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Jack Dorsey Built Square the Same Way Engineers Built the Golden Gate Bridge

By Jack Dorsey · Product & Building · 1 min read

A bridge has one job — get people from point A to point B and not fall down. When a bridge does its job well, it disappears. Some bridges are so well done they take your breath away.

Key Points

When a product does its job well, it disappears. Some are so well done they take your breath away.
Putting your problems before your customers is rude and selfish
The Golden Gate Bridge: 1,300 people, $33 million (under budget), 3 years (ahead of schedule), still standing 76 years later

If we have any confusing points, people are thinking about our problems instead of why they came to Square. That's rude and selfish.

The Bridge That Doesn't Disappear

Dorsey: Every time you come out of those Sausalito tunnels, the Golden Gate Bridge takes your breath away. A bridge has one job — get people from point A to point B and not fall down.

When a bridge does its job very well, it disappears — most people are just thinking about point B. Some bridges are so well done and so stunning that they take your breath away. They don't disappear. It's a joy and a delight to go from point A to point B.

Most bridges disappear. Some are so well done they take your breath away.

Square Is a Money Bridge

Dorsey: We think about Square in very similar ways. We also have a mission of getting money from point A to point B. If we go down, if we have any confusing points, if we have any issues — people are thinking about our issues, our problems, instead of why they came to Square, which is to transact. To sell or to buy.

If we're doing that, we're putting our problems before our customers. And that's just rude and selfish. We don't want to be rude or selfish in the world.

Putting our problems before our customers is rude and selfish. We don't want to be rude or selfish.

The Audacity of 1,300 People

Dorsey: The other thing that's amazing is not just the audacity of building this bridge in the first place — starting in 1933 — but how they built it. 1,300 people. Very small team. $33 million of 1934 money — under budget. They were expecting $50 million. Built in 3 years — they were expecting 5.

Under budget. Ahead of time. Only 1,300 people. The power of small teams is immense. This bridge has stood for 76 years and is iconic. Whenever someone says San Francisco, people think about this bridge — no matter where you are in the world.

Under budget. Ahead of time. 1,300 people. The power of small teams is immense.

Can We Build Technology Like That?

Dorsey: Can we build technologies like that? Technologies that are so iconic, so instrumental, that have such an important job in the world — that people remember them, spread them, talk about them?

Can we build technologies so iconic that people remember them, spread them, talk about them?