Matt Cohler Explained

Matt Cohler
Birth Place:New York City, US
Alma Mater:Yale University
Occupation:Venture Capitalist
Employer:General Partner at Benchmark
Known For:Former VP of Product Management, Facebook
Spouse:Pia Pernille Øien Cohler

Matt Cohler (born March 27, 1977) is an American venture capitalist. He worked as Vice President of Product Management for Facebook until June 2008[1] and was formerly a general partner at Benchmark.[2] [3] [4] Cohler has been named to the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors[5] and in 2019 was named to the New York Times and CB Insights list of top 10 venture capital investors.[6] Cohler made the Forbes 'America's 40 Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40' list in 2015.[7]

Education and early career

Cohler earned a B.A. with honors and distinction in music from Yale University.[8]

Early in his career, Cohler worked in China and was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.[9] He befriended Reid Hoffman and went on to become a founding member of Hoffman's startup LinkedIn.[10] Cohler was vice president and general manager at LinkedIn and was considered CEO Hoffman's right-hand man.[11]

Cohler was one of the first five employees hired at Facebook.[1] He was Facebook's vice president of product management and worked with the team during many of its critical growth phases. He continued to act as a"special advisor" to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.[12] In 2008, he left Facebook and became the youngest general partner at Benchmark.

Benchmark

At Benchmark, Cohler has backed the firm's investments in Dropbox, Asana, Quora, Greenhouse,[13] Domo, Tinder,[14] Duo Security, DeepL, Edmodo, ResearchGate, 1stdibs, Peixe Urbano, CouchSurfing, Baixing, and Zendesk.[15] [16] In 2011, he led a $7 million round of funding for Instagram,[17] which agreed in April 2012 to be acquired by Facebook for $1 billion.[18] In March 2014, Cohler led Benchmark's investment in Xapo, a Bitcoin wallet/insured cold storage vault.[19] [20]

Cohler sits on the boards of Asana, Quora,[21] ResearchGate,[22] and 1stdibs.

In 2018, it was announced that Cohler would "step back" from Benchmark and not be a part of their next fund. Although he departed the Benchmark fund, he was expected to continue to hold his board seats, including at Uber.[23] Cohler later left the Uber board in July 2019, at the same time as Arianna Huffington.[24]

Additional affiliations

Cohler is vice president of the San Francisco Symphony board of governors,[25] [26] board trustee at Environmental Defense Fund,[27] and a member of the endowment investment committees at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative[28] and the Yale Investments Office.[29]

Politics

In April 2013, a lobbying group called FWD.us (aimed at lobbying for immigration reform and improvements to education) was launched, with Cohler listed as one of the founders.[30]

Notes and References

  1. News: Facebook's Matt Cohler leaves for Benchmark Capital. June 19, 2008. VentureBeat. January 11, 2011 . Anthony . Ha.
  2. Web site: Bill Gurley is stepping away from an active role at Benchmark, 21 years after joining the firm. TechCrunch. 22 April 2020 . en-US. 2020-04-23.
  3. Kincaid, J. (October 29, 2008). "VCs Speak on the Economic Downturn: Batten Down the Hatches", TechCrunch.
  4. Web site: Schleifer. Theodore. 2018-10-01. One of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley, Matt Cohler, will step back at Benchmark. 2020-12-14. Vox. en.
  5. Web site:
    1. 68 Matt Cohler
    . The Midas List Tech's Top Investors. Forbes. 22 August 2012.
  6. News: Griffith. Erin. 2019-03-31. These Silicon Valley Investors' Bets May Pay Off (Published 2019). en-US. The New York Times. 2020-12-14. 0362-4331.
  7. Web site: America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40. Forbes. 24 November 2015.
  8. News: Tsotsis. Alexia. Path's Dave Morin And Benchmark Capital's Matt Cohler Will Join Us At Disrupt SF!. 22 August 2012. TechCrunch. 25 July 2012.
  9. News: Facebook's Matt Cohler to Benchmark. June 19, 2008. AllThings D. January 11, 2011 . Kara . Swisher.
  10. News: Sengupta. Somini. A Circle of Tech: Collect Payout, Do a Start-Up. 22 August 2012. The New York Times. 9 May 2012.
  11. Book: The Facebook Effect. Kirkpatrick, David. 105.
  12. Big Loss: Matt Cohler Leaves Facebook. https://web.archive.org/web/20101227220312/http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/06/big_loss_matt_cohler_leaves_facebook.html. dead. December 27, 2010. June 19, 2008. Businessweek. January 11, 2011 . Spencer . Ante.
  13. Web site: Constine. Josh. Greenhouse Rakes In $13.6M B From Benchmark To Save You From Recruiting Hell. www.techcrunch.com. 11 March 2015 . 16 March 2015.
  14. Web site: Swisher. Kara. 2014-10-28. Sweat Equity: Benchmark Takes Stake in Tinder in Exchange for Matt Cohler Joining Board. 2020-12-14. Vox. en.
  15. Web site: Bort. Julie. The "Facebook Mafia" Is On The Rise In Silicon Valley . 9 April 2012. News. Business Insider. 17 March 2016.
  16. News: Lawler. Ryan. Two-Factor Authentication Startup Duo Security Raises $12 Million From Benchmark. 30 September 2014. TechCrunch. TechCrunch. 22 September 2014. TechCrunch.
  17. News: McCarthy. Caroline. Path, Instagram, and what the 'Facebook mafia' sees. 22 August 2012. CNET. 2 February 2011.
  18. News: Levy. Ari. Benchmark Capital Scores With Instagram, Demandforce and IPOs. 22 August 2012. Bloomberg. 27 April 2012.
  19. News: Saitto. Serena. Benchmark Backs Bitcoin Secure Storage Provider Xapo. 17 March 2014. Bloomberg. 14 March 2014.
  20. Web site: Introducing Xapo. Blog post. Xapo Blog. 17 March 2014.
  21. News: Arrington. Michael. Quora Has The Magic: Benchmark Invests at $86 Million Valuation. 22 August 2012. TechCrunch. 28 March 2010.
  22. News: Arrington. Michael. Benchmark And Accel Partners Reach Across The Atlantic To Fund ResearchGATE. 22 August 2012. TechCrunch. 8 September 2010.
  23. Web site: One of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley, Matt Cohler, will step back at Benchmark. Schleifer. Theodore. 2018-10-01. Vox. en. 2020-04-23.
  24. Web site: Uber loses two more board members: Arianna Huffington and Matt Cohler. Feiner. Lauren. 2019-07-24. CNBC. en. 2020-04-23.
  25. Web site: Board of Governors. 15 December 2020. Board & Staff. San Francisco Symphony.
  26. News: Cooper. Michael. 2018-12-05. San Francisco Symphony Lands a Disrupter: Esa-Pekka Salonen (Published 2018). en-US. The New York Times. 2020-12-15. 0362-4331.
  27. Web site: Board of trustees. 2020-12-14. Environmental Defense Fund. en.
  28. Web site: 2018-12-14. David Lee Named Chief Investment Officer for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 2020-12-14. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. en-US.
  29. Web site: The Investment Committee. 2020-12-14. Yale Investments Office. en-US.
  30. Web site: Our supporters . FWD.us . 2013-04-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130416045611/http://www.fwd.us/our_supporters . 2013-04-16 .

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