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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, an enterprise-focused venture capital firm based in New York City.12 He has been in this role since June 2013, focusing on early-stage enterprise technology investments.13
Key aspects of Jonathan Lehr's career and achievements include:
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Work-Bench: As Co-Founder and General Partner, Lehr leads seed investments in enterprise software startups across the United States, with a focus on AI/Machine Learning, Dev Tools/Cloud Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and Application Layer Software.23
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NY Enterprise Technology Meetup: Lehr founded this meetup in December 2011, which has grown to over 10,000 members and hosts monthly events featuring demos from enterprise tech companies.12
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Previous Experience: Before Work-Bench, Lehr worked at Morgan Stanley as an Associate from May 2010 to June 2013, where he focused on bringing emerging technology to internal IT groups.1
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Education: Lehr holds a BSE in Bioengineering, Mathematics, and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.1
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Investment Portfolio: Work-Bench's portfolio includes notable exits such as CoreOS (acquired by Red Hat for $250M) and Kensho (acquired by S&P Global for $550M).1
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Community Building: Lehr has been instrumental in building a dynamic enterprise tech community in NYC and beyond, organizing events and connecting startup founders with Fortune 500 executives and VCs.23
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Thought Leadership: He has written about enterprise technology trends for publications such as The Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal and TechCrunch.4
Jonathan Lehr's LinkedIn username is indeed jonathan-lehr-97aa118, as mentioned in the query.1
Highlights
The quiet shift inside large enterprises: AI Centers of Excellence are taking control.
The “backdoor” paths that used to get AI startups in the door are closing:
• Innovation teams • Labs and Tech BD groups • A single hungry business-unit sponsor
If it says “GenAI,” it now triggers:
→ Enhanced procurement → Mandatory AI CoE + architecture review → Build vs. buy debate → “Should we just wait 6 months?”
One champion is no longer enough.
What used to be a 1-thread sale is now a 4-thread political process (AI CoE + architecture + platform + business).
More veto points. Slower cycles. Louder internal “we’ll build it” voices.
Enterprise sales was always hard. Now it’s political chess. ♟️
AI Founders and Sales leaders selling into large enterprises, are you seeing the same or anything different?
Pumped for this conversation with @alexklein0x to go live!
We first met on Twitter, then linked up in NYC, and his community-first approach to his craft and creativity in rethinking exec talent aligns with our values at @Work_Bench.
We covered a ton of ground. Hope you enjoy 🙏

