David McDaniel

James is une of Silicon Valleys foremost experts in growth and network effects. Hes a four-time serial entrepreneur. He is also a pioneer of user-generated models, viral marketing, a/b testing, crowdsourcing, and myriad other growth techniques now followed by nearly all technology companies. Because of his expertise in these critical areas of company growth, hes been fortunate to invest in, advise, and mentor many of technologys definitive startups, and has revolutionized the trajectory of todays leading internet companies. James is a growth junkie with an uncanny eye for what it takes to succeed. He has been investing before or alongside firms like Sequoia, Greylock, CRV, A16z, First Round, Mayfield, Shasta, and GGV. Before becoming an investor, James co-founded one of the internets first successful user-generated companies, Tickle, in 1999 and served as CEO. Under James leadership, Tickle grew to become the 18th largest website in the world with over 150 million registered users, and was acquired in 2004 by Monster for $110 million. It was during this time he realized the power of network effects as the core growth driver of both B2B and B2C successes across every vertical. James then co-founded three other successful companies Wonderhill (online video games, merged with Kabam in 2010 which then sold for $800M), IronPearl (growth analytics SaaS, acquired by PayPal in 2013), and Jiff (enterprise healthcare software, raised $68M from Venrock, GE, J&J, merged with Castlight in 2017- NASDAQ: CSLT). A lifelong learner and developer of talent, James loves sharing wisdom among founders. He speaks regularly at numerous industry conferences. Hes also been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, LA Times, Silicon Valley Business Journal, etc.