# James Currier

> James Currier is a five-time founder turned General Partner at NFX, a $1.5B seed-stage venture firm built on a single thesis: network effects drive 70% of all value created in tech. He built Tickle into the 18th most-visited website in the world, pioneered viral marketing and A/B testing before those terms existed, and has since co-founded NFX with Pete Flint, Gigi Levy-Weiss, and Morgan Beller to back the next generation of network-effect-driven companies. An angel in DoorDash, Lyft, and Patreon, he is also the author of the Network Effects Bible and a speaker who translated an arcane econ concept into the operating language of Silicon Valley.

- **Role:** General Partner at NFX
- **Organizations:** NFX, Ooga Labs, Aspen Institute (Henry Crown Fellow)
- **From:** New Hampshire, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School, Phillips Exeter Academy, BA, Economics, Princeton University, MBA, Harvard Business School, Study Abroad, Beijing School of Economics, Henry Crown Fellow, Aspen Institute
- **Known for:** Built Tickle into the 18th largest website globally with 150M+ registered users, acquired by Monster for $110M, Angel investor in DoorDash (IPO), Lyft (IPO), and Patreon, Co-founded NFX — a $1.5B seed fund that has backed 100+ companies

## Career timeline

- **1967** — Born in New Hampshire to a carpenter father and music teacher mother
- **~1981** — Left home at 13 on full scholarship to Phillips Exeter Academy
- **~1985** — Enrolled at Princeton University (Economics)
- **1991** — Joined GTE New Ventures in Hollywood, developing digital products and businesses
- **1993** — Moved to Hong Kong to work at STAR TV satellite broadcaster, then Beijing for economics study
- **1994** — Returned to US; joined Battery Ventures in Boston as associate
- **1999** — Co-founded Tickle (originally Emode) with Stan Chudnovsky and Rick Marini — one of internet's first user-generated content platforms
- **2004** — Tickle acquired by Monster.com for $110M; site had grown to 18th largest website globally with 150M+ users
- **2007** — Co-founded Ooga Labs (startup incubator) and Medpedia
- **2008** — Co-founded WonderHill (online video games)
- **2010** — WonderHill merged with Kabam; co-founded IronPearl (growth analytics SaaS); co-founded Jiff (enterprise healthcare software)
- **2013** — IronPearl acquired by PayPal
- **2015** — Co-founded NFX with Pete Flint, Gigi Levy-Weiss, and Morgan Beller
- **2017** — Jiff merged with Castlight Health (NASDAQ: CSLT); NFX officially launched as $425M early-stage fund
- **2019** — Published 'The Network Effects Bible' — became foundational reading for Silicon Valley founders
- **2021** — NFX grew to $1.5B AUM; appeared on HBR podcast 'How Network Effects Rule the World'
- **2023** — Published 'The 3-Person Unicorn Startup' and 'How to Prepare for an Upturn'
- **2025** — Published 'Speed x AI' — argued speed is the #1 startup advantage intensified by generative AI

## Achievements

- Built Tickle into the 18th largest website globally with 150M+ registered users, acquired by Monster for $110M
- Angel investor in DoorDash (IPO), Lyft (IPO), and Patreon
- Co-founded NFX — a $1.5B seed fund that has backed 100+ companies
- Authored the Network Effects Bible, one of the most-cited startup essays on the internet
- Pioneer of viral marketing, A/B testing, and crowdsourcing techniques in the late 1990s and early 2000s
- Systematically catalogued 16 types of network effects — a framework used by founders worldwide
- Led 10 companies to exits totaling over $10B in aggregate value
- Recognized as one of the most cited experts on network effects globally
- Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute
- Featured in Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, Silicon Valley Business Journal

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Published 'Speed x AI' essay arguing that generative AI has made startup speed the most critical competitive variable
- **2025-01** — Published '5 Ideas That Defined 2025 — According to Founders' on NFX Library
- **2024-01** — Updated 'The Network Effects Bible' with new network effect types including Hub-and-Spoke (#16)
- **2023-07** — Published 'The 3-Person Unicorn Startup' essay on how AI changes team size requirements
- **2023-11** — Published 'How to Prepare for an Upturn' — guidance for founders navigating market cycles
- **2021-10** — Appeared on Harvard Business Review podcast 'How Network Effects Rule the World'

## Links

- Website: https://nfx.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescurrier
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/JamesCurrier

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/james-currier
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-29