James Currier

General Partner & Co-Founder, NFX · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorfounderanalyst@JamesCurrier ↗LinkedIn ↗nfx.com ↗

James Currier is a co-founder and partner at seed-stage venture firm NFX, known for his frameworks analyzing startup growth and network effects. Prior to NFX, he founded several companies including Tickle and was an early angel investor in DoorDash, Lyft, and Patreon.

9statements → 4claims → 3claims resolved → 0%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 2.11/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated →

0 supported 3 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not checkable as stated how the 4 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 3 assertions · 3 insights · 1 disclosure · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 4 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 3 are resolved, and 1 names no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how James argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

How they sound: speaking style how? →

266 words/min while actually speaking · 4.5 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for James Currier: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 3 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 4,491 words across 2 episodes, but every recording we have of James Currier is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

What they said9 Episodes1

Everything James Currier said on the a16z Podcast that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight

Currier: Network Effects Are the Only Software-Native Defensibility

“The way we look at it is the network effects is really the only one that's native to what we're doing, and therefore it's the most powerful.”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 4:47 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Currier: Messaging Network Effects Will Outlast Social Networks Like Facebook

“Facebook may be around in 10 years, but it might not be, but it's pretty clear that messaging will be around because we're always going to be able to scan text with our eyes. That's a good interface for us. And so messaging is probably a longer term thing for …”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 9:29 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Insight

Asymptoting Marketplace Network Effects Leave Incumbents Vulnerable to Price Competition

“One of them we call the asymptoting two-sided marketplace network effect. It means it doesn't keep going. Doesn't get better past a certain point. We're capable of seeing someone come in and compete with them pretty effectively on a lower price.”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 12:23 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Assertion Partly supported

LinkedIn Beat Ryze Because Reid Hoffman Recruited Silicon Valley's Top 4,000

“There was a guy named Scott who started Rise, R-Y-Z-E, in 2000, which was LinkedIn two years before LinkedIn. But he wasn't Reid Hoffman. And Reid knew the top 4000 people in Silicon Valley and emailed. And then once we were on, all the guys in New York wanted…”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 14:55 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

What-if

Currier: Path Would Be a Major Company Without Mobile Competition

“Had there been no competition like there was for Facebook when they were growing for two years in colleges, path would have been a big company.”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 20:11 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Assertion Partly supported

Three College Social Networks Existed Before Facebook Launched at Harvard

“Look, there was three college social networks that came before Facebook, but it was the first one started at Harvard.”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 15:12 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Disclosure

Currier's Pre-Facebook Social Network Reached 30 Million Users

“We had thirty million people before Facebook ever launched.”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 17:53 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Insight

Currier: Virality Drives Acquisition While Network Effects Drive Retention

“So the viral effect is about getting new users, and the network effect is about keeping those users, and they're very, very different things.”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 20:35 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Assertion Partly supported

AT&T First Used the Term 'Network Effect' in 1907

“The first time it was used was in 19 oh seven in a annual report by AT&T.”

James Currier Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 0:50 a16z Podcast | Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
a16z Podcast \| Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal	Jan 2, 2019	10m

James Currier

The record, in short

How they sound: speaking style how? →

Appearances (1)

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