James Phillips
Investing
Although it often gets a bad rap, private equity when practiced with strong and aspirational values can be a huge driver of positive economic and societal change. That’s why I joined QPE. I’m passionate about working with inspiring founders and partnering with businesses in exciting markets looking to make the world a better place.
Starting my career at PwC in financial due diligence and later corporate finance introduced me to the world of investment and gave me the chance to work with many founder-led companies across various sectors. However, I was eager to do more. I wanted to have a real stake in a business, understand its pain points and opportunities, and help develop and support its growth journey over the long term.
I was attracted to QPE because of its values: Empathy, Energy, Excellence. We are motivated and enthusiastic, always striving for better, and most of all we aim to put ourselves in the shoes of the founders and management teams during every interaction and decision. We want to be a true and trusted partner, helping you to accelerate your growth strategy and build the best business possible – for all stakeholders.
Like my many of my QPE colleagues with similar experiences, I hope that empathy is something I’ve been able to develop through more than ten years living abroad in different countries and cultures. I moved to Argentina aged eight with my family, before moving to Mexico, Hong Kong, and most recently Australia. From these experiences, I understand the need to think through different perspectives and motivations to help build common ground. It’s this shared appreciation that we hope allows QPE to stand out from the crowd when meeting and partnering with founders.
A sucker for a good sports documentary, Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance was a particular high point for me in the early days of the pandemic lock downs. One of the many memorable quotes was from MJ himself, “Talent wins games, teamwork wins championships.” Another reason I’m here at QPE is because of how it thinks about teamwork. We are one team working together towards a shared vision. Everyone gets a say, and everyone puts in the work. Founders and management teams thinking about partnering with QPE should know that we’ll be your teammates, too, always trying to help us win together.
Outside of work, I love playing and watching football – and I’m a big Chelsea fan, for my sins. I consume most football podcasts and I could talk to you for hours about why Todd Boehly is in fact a genius. Despite my time spent abroad, England has always been home for me, and I have similar passion and delusional optimism for the Three Lions – it’s coming home in 2024.
