "I’m a guy that’s had no focus for 30 years. I was a professional glass artist. I am a transport category pilot. I’m a glass artist with industrial designs in MoMA and the Smithsonian. I’m a computer scientist. I was on the Federal Reserve and used to vote on interest rates. That was fun. I started Square, which we now call Block, and built the hardware for it. I have started a bunch of other companies. But look, it’s a mess. Basically what I do is I build tools.
McKelvey reveals how he predicted (in his book, "The Innovation Stack") a Southwest Airlines years in advance, explains how frustration becomes his greatest innovation fuel, such as what motivatived his latest ventures: PwrScore, an AI-powered brand compatibility tool he's giving away completely free. Learn what motivates data capture these days and how he's applying that at Invisibly. And, how he's walking the pro-social talk with his work on biodegradable diapers that could eliminate billions of pieces of thousand-year plastic waste.
"Diapers last for a thousand years and they become these horrible microplastics that are bad for the world, and I just thought it could be possible to do it without plastic. So I've been working on it for five years with a team. We're this close to a breakthrough..."
Listeners will discover McKelvey's methodology for building products that resonate deeply with audiences, his insights on brand compatibility and association risks (including lessons from major corporate failures), and details how to access PwrScore for measuring brand resonance for free. Speaking of free, McKelvey also shares his remarkable commitment to philanthropy, having taken the giving pledge to donate his entire fortune while continuing to pursue high-impact, pro-social innovations.
Learn why A.P. Gianini (founder of Bank of America) is one of McKelvey's heroes, and how he is most happy taking to the sky... This is an incredibly inspiring conversation.
NOTE: This episode is part of a special series featuring Eddie & Ozzie Award winners being inducted into the Folio: Legends Hall of Fame in October 2025. The common thread among these industry legends? Each has reinvented themselves or their company in extraordinary ways. Watch for upcoming episodes with Neil Vogel, David Adler, and other Hall of Fame inductees.
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Insider Interviews with E.B. Moss
Insights and information on the business of media, marketing, advertising and entertainment through personal conversations between senior executives and marketing executive host, E.B. Moss. From the competition in creating television, best practices in audience targeting and research, and trends in voice and audio, to outdoor, retail and everything in between: Insider interviews draw out the leaders and the lessons.
