Some people go to Stanford, work at Google, or go through the Navy Seals Hell week to be broken down and built up, I planned and produced parties.
My finals were opening locks with scissors, my projects were managing teams of volunteers, and my fitness tests were sleepless stints thinking on my feet.
Gathering extraordinary people & angel investing · x-Google, Meta SXSW Secret Garden Party
“James killed it!! If anyone wants to learn how to stand out in a volunteer crowd, reach out to James Floyd.”
Vitoria Okuyama
Ex pro tennis player · Ex IB @ Citi SXSW Secret Garden Party
“James, you are a superstar. Your hard work and willingness to go above and beyond will take you a LONG WAY.”
Danielle Raskin
Curating experiences, community & connection SXSW Secret Garden Party
“James Floyd is your guy. The best by a wide margin at driving the intersection between function, execution, and relationship.”
Jarom Christensen
Family Office Advisor · Investor Relations at Jets & Capital
“I’ve got to know James Floyd over the past year and can vouch for his talent, creativity, work ethic, and connecting skills plus many more.”
Austin Moss
Met through Jets and Capital
“James really is the best. He knows the space so well, always provides unique insights and perspectives, and knows how to curate advice based on the individuality of the project at hand.”
Vanessa Rothmeyer
Yogi and Creator · On an event James helped build
“Thank you for being the person who says yes and figures it out.”
Lauren Sawyer
Community Builder · Events @ Duel On a house show thrown on her rooftop
“James you have been a major blessing to me and to the team and I know I’m not the only one who shares that.”
Caleb Guilliams
Founder, BetterWealth · Dec 2025
“I was like — this kid is different. This kid is special.”
Dom Rufran
President of BetterWealth · Ex-NFL Player
“One of the coolest dudes in existence, cool to watch and learn from you and your pursuit of growth.”
Before any of it was a job, it was a club, a camp, and a troop.
Friendship Day · Davis Senior High School
Friendship Day · 7 Mar 2020
Helped run a 37-year-old club called Friendship Day. Voted best to bring home to parents AND most likely to win The Bachelor. Ran a 5-minute mile. Got the principal in trouble. Moved GPA from 2.8 to 4.0.
Camp Kesem at UC Davis · 2012 – 2020
Camp for children of parents affected by cancer. I organized events, and lead campers in said events. We did anything from rock climbing to facilitating difficult conversations about realities of life.
Boy Scouts of America · 2013 – 2019
A service organization designed to establish positive values and skills in young men across the world. Within this organization I was a leader and a experienced scout that learned skills ranging from survival to organization of events.
Merge Ministries · 2016 – 2020
A construction oriented series of mission trips with intentions of serving those we were visiting. We served them through building and maintaining buildings where we travelled, we also worked with children to facilitate connections between them.
Grandma’s Daycare · 2012 – 2016
First long-term job — helping with kids ages 0–5. Learned to motivate, excite, and keep kids happy while doing basic math, letters, and languages exercises.
May 2023 – Dec 2024
The Seattle galas
Montero Productions · Seattle, WA
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Gala and special event operations. It started with a stage in the wrong place and turned into a year of working the room at other people’s biggest nights.
Set and lit · 16 Nov 2024Paddle raise · Montero ProductionsAerialists · Montero Productions
Worked events with the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders, KJ Wright’s Wright Way Foundation, the Jacob Green Foundation, Climate Pledge Arena, the Champions of Change Foundation, and an Oscar-winning singer, among others.
Field notes
A 1200 lbs stage was set up wrong, and KJ Wright was about to go on. So I moved it with kid’s toys.
His Wright Way foundation launch was in a few hours, but the stage was wrong. It was set up in the middle of the room like a boxing ring. It could ruin the whole flow of the room.
I stroll in on this scene: the event designers and producers gathered around, discussing what to do. The problem was, the vendor couldn’t come back and move it, and the stage was ~1200 pounds.
‘Good news! We are in a boys and girls club!’ I exclaimed. In my head I knew there were kids toys with wheels, in a closet, not far from where we were.
I grabbed them, and when they weren’t looking I dove under the stage, and put each support leg on a scooter, and… success! Later that night I changed a soap dispenser with a pen and scissors.
Invited to the gala as a guest. Worked the room instead.
After calling to get a suit delivered to me at work, I prepared to enjoy the night. And I did, but not as a guest. I found a way to provide value wherever I could, I was a doorman, a greeter, I changed a soap dispenser with a ballpoint pen and scissors, and put smiles on many faces.
Now, I look to beat that story and provide as much value as I can to causes worth helping.
Nov 2023 – Oct 2024
Keiretsu Forum
Chief of Staff, then Event Production · Seattle, WA
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The world’s largest and most active angel investor community. I was a James-of-All-Trades, and then I ran the room.
~2,000
Family offices & qualified individuals
900+
Attendees — teams led in event ops
2×
Investment interest, virtual → in person
$100M+
Per year into startups, 23-person team
The expo floorLakeside receptionThe room, mid-flow
Event Production and Operations · Jun 2024 – Oct 2024
Managed and ensured the run-of-show for a gathering of ~2,000 family offices and qualified individuals — assuring the program is kept to, and solving problems for the stakeholders.
Traveling to establish in-person (hybrid events) in the place of solely virtual events. This transition more than doubled investment interest.
Chief of Staff · Nov 2023 – Jun 2024
Was a key part of a 23 person team facilitating $100M+/year in funding into startups, and organizing hybrid events with close to 2,000 registrants.
Led teams in event operations (900+ Attendees)
Analyzed 100+ startup pitches
Learned and Facilitated Due Diligence
Built websites (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace)
Keiretsu Forum is the largest and most active Angel investor community in the world with $1B+ of Angel investments into 2,400+ companies. Keiretsu Capital is the exclusive fund partner of Keiretsu forum and has close to $50M AUM. NW Angel is a new venture of the McDonalds starting with a $10M Fund.
What it taught me
‘Junior Year’: Worked at an angel group, did events, gained 20 pounds (And a lot of googling finance terms) — learned that nobody is special.
My job was to bring ideas into reality, and solve problems before and as they happen. Marketing, Operations, Event and Content Production, Administration, Partnerships, and Strategy.
100k+
Views from a podcast studio I built
30 hrs/wk
Saved by automating content production
Bottom 30% → top 1%
Website, technically
The Life Insurance Summit
Caleb Guilliams put people’s faces on socks and it grew his business.
Every year BetterWealth puts on The Life Insurance Summit, a TED style conference of the most influential people in the industry.
They knew that great events are made great not only because of what happens at the event, but also what happens before and after.
So guests took home socks with their faces on them. $20ish for long-term repeated impressions and gratitude. This is a great example of doing the follow-up of an experience well. No one had ever received that gift before.
An event is made great by the number of pieces of it that the guest has never seen before.
Shoutout Mariah Wood for being the systems person that makes it happen.
Sure they have photographers and videographers, people snap pictures or videos with their phones, but that’s peanuts.
How you design the event can get you thousands if not millions of views and tags more, plus be a huge GIVE to your attendees. Set up a quick podcast studio, at the event, have there be a podcast sponsor even. Make sure they know who to tag in their posts with QR codes etc to your content.
Private jet-hangar parties for family offices. Also dinners, yachts, and resorts. I flew across the country to produce Jets and Capital Events for free after a cold email, and stayed two and a half years.
$400B–$2T+
Cumulative AUM in the room
5
Cities
~103
Days at events in 2025
500
Guests re-contacted in 24 hours
Ran or supported event production at high-profile venues including Trump Doral Miami, Caesars Palace, The Intrepid Aircraft Carrier, and private jet hangars.
Miami · 2 May 2025Miami · 2 May 2025Miami · 3 May 2025Miami · 3 May 2025Miami · 4 May 2025
I showed up to my first Jets and Capital Events as a volunteer. We were in the calm before the storm, but I could not stand around.
It was hot, the air hung in the hanger, people were starting to arrive for the VIP lunch, and I mozied my way around looking for work. I checked if the security and check-in people needed water, then I went to the bar.
As I got to know the bar staff, I realized, they had no ice. Nobody knew. They had expected to be brought 20 bags of ice. Miscommunication. 500 people were coming in an hour, and they’d cook in that hanger without cold drinks.
I found ALEX (who I’d met that day), gave him a credit card, and said something like ‘raid the gas stations’. A minute later, ALEX came through with bags and bags of ice, the drinks flowed and the people smiled.
The ‘wall-flowers’ bear fruit. Talk to the invisible people (security, bartenders, etc)
Trump flew into Vegas and killed our Friday event.
(Cause it was in a hanger) 24 hours to pivot. 500 guests to call.
I wrote a cold calling script, shared it with the Jets and Capital Events team, and we started dialing. The pitch: Trump is coming, we’re pushing the event back a day. Here’s how this is good for you! Two events, one the day you expected and the hanger event a day later!
By noon I was picking people up from the airport, while making calls and logging them at stoplights. By 7pm that night we had booked two venues, and ordered the supplies we needed. By 8pm every guest had been contacted.
There is a way EVERYTHING can be spun into a positive. For this? ‘Double the fun’ was my motto.
I stood in a lobby for 30 minutes guessing who was lost.
We hosted a private dinner in SF before the Super Bowl. The venue? An awesome restaurant on the 4th floor of a confusing building. Multiple entrances, parking garages, elevators and stairs everywhere.
While the team set up, I went to the lobby. My job: spot lost people as they arrived. Tens of thousands of street sales reps trained me for this. I learned to read body language fast. Who’s looking around, who’s passing through (ear buds), who wants help (open eyes), who wants to be left alone (squinting).
Most walked into our dinner calm instead of annoyed. Greeted instead of frustrated.
The experience starts before anyone enters the room. Anticipate friction. Remove it before people feel it. That’s how you create magic.
Alicia Long sent me this picture. I went and found her.
I flew to Vegas for F1 on a whim. No ticket to the race. But then Alicia texted me a photo from somewhere across the track, watching from a suite.
I power walked toward where the picture came from (cause angles), using Maps 3D to figure out which hotel. Found it. Walked up to the doorman. “Hey, I’ve got a handwritten note for a friend. She sent me this picture from a suite around here.” He leaned in, working with me.
Back to the lobby. Checked my bag, and shared the quest. They pointed me to a special elevator with event staff. With my suit, the note, and a dream, I told them I was here to deliver something to an awesome human being. My energy was undeniable. Walked past private security. Found Alicia.
The idea was so crazy there was no downside. Anything going right was a win.
1 of 14 people selected from Andrew Yeung’s audience. 2000 people showed up. I was the guy with the zip ties.
Volunteering is better than networking.
No zip ties? Asked a stranger who worked there. He hooked me up. Signs falling over? Zip ties. Trash everywhere? Made trays out of cardboard and zip ties. The Hustle flags needed fixing? You guessed it. At a dinner later, I opened a locked door with a nail.
Most problems have simple solutions. Zip ties, cardboard, tape, a nail. 2 things make them solvable: 1. Audacity. 2. Relentless execution.
Showing up to help is one of the best ways to give. And when you give first, good things tend to follow.
Solved directional set up by getting zip ties from venue staff. Then used same zip ties to put up sponsor flags, and create a waiter tray to collect garbage.
Facilitated a better exit flow by training a volunteer on security protocol.
Used AirPod as comms to hear what’s app group notifications
Was recognized by Andrew and his team including the event planner for my agency and ability.
With the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation · Kansas City, MO
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Yesterday, Dulcinea looked at me with wide eyes and said, “this is surreal.” 6 months ago, we were strangers on Zoom.
Summit night · 18 Apr 2026Prep day · 17 Apr 2026Prep day · 17 Apr 2026
Now our group is in Kansas City throwing an event with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the mayor, athletes, and creators from across the country.
We have merch. Journals. The news is already writing about us. But what makes me want to say “look mom I made it”?
This is about getting young people productively through their Quarter Life Crisis. Life is not about the status games or rat race for our generation. It’s about deep meaning.
I worked Andrew Yeung’s Extravaganza. 7 people asked me why I was there.
So let me explain. When I say “working,” I mean:
Raiding two Staples on a Citi bike to get name tags (James > Prime Delivery)
Ziptie-ing things to fences so they don’t fall on guests
Lighting the stairs so nobody dies in the dark
Taping down floor vinyl so nobody trips
Noticing the staff were wiped, and running them cold water
Being the best dressed janitor in the building
Guarding Bricks with my life
People asked — Why are you stooping to pick things off the floor? Are you here to network? What do you get out of this?
Here’s the honest answer. I learn my theory from books and solutions from fires. Dark stairs that could crush someone tipsy and distracted. Staff are tired, so I get them cups of water. No name tags, and colored name tags are Andrew’s brand. Each one a fire.
None of it was mine. Not my event, not my liability. Nobody asked me do solve most of those. I did it anyway. 2pm to midnight. When I walked out, people were still on the sidewalk talking and smiling. None the wiser.
Some people go to Stanford University, Google, or Goldman Sachs. I put out business and event fires. And I like it.
The race is not over when sponsors have sent their money, in fact that shouldn’t be what it’s about at all. To me, it’s about encouraging and building a culture of interactiveness and giving.
Sponsors could provide headshots, podcasts, interactive booths like massages, IVs, haircuts. So force booths to be experiential.
Change the rules, out with the tables in with the memories.
Over the last year I’ve compulsively collected a list of 110 community businesses. I’ve also been reading obsessively — Unreasonable Hospitality, The Art of Gathering, Make No Small Plans. I kept reading and I kept seeing the same pattern.
Audience/Network → Community → Events → Physical Place → ?
What I don’t know is what comes after physical place. There’s a question mark there that keeps showing up for me. That’s part of why I moved to NYC.
