James Richards

Yo, you gotta hear about James Richards. This guy is the real deal. Started super early, finished high school at 16, law school at 20, dude’s been crushing it from the jump. No Cap. He’s lived on four continents, jumped into all sorts of visas, and just keeps pushing boundaries.

So, here’s the story, James kicks things off as a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk, but that was just the beginning. He’s got that entrepreneurial fire burning. At 22, he starts his first company. Fast forward, he lands in Y Combinator’s S13 batch with Teleborder, an HR SaaS platform for international workers. That thing was a banger, raised $3.5 million from top investors like Khosla Ventures and YC itself. It was so good, it got acquired by TriNet, a huge publicly traded HR company.

But James didn’t stop there. At TriNet, he was the exec leading their international and Canadian biz, handling partnerships, P&L, all that high-level stuff. Clearly, he’s got a knack for scaling and planned moves. Then, he jumped into his future trend, Evergrow, which he’s now running as CEO. This one’s all about climate tech, specifically carbon project finance. It’s the next frontier, and James is right in the middle of it, trying to make a real dent in climate change.

And he’s not just doing that, he’s also a Venture Partner at Garuda Ventures, investing in over 30 startups, mostly focusing on climate change solutions. You can tell, this guy’s motivation is bigger than just making money. He’s into actually solving the world’s biggest problems.

What’s crazy about James is how early he got into all this. Started a company at 22, reviewed hundreds of YC apps, and got named to Forbes 30 under 30 in 2015. That shows he’s got that hustle, that insight, that drive. Plus, he’s got a solid legal background, law degree from Columbia, NY Bar at 20, but he’s all about startups and tech.

He’s a Silicon Valley guy through and through now, living in SF with his wife Nancy and their dog Alfie. But he’s traveled around, lived on four continents, and spent over 20 years on visas, so he’s got that global perspective.

Bottom line, James Richards is a guy who’s been pushing boundaries his whole life. From law to startups, from YC to climate tech, he’s all about building stuff that matters. He’s someone who’s not just in it for the fame or the bucks but for making a real impact. That’s what makes him a standout.