Achievements
- One of the youngest founders to participate in Y Combinator as CTO of GoScale (S12)
- Held key roles at high-profile startups like GoCardless, Pusher, Cuvva, Monolith
- Led platform engineering at Risk Ledger as Head of Platform
- Currently a Senior Platform Engineer at Nomura, focusing on infrastructure and security
- Founded or contributed to multiple projects including GoScale, Hash Intelligence, WG-API, Switcher
- Built impactful open-source tools and contributed to fintech, SaaS, and cybersecurity innovations
You should know James Cunningham
Homie, check the vibe on James Cunningham. This guy’s a total beast in the startup and tech world. He’s London-based but his story is straight out of the Silicon Valley playbook, just with that UK flair. Started super young, one of the youngest peeps to jump into Y Combinator, back in S12, as CTO of this cloud infrastructure startup called GoScale. That alone is crazy because most folks don’t even get into YC till they’re way more experienced, and here’s James, crushing it as a kid.
But that’s just the beginning. The dude has been all over the place, working at some of the hottest startups you probably know: GoCardless, Pusher, Cuvva, Monolith. You name it. He’s been in the trenches doing software engineering, making sure systems stay reliable, building platforms. Basically, he’s been the guy behind the scenes making sure everything runs smooth when it counts.
He’s also got a bunch of side projects and startups under his belt, like GoScale again, Hash Intelligence (before they pivoted), and even open-source tools like WG-API and Switcher. That shows he’s not just about the grind but also about giving back and pushing tech forward.
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Talk to herHis background? Solid as hell. He’s got a Higher National Diploma in Computer Systems Networking and Telecom from Dundee and Angus College, so he’s legit from the get-go. And his focus? Fintech, SaaS, cybersecurity, basically building expandable systems for the real world, not just theory.
Right now, he’s at Nomura as a Senior Platform Engineer, diving deep into infrastructure, security, and making the developer experience top-notch. And before that, he was at Risk Ledger as Head of Platform, so he’s been leading teams and building the backbone for serious financial and security stuff.
What’s crazy about James is that he’s not just tech for tech’s sake. He’s about real impact. His process from a YC kid to working at major fintech and security companies shows he’s got a fire to solve big problems, to build stuff that scales, and to push the whole industry forward. He’s the kind of guy who jumped into the deep end early, crushed it, and kept leveling up because he genuinely loves building, hacking, and making things better.
So yeah, James Cunningham’s not just a coder, he’s a builder, a leader, and a total force in tech. When you look at his story, it’s all about hustle, curiosity, and that relentless drive to create the future. No Cap.

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