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Jim Curry
Co-Founder, BuildGroup
Jim Curry is a prominent figure in the entrepreneurial and technology sectors. He is the co-founder and CEO of BuildGroup, an investment firm that focuses on long-term company building rather than quick exits.2 Curry has over 20 years of experience in product, strategy, and corporate development across startups and global enterprises.2
Before founding BuildGroup in 2015, Curry spent nearly a decade at Rackspace as the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development.1 During his time at Rackspace, he played a crucial role in the company's expansion, including its entry into public cloud services through the acquisition of Slicehost, the development of its private cloud business, and its expansion into Asia.12
Notably, Curry co-founded the OpenStack project in 2010, which led to him being known as the "Godfather of OpenStack".1 He later served on the OpenStack Foundation board.2
As an investor, Curry is involved with several companies, including project44, Gembah, Pod Foods, Flowspace, Cybrary, and Anaconda, Inc., often taking on board member roles.3 His investment philosophy at BuildGroup emphasizes alignment between investors and entrepreneurs.
Curry holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin.2 He is based in Austin, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Laurie, and their three children.2
As a member of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, Curry demonstrates his commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and connecting with other business leaders. His LinkedIn profile, under the username jimncurry, indicates he has over 500 connections in his professional network.
Highlights
A few weeks ago, I gave a talk for the Texas Women in Economics and the Texas Women in Business Association at The University of Texas at Austin. I got an overwhelming response from students wanting to learn more about the differences between VC and PE, so I wrote a blog post for BuildGroup as a primer for college students (or anyone looking to understand the space) to help them navigate these industries.
Here are the cliff notes:
The venture capital and private equity industries are often lumped together, but they exist on a continuum. While both invest in private companies, VC focuses on early-stage, high-risk startups with the potential for massive growth, and PE targets more mature, profitable companies. Here are the seven key distinctions:
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Stage: VCs invest in new or young companies, while PE deals with established, profitable firms.
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Risk: VC-backed companies have less revenue and are usually unprofitable (high risk), while PE -backed companies have more revenue and typically profitable (less risk).
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Portfolio: VCs have larger portfolios to account for higher risk, while PE can have smaller portfolios.
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Source of Returns: VCs rely on a startup's growth potential, while PE derives returns through financial engineering and operational improvements.
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Industries: VC is concentrated in tech, while PE cuts across industries.
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Check Size: VC provides smaller growth capital, while PE writes larger checks, often buying out existing shareholders.
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Ownership: VCs take minority stakes, while PE firms frequently take control.
Entry-level VC roles focus on sourcing and pitching new deals, while PE roles are more financial modeling and analysis of mature companies. Understanding the difference will help align your interests and skills.
You can read the full blogpost here: https://lnkd.in/gj3W933B
Thanks to Bethany Vodicka and Akshara Viruthagiri for hosting the original talk.
Texas Career Engagement | The University of Texas at Austin UT Austin Department of Economics
Ben Eachus of Flowspace has a nice take on the value of an asset-lite fulfillment orchestration (vs. operator) to customers.
