Stephanie Manning Cohen, The "People-First" VC Operator

March 2, 2020

Happy Women's History Month! In celebration of this month, we're so thrilled to highlight a female trailblazer in the world of VC. Stephanie Manning Cohen is the Director of Platform at Lerer Hippeau, the most active early-stage venture capital fund in New York, with investments in Allbirds, Casper, and Glossier etc.

In this feature, Stephanie shares with us how she started her career in campus recruiting, her unexpected pivot to VC, and how her role as Director of Platform has evolved over the past few years. Read along to soak up her incredible career advice for ambitious women, such as yourself.

Early Career

You graduated from Colgate University and immediately began your career in recruiting. How did the skills you learned in your first job situate you well for your next step in your career?

I started my career in campus recruiting at AppNexus. Campus recruiting is a unique blend of talent acquisition, program management, people development, marketing, and events which gave me a breadth of skills in my first job. At the time, AppNexus was a sub-300 person startup which meant everyone wore many hats and our teams were pretty lean. My job forced me to master the skills of juggling competing priorities, organization, and managing up -- three skills that are immensely important in any role. Additionally, being part of the People team showed me how critical it is for companies, especially growing startups, to find, hire, and retain their talent. The role made me a “people-first operator” which I have carried with me since then.

Your second job was at the VC Fund, Work-Bench. What initially drove you to enter the world of VC?

To be honest, I wasn’t solely focused on getting into venture after AppNexus. I felt pigeon-holed into campus recruiting/talent acquisition and I wanted an opportunity to expand my skill set. Work-Bench, an enterprise tech venture fund was looking for a Community Associate - someone with experience with events, education & program management, and story-telling. The role aligned well with my past experience and the more I learned about venture, the more excited I got about working with many companies and their founders.

Lerer Hippeau

What does your role as the Director of Platform at Lerer Hippeau entail? What does your day-to-day look like?

Today in @forbes: Our Director of Platform @stephmanningcohen shares data and insights on the fastest-growing areas of VC platform: talent, marketing, and events. Read her op-ed via link in our bio. 👏

104 Likes, 3 Comments - Lerer Hippeau (@lererhippeau) on Instagram: "Today in @forbes: Our Director of Platform @stephmanningcohen shares data and insights on the..."

No day is ever the same which is what I really love about my job; it’s never boring. A sample day can consist of running a breakfast roundtable for our portfolio company CTOs, participating in our partner meeting where we discuss and make investment decisions, and getting coffee with a SME in performance marketing to see how she can consult with some of our portfolio companies. The common thread through most of my days is building and interacting with the Lerer Hippeau network - our team, portfolio founders and their employees, leaders in the tech ecosystem, and other VCs.

You’ve been at Lerer Hippeau as the Director of Platform for almost 3 years. How has your role evolved over the past 3 years, and what keeps you energized about your work?

As I mentioned in my previous answer, no day is ever the same which keeps me energized and on my toes. As the Director of Platform, it’s my job to ensure my team and I provide the best post-investment support and services that address the most pressing areas of need for our early-stage founders. We are always investing in new companies and with that comes new, niche areas of need for us to help with. The biggest turning point in my 3 years was when I started to build a team; I knew we needed to double down in marketing and talent so I hired two teammates to lead those pillars. Managing is a whole new skill set and as a manager, I’m always evolving and learning new things.

Lerer Hippeau has made investments in some incredibly popular female-founded D2C brands, including Glossier, Lola, and WayUp. How does working with such inspiring female founders influence your personal career development?

I’m really proud to work at a firm that is known for being one of the most active investors in female founded companies. It’s important to see yourself (in this case, as a female) represented in the senior most level of a company. It shows that anything is possible. With that being said, our industry still has a long way to go in terms of diversifying (not just gender) founders and funders (GPs).

Advice

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out your career? With time, mentorship will come. I remember hearing so much about finding a mentor, and building your board and at the age of 23, I worried I didn’t have that and never would. As you build your career, work with more people, report to new managers, have more direct reports, some of those people will become your most trusted advisors.

What advice do you have for young women who want to enter VC?

Understand the why and the what. Why are you interested in this industry and role and what are you interested in (operating/platform, investing in a specific stage, category, geography). My colleague and I put together a ton of content on the topic here, here, and here. I also always reference Ellie Wheeler of Greycroft’s Airtable doc.
VC roles are sometimes hard to come by, VCs don’t scale the way startups do so if you’re not finding VC roles during a job search, consider joining a startup. In my opinion, startup operating experience is a great precursor to a career in VC.
Network! Ask for intros when you can, send thoughtful cold emails (that’s how I got my job at Work-Bench), and attend events.