The Invention Stack: Harvesting And Protecting Intellectual Property

Introduction

In his book The Innovation Stack, Jim McKelvey describes going "'nose-to-toe' against the world's most dangerous company" and surviving. McKelvey, who co-founded Square with Jack Dorsey in 2009, recalls Amazon copying Square's product and undercutting its pricing. But after about six years, Amazon discontinued its competing product – and even mailed a Square card reader to its former customers. Naturally, this raised questions. Why did Amazon discontinue its competing product? Why did Square survive the Amazon threat?

After reflecting for three years on what Square had done and why it worked against Amazon, McKelvey noticed a pattern. This pattern often appears in businesses whose aim is to "square up" bringing fairness to a previously unfair system." Squaring up, righting a wrong, driven by a survival instinct, forces creativity and sparks a series of interlocking inventions, which he calls the "Innovation Stack."