James Raybould's Linkedin Analytics

I'm currently enjoying being a fractional exec at two AI startups - Speak and a Stealth Company - while still having time to work on inVest Ventures, a Community VC fund connecting LinkedIn alumni founders with LinkedIn employees past and present, and to partner with my longtime colleague John Mayhall on Blueprints - Frameworks from our Favourite Operators at https://blueprints.guide/ Overall, I'm a Generalist. After Consulting at Bain before and after HBS, I joined LinkedIn in early 2010 and spent 12.5 years moving across functions and leadership roles: I started in Sales Strategy and Analytics before moving to Marketing, then to Product Management, and finally to General Management. To tell my longer story, 3 dates from 3 decades help: Sept. 22, 1995: I travelled 5,000 miles from my London hometown to Stanford. I was drawn to studies, sports, sunshine, and a Bay Area culture more focused on creating the future than curating the past. I rowed on the Stanford Varsity Crew team and studied psychology for my B.A. and M.A. And I've stayed close: I can see the Stanford campus from our backyard. Sept. 13, 2004: I joined Bain Bay Area as an entry-level Consultant. After a few years of racing triathlon and working in sports business, I was drawn to Bain’s entrepreneurial culture and fast-paced learning environment. Looking back, my strategy and comms chops were forged at Bain, as was a lifelong love of Excel, PowerPoint, and Cinnabon. March 8, 2010: I left Bain to join a pre-IPO LinkedIn with ~500 employees and ~$100M in revenue. I was initially drawn to the hypergrowth environment but quickly learned I’d found far more. First, a vision that deeply resonated - to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce - and, second, a set of inspiring leaders teaching me how a culture and values focus could underpin incredible businesses. Over the next 12.5 years, my roles and responsibilities varied: in function from sales strategy, analytics & insights to marketing to product to GMing; in scope from being an IC to leading ~100 person teams; and in scale from helping run our largest, multi-billion dollar recruiting business to jumping in to help lead our acquisitions of Lynda.com (2015) and Glint (2018). Outside of work, I'm a long-term elite endurance athlete (rowing > Ironman > marathons > bike racing > marathon swimming) and compulsive reader and film-goer. Here's ALL my books & films (bit.ly/z2D1sX) and I publish a "What's the So What?" newsletter distilling favourite books and experiences into what matters most (bit.ly/3q188jL)