James has founded, or been involved in the founding of several companies including Previously Unavailable, Tracksuit, AF Drinks, Ideally, Caffeine, Master of Advertising Effectiveness, Toothcrush and Stolen Spirits.
Previously Unavailable
Previously Unavailable is where James spends the majority of his time. He founded Previously in 2014, with the vision of building a creative company that helps innovators bring new products and brands into the world more successfully. The company has since grown into an 18-person studio combining innovation consulting, brand strategy, design, venture creation and venture capital.
Tracksuit
Tracksuit is a brand health tracking SAAS startup that James co-founded in 2021 alongside co-CEOs Connor Archbold and Matt Herbert and TRA Labs. The company quickly became one of New Zealand’s fastest growing startups, and within three years had grown annual recurring revenue to $10M, reached a valuation of $150M, and established offices in Auckland, Sydney, New York and London.
AF Drinks
AF Drinks is a non-alcoholic cocktail company that produces canned alcohol-free versions of several classic cocktails. James co-founded the company with CEO Lisa King and The Tuesday Club during the 2020 lockdown. The company quickly became the market leader in New Zealand, before launching in the US in 2023 and achieving ranging across thousands of major US retail stores including Walmart, Target and Sprouts.
Toothcrush
Toothcrush was Previously Unavailable’s first wholly-owned venture, created in 2016 to deliver sustainable bamboo toothbrushes direct-to-consumer on subscription. The company built up a base of around 8,000 subscribers across New Zealand and Australia before being acquired in 2019.
Ideally
Ideally is a marketing technology company that provides rapid concept testing research that assists in growing great ideas. Ideally was created in 2023 by the team behind Tracksuit and incubated out of Previously Unavailable. Like Tracksuit, the company has experienced market-leading growth, reaching $2M in annual recurring revenue in its first 9 months.
Master of Advertising Effectiveness
The Master of Advertising Effectiveness is an online professional development programme for marketing and advertising people, on which James teaches the evidence-based principles of advertising effectiveness, drawing on his 15+ years of experience practicing, researching, teaching and publishing on the subject. Launched in 2022, more than 500 students from 30 countries have now taken the programme, which is delivered in partnership with global marketing effectiveness leaders WARC.
Caffeine
Caffeine is the daily news media for the New Zealand startup community. James founded the company in 2023, with the mission of being the way our community connects and shares - to accelerate Aotearoa New Zealand toward outperforming the world at creating, scaling and exiting extraordinary startups.
Stolen Spirits
Stolen Spirits was founded in 2011, and was the first startup that James was an investor in and advisor to. Alongside founders Jamie Duff and Roger Holmes, and designer Kelvin Soh, James led the strategy for the brand’s creation and launch. The company grew quickly in Australasia before entering the US market, and was ultimately acquired by Chicago-based Liquid Asset Brands in 2015.