Startup Café: Six Companies & Two Exits with James Colquhoun, Founder of Food Matters and former CEO of Gaia
Six companies, two exits, one bought back. James Colquhoun on the things nobody tells you about your first million: where founders get stuck, why the playbook stops working, and what he’d do differently.
Most advice about the first million is written by people who are still selling you the second one.
James Colquhoun has built six companies in health and wellness. He made five films, two of which landed on Netflix, and built FMTV — one of the first streaming platforms in the category. He sold it to Gaia (NASDAQ) in 2019, then spent six years inside that public company: board member, audit committee, COO, and finally CEO. He bought one of his old companies back in 2025.
This talk is the honest version. Not the highlight reel — the parts he got wrong, repeatedly, and what he’d tell a founder sitting where you’re sitting.
Agenda
8:45 - 9:30 am • Coffee and Socialize
9:30- 10:30 am • Conversation in the Clubhouse, Brief Q&A
11:00 am • Space closes to public
November 11, 2026
About: James Colquhoun
James is an entrepreneur and filmmaker who has built six companies in health and wellness.
He founded Food Matters and FMTV, making five films — two of which landed on Netflix — and building one of the first pure-play streaming platforms in the category. He sold FMTV to Gaia (NASDAQ) in 2019, joined its board in 2020, and went on to serve on the audit committee before running the company as COO and then CEO through to 2026, leading multiple private and public raises and several acquisitions. In 2025 he bought one of his earlier companies back.
He’s now building INNERMISSION, a media and community company for conscious founders.
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