Jim McKelvey co-founded Square and built its white card reader, giving him rare hands-on hardware experience among venture investors, and he developed the Innovation Stack framework that focuses on how defensible companies emerge from interlocking innovations rather than single features. Before his fintech success, he built a glassblowing studio and still identifies as an artist, which shapes his creative approach to investing at FINTOP Capital where he champions building great companies outside traditional coastal tech hubs.