A Greylock partner since 2006, James currently sits on the board of companies including GoFundMe (crowdfunding), Grand Rounds (health care navigation), Lyra Health (mental health care), Redfin (residential real estate) and Solv (convenient health care).
“While there’s increasing concern and skepticism about the impact of technology on society, I meet more and more technology company founders who are genuinely motivated to make a positive and lasting impact on the world. I love working with entrepreneurs who have deep intrinsic motivation, are relentlessly driven, infinite learners, and are all-in on building enduring and important companies.”
James has partnered with company founders at their earliest stages and helped them scale to hundreds of millions of annual revenue. For example, TellApart grew from a startup incubated in Greylock’s offices to an acquisition by Twitter for more than $500 million. He’s been on the Board of Redfin for the past decade through their IPO, as the company has grown from $10 million to $800m in annual revenue. He’s also been on the Board of companies that have been acquired by Adobe, Discovery Communications, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo!.
Prior to Greylock, James worked at Yahoo!, where he was a VP/GM in the Search and Marketplace business unit. Previously, he worked in product and operating roles in several early-stage consumer technology companies including Drugstore.com (acquired by Walgreens), Guru (acquired by Unicru) and Wired (acquired by Conde Nast).
“As a board member, I’m focused on building deep, trusted relationships with the CEOs and management teams I work with, and being there for them at any time. I try to be a steadying influence through the ups and downs of the startup journey, and to step up with help and advice based on what’s most needed and impactful” said James.
James is on the Board of Fast Forward, an accelerator for technology nonprofits. He regularly finds fresh insight and inspiration from his three young kids, by experiencing technology through their eyes and breaking down the latest episode of “Shark Tank” together. His other interests include tennis, basketball, guitar and meditation. James has been named several times to the Forbes Midas list. He grew up in the Boston area and graduated from Brown University and Harvard Business School.