CEO @Kevelapi (was Adzerk). SaaS, APIs, Advertising. Angel Investor angel.co/p/james-avery (he/him/his)

Joined June 2007
291 Photos and videos
James Avery retweeted
"Everything is an ad platform." "You won’t match Amazon with something off the shelf." @averyj CEO of @kevelapi, predicted the rise of APIs retail media before it was cool. We went deep on the future of commerce media—and why differentiation still wins.
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James Avery retweeted
18 Apr 2025
New Definition of ARR: today's revenue x 365
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James Avery retweeted
13 Feb 2025
I am too
Another interesting tidbit from the $TTD ER. Green is certain Google will ‘exit the open internet’
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James Avery retweeted
11 Feb 2025
📢 We’re thrilled to announce that Kevel has acquired @Nextaio This partnership brings together two leaders in retail media to deliver unmatched innovation. With Kevel’s API-based ad server and Nexta’s self-serve platform for on-site and off-site ads, our customers can now access the most comprehensive and customizable retail media solution available. 💡 Kevel Customers: Enjoy expanded off-site advertising capabilities and AI-powered tools. 💡 Nexta Customers: Gain access to Kevel’s Retail Media Cloud™ and its advanced API infrastructure. 💡 Future Customers: A fully unified retail media solution for on-site and off-site where you’re in control. This is more than just an acquisition—it’s an investment in delivering the tools retailers need to innovate, differentiate, and grow. We’re excited about the journey ahead! Learn more here ➡️ url-shortener.newsdirect.com…
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James Avery retweeted
31 Jan 2025
Why has interest in Amazon businesses collapsed? 1- the overall Ecom market has collapsed. Almost no deals are being done, and those deals are at 50% of what they would trade for in 2021. Solo stove was worth 2 billion dollars at one point. It’s worth under 100 million right now. That sums up investor interest. 2- sales are stagnant. Amazon marketplace sales are drowning single digits. That means the average merchant isn’t growing all that much. No growth story, even LESS interest. 3- all the big buyers went bankrupt It was a bubble driven by 4 mega buyers and 6 mid buyers. I have more money than thrasio. They aren’t buying LUNCH anytime soon. 4- the fees continue to rise. Even if your revenue has doubled since 2021, your EBITDA is most likely flat or down. Doing more work, more risk, more working capital for the same or LESS PROFIT. Amazon has a team of 200 MBAs dedicated to inventing new fees to fuck you. You have to literally pay for customer service jfc 5- platform risk. You can be banned tomorrow as an error. No clear path to be unbanned or correct it. You are fighting an ai chat bot for your life and your business. 6- no network effects. On Shopify, if someone buys a gunmetal ridge wallet, I can sell them a gunmetal keycase. Then a matching luggage and ring. Because of this, my Shopify LTV is literally 500% higher every year. On Amazon you can’t do anything and you don’t even know your customers name.
30 Jan 2025
The interest in amazon only businesses is now past zero. it is in the NEGATIVES.
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James Avery retweeted
17 Jan 2025
A seed fund that only invests in pivots would outperform.
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14 Jan 2025
It’s about time - huge opportunity and it’s been a shit ad product for a long time
Everything is an Ad Network. (Duolingo is building an advertising product)
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James Avery retweeted
Everything is an Ad Network. (Duolingo is building an advertising product)
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30 Dec 2024
I was listening to an episode of @myfirstmilpod with my daughter and she asked: “Should I take this with a grain of salt?” Me: “Yes, you should always be skeptical” Her: “What about @AcquiredFM?” Me: “Oh no, you can trust them”
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James Avery retweeted
I spoke to 16 very senior (CMO/SVP) marketing execs in B2C last week and only 1 liked their CDP.
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James Avery retweeted
16 Oct 2024
"Orange Apron Media by @thehomedepot is transforming its retail media network’s technology, by working with #Kevel’s #RetailMediaCloud™ to create a range of new retail media offerings for advertisers that boost customer engagement. The retailer is also working with a separate tech platform @GotVantage, to offer self-service ads to clients." Thank you to @etail for the feature. internetretailing.net/the-ho…

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James Avery retweeted
23 Sep 2024
A piece of life advice I wish I had received earlier:
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James Avery retweeted
Common traits of three of @aperiamventures' best investments to date: @kevelapi, @Transmit, @tv_scientific. 1) (Tier 1 founders) * (Extreme domain expertise). Each has a strong product and engineering bias. (@averyj, @hittman_, @jasonff) 2) (Non-consensus ideas) * (Huge market). While it was already apparent that CTV was going to be huge in 2019, most thought that the big opportunity would be a shift from linear dollars; tvScientific explored performance. 3) (Impeccable timing) * (Execution). Kevel goes *all in* on the APIs-for-ads model before "everything is an ad network". Spidey sense? Willing things into existence? 50/50.
18 Sep 2024
Today's Open Market episode covers the three traits of @ericfranchi's most successful investments. We talk about @kevelapi, @Transmit, and @tv_scientific. If you're a founder or investor, this one's for you.
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James Avery retweeted
Evan Spiegel on @Snap's need to shift its advertising business from large brands/upper-funnel to SMBs and performance. Twitter & Elon/Linda should take notes.
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James Avery retweeted
9 Sep 2024
Everything (interesting) that happened today, featuring @acasale @averyj @jlowcock and Tim Wolfe.
Day 1 of the Google trial. @aripap goes Hunter S Thompson and reports back for The Monopoly Report: monopoly.marketecture.tv/p/u…
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James Avery retweeted
20 Aug 2024
It's unbelievable how many dynamic companies broke their streaks of engineer-CEOs for the first time in the 2000s, installing their first MBA/finance CEOs, who then promptly made fundamental strategic errors that nixed the company's future, that are now becoming obvious.
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20 Aug 2024
It’s almost like just using an off the shelf retail media platform isn’t enough to be competitive
Everything is an ad network.
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James Avery retweeted
Everything is an ad network.
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