The Innovation Stack

A great book on how to develop an eye for the patterns that help startups succeed. Square's origins are discussed, but the book is not about Square. A fun read and lots of mind fodder.

This wasn't in the book, but while reading it I was thinking about how Jim McKelvey is another great example of how the most creative, successful people intentionally indulge in their wide array of interests. There are some attempts at names for these people lately: multi-potentialite, multi-passionate entrepreneurs, etc. (I am one). Because creativity is simply linking ideas, seemingly unrelated activities actually make one more creative and end up benefitting ALL THE THINGS. Jim is a glass-blower, who cofounded Square, founded LaunchCode, is a coder/engineer, there was a mention of a book publishing company in there somewhere, now he's an author, and I mean, the guy hand-built the prototype for the first Square card reader. If it looks like someone is really good at one thing, it's highly likely they're good at lots of other things. I love seeing this.

Side note: if the idea of that interests you, Range by David Epstein is also a great book.

The main takeaway for me from this book is that it's difficult for competitors to beat your trailblazing product/service if your company exists of a full-fledged Innovation Stack that on its individual merits may be easy to copy, but as a whole is much more difficult to replicate. Other than that, nothing new under the sun with this book. It could've easily fitted in a well-penned essay.