Jonathan Lehr is the Co-Founder and General Partner of Work-Bench, the NYC early-stage enterprise firm managing $375M across four funds with investments in companies such as Socure, Spring Health, and Cockroach Labs.
In this conversation, we walk through the origin story of Work-Bench, how the team planted a flag in New York’s enterprise ecosystem, the role of community in their model, and the experience of navigating institutional LPs as an emerging manager. Jonathan also shares how Work-Bench evaluates early GTM strength, lessons from backing category-defining companies, and what is ahead as the firm raises Fund IV.
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Timestamps:
0:00 — Welcome Jonathan Lehr to The Rise
0:45 — Planting the Flag in NYC’s Enterprise Ecosystem
3:03 — The Enterprise Tech Meetup: Bridging Corporates and Startups
5:39 — Raising Fund I to $160M: The Early Grind
7:44 — How NYC’s Tech Landscape Evolved
9:58 — Institutional LPs: Navigating Process, Challenges, and Momentum
14:55 — Portfolio Deep Dive: Spring Health and Socure
24:05 — How Work-Bench Evaluates Startups & GTM Strength
26:12 — Community as a Durable Moat
31:23 — Go-to-Market Lessons From the Portfolio
33:53 — Preparing Founders for the Series A
40:16 — Raising Fund IV: What’s Changing
44:42 — Shoutouts & Emerging Managers to Watch
48:30 — Thank You Jonathan — Like & Subscribe
#venturecapital #investing #podcast #vc #startup #tech
