359: Why AI-Efficient Startups Are Forcing Venture Capital to Evolve with Jim Curry, CEO of BuildGroup

Jim Curry is the co-founder and CEO of BuildGroup, a venture firm based in Austin that has raised $330 million since its founding in 2015 and backed companies like Anaconda, Vidmob, DigniFi, and Benefitfocus. He brings more than two decades of experience in product, strategy, and corporate development from roles at Rackspace and Dell, and he co-founded OpenStack, one of the most widely used open source cloud computing platforms. Jim serves on the boards of Generation Serve and the University of Texas School of Undergraduate Studies. He holds degrees from UT Austin and Harvard Business School.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Jim’s journey from Rackspace to launching BuildGroup and why he believes in “longer, slower capital” to support mission-driven founders
• How his experience co-founding OpenStack shaped his thinking on community-driven innovation and open-source software
• What AI startups can learn from the cloud era—and why infrastructure still matters in the age of foundation models
• Why Jim believes VCs often push startups to scale too fast and what sustainable growth looks like in practice
• The impact of AI on venture capital and how BuildGroup thinks about investing in software companies that solve real problems
• How founders can balance product vision with pragmatism, especially when building in volatile markets

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
• Connect with Jim on LinkedIn
• AI fun fact article
• On How to Develop NLP and AI Data Harvesting Using Games and Blockchains To Earn NFTs