9781422287231 Twitter®: How Jack Dorsey Changed the Way We Communicate

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Invent ing Square

Jack’s idea for Square would help artists take credit cards when selling their art at art festivals and craft fairs, but many other small business people would be able to benefit from Jack’s next big idea as well.

at an art fair, and he couldn’t sell a piece of glass because he couldn’t accept a credit card. So, that was $2,000 lost, and he just got fed up with that. He came out to San Francisco that next week and we spent the week trying to figure out why no one has done this before.” Progress on Square started out slow. Jack and Jim had a simple idea of what it would be, and it was all based on Jim’s experience as a small merchant. If Jim were able to accept credit card information while work- ing at the art fair, he wouldn’t have lost the $2,000 sale. That was the problem the two men worked to solve. “It was a way to accept credit cards on your phone. That’s all we knew,” Jack said.