# James Mikrut

> James Mikrut is co-founder, Payload CMS of Inc. (Figma). Payload on Anchor Terminal, with grades, an about and public profiles.

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- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-28

Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma).

James Mikrut is co-founder and CEO of Payload, a developer-first headless CMS and application framework from Y Combinator's Summer 2022 batch, which YC lists as acquired. He leads product design, marketing and user experience, has been a full-stack engineer for more than a decade, and founded the digital design agency TRBL.

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mikrut-3202985a/
- X: https://x.com/JamesMikrut

## What James builds

- [Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payload.md), graded C, 55.5/100, in CMS & website publishing. Payload is an open-source, code-first headless CMS and application framework for Node.js and Next.js, now part of Figma. Agents manage content, drafts, versions and locales through generated REST and GraphQL APIs or an official MCP plugin. Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma), researched 2026-10-26.

## Works with

- [Dan Ribbens](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/dan-ribbens/), Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma)
- [Elliot DeNolf](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/elliot-denolf/), Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma)

## Backed by

- [Y Combinator](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/y-combinator/)
- [Gradient Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/gradient-ventures/)
- [MongoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/mongodb/)
- [SV Angel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/sv-angel/)
- [Grand Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/grand-ventures/)
- [Exceptional Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/exceptional-capital/)

## Questions

### Who is James Mikrut?

James Mikrut is co-founder and CEO of Payload, a developer-first headless CMS and application framework from Y Combinator's Summer 2022 batch, which YC lists as acquired. He leads product design, marketing and user experience, has been a full-stack engineer for more than a decade, and founded the digital design agency TRBL.

### What does Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma) make?

Anchor Terminal lists Payload from Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma). Payload is an open-source, code-first headless CMS and application framework for Node.js and Next.js, now part of Figma. Agents manage content, drafts, versions and locales through generated REST and GraphQL APIs or an official MCP plugin.

### Who has invested in Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma)?

The sources our research read name Y Combinator, Gradient Ventures, MongoDB, SV Angel, Grand Ventures and Exceptional Capital.

### How are James's tools graded?

Payload is graded C, 55.5 out of 100, on Anchor Terminal's benchmark, which scores every listing against the same checklist.

## Sources

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/payload
- https://payloadcms.com/
- https://payloadcms.com/contact

These are the people building the tools we list, named for their public role in the company or project behind a listing, from public pages, with the date it was researched. They don't work for Anchor Terminal (our own team is on the about page, /about/#author). We show public roles, public profiles and what the listing pages show, nothing private. To correct something, send an about or a photo, or have a page removed, write to privacy@anchorterminal.com.

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