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Jonathan Lehr
Co-Founder & General Partner at Work-Bench
Jonathan Lehr is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Work-Bench, a venture capital firm based in New York City that specializes in early-stage enterprise technology investments. He has been with Work-Bench since its inception in June 2013, focusing on sectors such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and cloud-native infrastructure.124
Professional Background
Before co-founding Work-Bench, Lehr worked at Morgan Stanley in the Office of the CIO, where he facilitated the integration of emerging technologies into the firm's operations. His earlier experience includes roles at Cohen Commercial Properties and a strong educational background with a BSE in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, complemented by minors in Mathematics and Economics.12
Contributions and Initiatives
Lehr is also the founder of the New York Enterprise Technology Meetup (NYETM), which promotes collaboration among entrepreneurs, investors, and technologists in the enterprise tech ecosystem. This initiative has grown to over 10,000 members and hosts monthly events to foster networking and innovation.123
Notable Achievements
Under his leadership, Work-Bench has achieved significant exits, including investments in companies like CoreOS and Kensho, which were acquired for substantial sums by major corporations.1 Jonathan Lehr is recognized for his insights into enterprise technology trends and has contributed to publications such as The Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal and TechCrunch.2
Highlights
We recently had 2 startup pitches that went wildly differently.
At a high level, both meetings were for infra startups raising Seed rounds, and both had the CEO and CTO co-founders in the meeting.
In one startup pitch, the co-founders engaged quite thoughtfully. While the CEO drove most of the pitch, the CTO chimed in throughout when relevant and it made for an informative conversation. The best part is that a healthy co-founder dynamic seemed apparent based on their interactions.
In the other, the CTO actively cut off the CEO and went on wild tangents unrelated to their core pitch. They were clearly not in sync, and it made us wonder how they operate together in building their company.
This sounds obvious, but when co-founders pitch together it's critical to be in sync together. If there's a lack of rapport or respect for one another, it's an immediate negative signal about your ability to build and scale a company together.
Had a blast catching up with the inimitable @furrier for his #theCUBE x @NYSE Wired collab with @bjbaumann2014
We covered the NYC tech scene, enterprise GTM, tech trends, and more
Excited for the video to come out soon https://t.co/CaiqumOxxd
