1 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Square gives the credit card terminal an upgrade. My interview 2 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,240 Speaker 1: with CEO Jack Dorsey. What's going on? I'm Rich Damiro. 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: This is Rich on Tech. Just how crazy is the 4 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: current state of payment affairs in our country right now? 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 2: Think about it. 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: We just went through the whole chip and dip thing. 7 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: Now we're getting into mobile payments, and when you go 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: into a business, you have no idea what payment method 9 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: they are going to accept. Personally, I would love to 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: ditch my wallet and only use mobile payments, but you 11 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: never know if they're going to take it. And even 12 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: the newest credit card terminals are still pretty bad. They 13 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: seem to be designed by someone who never has to 14 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: use one. The screen is tiny, you can't even tell 15 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: what it's asking you to do. 16 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 2: So enter Square. 17 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: This is the company that revolutionized payments by allowing anyone 18 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: to accept a credit card in seconds, thanks to that 19 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: tiny reader that you plugged into your phone. 20 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, we saw this nine years ago with a very 21 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 3: simple purpose, which was we saw sellers missing sales because 22 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 3: they couldn't accept credit cards, and we realized pretty early 23 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 3: on it just wasn't about building a credit card reader, 24 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 3: it was actually helping them make the sale in the 25 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 3: first place, and we've grown a business around helping them 26 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 3: not only make that sale, but ideally helping them make 27 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 3: more sales as well. 28 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: That's Square founder and CEO Jack Dorsey. Recently I met 29 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: up with him in San Francisco, and if his name 30 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: sounds familiar, that's because he's also the guy who started Twitter. 31 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: We checked out some shops using Square hardware along hate Ashbury, 32 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: which is a trendy section of town. 33 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 3: Our philosophy has always been it doesn't matter what device 34 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 3: comes across the counter, you should always be set up 35 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 3: to make the sale. So if someone wants to pay 36 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 3: with their watch, or their phone, or their chip card 37 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 3: or swiping their old MasterCard, they can do it. You 38 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 3: don't have to think about it. It's really in the 39 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 3: pay it's in the your customer's hand, the payer's hand, 40 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 3: and we just need to make sure that we're building 41 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 3: something for a seller where they don't have to think 42 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 3: about it at all. 43 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: And that's what they hope to accomplish with their latest device. 44 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: It's called Square Terminal and that credit card swipey thing 45 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: that you know but don't love, but it is so 46 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: much better than what we have right now. 47 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 3: Terminal is uh is the launch I'm most excited about. 48 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 3: It's just not only something that you see everywhere. You 49 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 3: see those little rectangular h black boxes that look like 50 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 3: they barely work, and they have these grungy keypads, and 51 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 3: you don't want to touch the thing, but you have 52 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 3: to touch the thing because I swipe your credit card 53 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 3: and it's always yelling at you too. It's always yelling 54 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 3: at you. It's screaming at you. It's kind of terrible, 55 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 3: but like it's you know, it results. It's a culmination 56 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 3: of our understanding of like how to build hardware and 57 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 3: build software that work together that it is intuitive that 58 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 3: you can just pick it up and start using it. 59 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: Terminal looks like an iPhone that's in a permanent white 60 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: plastic housing. It's wireless, it's Wi Fi enabled, you charge 61 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: it up, and it accepts all the ways that we 62 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: want to pay, whether you want to swim your card, 63 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: whether you want to dip your card, or whether you 64 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: want to tap to pay using mobile pay from Google, 65 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: Samsung or Apple. 66 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,519 Speaker 3: It's something we're really proud of because we hope to 67 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 3: replace all those big and small black boxes on the 68 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 3: counter that people feel like it's a burden and they 69 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 3: have to put up with instead of enjoying using so 70 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 3: that you know, my favorite question ask a seller is 71 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 3: just how does this make you feel? That's what that's 72 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 3: what we're trying to build is like how does this 73 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 3: thing make you feel? And if it makes them feel great, 74 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 3: if it makes them feel empowered, if it makes them 75 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 3: feel like they can sell more and they can treat 76 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 3: their customers better than awesome if it if it doesn't 77 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 3: come back positive, then way of work to do. 78 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 2: Terminal is really fast. Plus it's flexible. 79 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: It can hang out on a counter, but since it's wireless, 80 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: it can also be brought anywhere customers want to pay, 81 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: like table side. And one of the businesses that I 82 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: spoke to that tested the terminal told me the battery 83 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: easily lasts the entire day. 84 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 3: This is a great use case on the countertop here. 85 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 3: But you know, we have a lot of restaurants who 86 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 3: are now going to the table and saying, you know, 87 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 3: it's gonna be you know, fifteen dollars and you swipe 88 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 3: your card or you tap your watch, or you know, 89 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 3: you tap your phone, and you operate the whole thing. 90 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 3: And then I take it back and I go to 91 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 3: the next table, So it is super flexible for whatever 92 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,039 Speaker 3: a seller needs to do. And that was by design. 93 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: And yes, if you still like an old school receipt 94 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,799 Speaker 1: what some of us need, there is a printer built 95 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 1: in as well. 96 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 3: Try to emphasize digital and going to a phone number 97 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 3: and email address, but you know, sometimes you put one paper. 98 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 3: It's important. 99 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: After seeing terminal inaction at a busy hair salon, we 100 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: decided to head to a record shop, which to me 101 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: is the quintessential small business. Jack picked out some Marvin 102 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: Gay then paid with his preferred choice, tapping his Apple 103 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: Watch to the Square terminal reader and paying with Apple Pay. 104 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 3: We believe a small business's key to any community. It 105 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 3: provides a fabric and a support network that I think 106 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 3: helps residential neighborhood as well. So anytime you have a 107 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 3: place to walk, place to hang out, place to think, 108 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 3: it's it's much more attractive place to live. And it's 109 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 3: also often these places that are the the meeting points 110 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 3: where we you know, converse and debate and have conversations 111 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 3: and move everything forward. So the critical part of our 112 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 3: society and anything that we can do to help enable 113 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 3: them to participate more fully in the economy work. We're 114 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 3: down for now. 115 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: If I ever started a small business, I would love 116 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: to use the stuff that Square offers. And since Jack 117 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: is an entrepreneur and CEO of two companies at the 118 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: same time, I was curious to hear his thoughts on entrepreneurship. 119 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 3: You definitely have to be a hustler of sorts and 120 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 3: you know, do whatever it takes to make it work. 121 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:54,359 Speaker 3: And I love that attitude. It's an entrepreneurial attitude. But 122 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 3: I hope that you know, our our hardware and our 123 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 3: software takes a little bit of the burden off. One 124 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 3: last thing you have to think about, because you should 125 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,720 Speaker 3: never really have to think about making the sale. You 126 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 3: should think about the creativity and the soul that you 127 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 3: put into your place or your experience, and how you 128 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 3: treat your customers and how you hire folks to help 129 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,720 Speaker 3: and you know what that means, and what you might 130 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 3: want to do for the broader community outside of your 131 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 3: own location. That's what you should be thinking about. You 132 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 3: shouldn't be thinking about how does my terminal work. 133 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: Talking to the Square folks about the other way of 134 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: accepting plastics sounds like it's a very complicated process with 135 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,159 Speaker 1: lots of contracts, equipment costs, and negotiations, which is probably 136 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: why we see such a mess when it comes to 137 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: what businesses decide to accept or not accept. Sometimes you 138 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: only take certain cards, others ask for minimum charges when 139 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: using a credit card, or other businesses just don't accept 140 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: cards at all. 141 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:51,919 Speaker 3: That's the key insight we had is like more and 142 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 3: more payments, we're moving away from paper cash to a 143 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 3: credit card, and the credit card industry was leaving merchants 144 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 3: out because they wouldn't I actually allow them to accept 145 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 3: them in the first place, because they had to go 146 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 3: through a credit check process to do that. And a 147 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 3: lot of people who are just getting started have bad 148 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 3: credit or don't have much of a credit card record 149 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 3: at all. Like when we started Square, I was in 150 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 3: a credit card debt. I had terrible credit, so I 151 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 3: would not be allowed to start a small business. So 152 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 3: that's what we faced and just solving that problem, in 153 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 3: addition to building the hardware on the software, is what 154 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 3: made us valuable to people. 155 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 2: Square Terminal is available now. 156 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: It's four hundred dollars or ninety nine dollars if you've 157 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 1: never had a Square account. After a three hundred dollars 158 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: processing credit you pay two point six percent of transactions 159 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: plus ten cents per transaction. If you have a small business, 160 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: I highly recommend you take a look at what Square offers. Personally, 161 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: as a consumer, I love seeing Square at small businesses. 162 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: It's such a pleasure to use, and from a technology standpoint, 163 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: it just seems like a step in the right direction. 164 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. 165 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: If you enjoy this, please subscribe on your preferred podcasting app, 166 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: and please tell your friends. 167 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 2: That's the best way we're gonna grow here. I'm Rich Damiro. 168 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: If you want to watch my TV segment with Jack Dorsey, 169 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: you can go to my website Rich on tech dot tv, 170 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:15,679 Speaker 1: or check the show notes. 171 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 2: I'm Rich Demiro. I'll talk to you real soon.