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Author(s)

Sarit Markovich

Evan Meagher

Anirudh Parasher Malkani

Andrew Tseng

Founded in San Francisco in 2009, Square finished 2012 as the darling of Silicon Valley; flush with more than $340 million in funding, the firm had grown to several hundred employees in just three short years. It processed more than $10 billion annually in credit and debit card payments from small business owners that used Square’s smartphone-enabled card swipe device wherever cellular or wireless Internet service was available.

However, Square’s success had attracted new entrants into the mobile payments processing space, both in the United States and abroad, threatening to derail the company’s remarkable trajectory. With its latest financing round valuing the company in excess of $3.4 billion, management and investors were considering which strategies would continue—even accelerate—the company’s growth.

Date Published: 02/19/2014
Discipline: Strategy
Key Concepts: Business Marketing, Business Plans, Competition, Competitive Strategy, Decision Making, Growth Strategy, Market Analysis, Product Development, Strategic Planning
Citations: Markovich, Sarit, Evan Meagher, Anirudh Parasher Malkani, Andrew Tseng. Hip to be Square: Disruption in the U.S. Mobile Payment Market. 5-213-251 (KEL792).