Henri Pierre-Jacques

Founder @HarlemCapital tweeting about life lessons & VC 🇭🇹 ⛪️ 🤵🏽‍♂️

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

Let me re-introduce myself.

My name is Henri Pierre-Jacques and I am co-founder of @HarlemCapital, a fund backing the next generation of winners.

My mission is to build rooms that didn't exist before. Not more seats at someone else's table, entire rooms.

I was fortunate to have mentors who looked like me early in my career. That visibility changed what I believed was possible. Many never get that opportunity.

You can't be what you can't see so I share my story in case someone else needs to see it.

What room are you building?

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

Just got back home from Detroit and it was everything I needed and more. My son got to golf with his grandfather and great grandfather. 4 generations of legacy! He loved driving the cart and putting.

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

I've been taking notes in church for years as a way to remember Sunday's message, but I never went back to analyze what I'd learned. Recently, I uploaded those years of notes into ChatGPT and asked it to identify the recurring themes.

Instead of a list of my favorite sermons, I had unconsciously been building a personal theology for how I want to approach life, marriage, parenting, leadership, and legacy.

Across hundreds of pages, the same truths kept appearing
1) Faith Over Fear: trust before you see outcomes
2) Truth Over Comfort: submit to truth, not our preferences
3) Character Over Achievement: who we become matters more than what we accomplish
4) Prayer Before Action: seek direction before relying on your own strength
5) Forgiveness Over Bitterness: forgive because we've been forgiven
6) Generosity Over Ownership: give generously as we are stewards
7) Service Over Status: leadership is measured by how well we serve others

As a venture capitalist, I'm surrounded by ambition, competition, and constant pressure to achieve more. Those things aren't inherently bad, but the more I succeed, the more I need reminders that my worth isn't tied to my performance.

One unexpected lesson from this exercise is that AI isn't just useful for writing code or analyzing businesses. It can also help us recognize patterns in our own lives that were hiding in plain sight.

Sometimes the answers we're looking for aren't missing. They're already there, but we just need a better way to see them. I'm planning to do this exercise next with my coaching notes and therapy notes.

What part of your life have you documented but never actually analyzed?

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

Did a recovery day yesterday in the pool and it led to my best night of sleep ever. Days off often feel like steps back but they are essential for your body and mind.

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

What stuck with me from church today:

Faith is learning to praise God after He has spoken, but before it has happened.

We ask God for direction, then keep asking for confirmation. At some point, faith means trusting what He said before we can see the outcome.

We trust pilots to fly us and Uber drivers to get us home, but when God speaks we keep asking for confirmation.

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

More execs need to hire EAs. I find too many founders and managers don’t have one.

An AI doesn’t replace an EA, it only enhances them.

If you aren’t finding the ROI then go offshore or split cross more people. There is no need to have full-time in person EA nowadays

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

The Lioness might be my new favorite show. It just came to Amazon and I don’t know how I’ve never heard of it. Stacked with Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Kelly!

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

We recently had our first AI Hack Week at Harlem Capital.

For one week, we blocked three hours on our calendars every day with one rule: build. That meant no meetings, emails or multitasking. Instead, we asked questions, shared screens, experimented, and built AI workflows together.

The goal wasn't to become experts overnight. It was to move everyone from power users to ai-native operators. Those incremental improvements compound much faster across a team than trying to create one or two AI experts.

It became very clear even as tech-forward VCs, building AI into your day-to-day workflow isn't easy. The last 10% of making a workflow actually work is frustrating, time-consuming, and where most people give up.

Most people will either stop or pay someone else thousands of dollars to build it for them. We decided to invest the time ourselves, but it required intentionality.

The biggest lesson wasn't about AI, but that learning a new technology doesn't happen by accident. It reques dedicated time, space to experiment and a team willing to learn together.

AI isn't just another software tool. It's becoming a skill. And like any skill, the teams that intentionally create time to practice will compound faster than the teams that simply hope to pick it up along the way.

We invest in founders building the future. We should be just as intentional about how we work in it.

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

"Picasso quickly sketched a small piece, then told her, “That will be $10,000.” When she protested that it only took him a moment, Picasso replied, “No, it took me 40 years.”

The value isn't the time spent, but the years learning. Stop undervaluing yourself!

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

Claude coding camp on a Sunday in Miami. Was cool to judge what 10 teams built in a day. The future is bright

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

Excited to partner with @RyanAWms and the Ellis team as they create the AI-native operating platform for private credit.

I've known Ryan for over a decade. Thirteen years ago, I worked with his now-wife, and over the years I watched him build Cadre from the sidelines. It's pretty special to now have the opportunity to partner with him on his next chapter.

Ryan spoke at our Annual Meeting in 2025, before we had invested. As I interviewed him, I remember thinking, if he starts another company, I want to be part of it. Over the following months, we had dinners, exchanged ideas, and watched the vision evolve. Those conversations ultimately led to our partnership.

This investment was a reminder that venture capital is a long game. The best investments often don't begin with a pitch deck. They begin with years of building relationships, earning trust, and creating value for one another before there's ever an opportunity to work together.

When all of that comes together at the right moment, it's incredibly rewarding. Looking forward to building alongside Ryan and the Ellis team.

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques]

A week in Lisbon with my family and friends was such a blessing to celebrate my birthday 🙏🏽

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

Bossed Up Video coming soon @lua_proc feat @flymarshall this shit bout to be a movie 🎥 @ Miami, Florida https://t.co/qo3aKu8Ysp

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

@asco100k Skinni add this in the beat 🎹
Me: Man hold up let me go through the sounds🔈 #pittsburgh #pittsburghartist #pittsburghhiphopscene #pittsburghrappers #producerlife #beats #flymarshallllc #loudpak #Gang #pakians https://t.co/8D8U9J9qW2

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

Get wit me on Clubhouse and let support each other also BIG S/O to my sister for nominating me @loven_maliandriah ❤️ love you @ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania https://t.co/8fSPYi8Fkv

[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

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[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

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[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

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[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

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[Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierejacques]

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