Isabelle Phelps

Isabelle Phelps is a Partner at Lerer Hippeau, the New York–based early-stage venture capital firm known for backing seed-stage consumer and enterprise companies. A Seattle native, she earned a BA from Williams College (2008–2012), including a year in the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford University (2010–2011), and later completed an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management (2016–2018).

Before business school, Phelps worked in operations, business planning, and marketing strategy at eBay Enterprise and at Yahoo. During her MBA, she built early-stage investing experience as an investing partner at the student-run Dorm Room Fund and as a Fellow with InSITE, a student-managed startup consultancy. She first connected with Lerer Hippeau as a Summer Associate in 2017.

She joined Lerer Hippeau full-time as an Associate on the investment team in June 2018, focusing on identifying and supporting seed-stage companies across consumer and enterprise sectors. She was elevated through the firm's 2021 round of team promotions and now serves as a Partner, where she leads deals and sits with portfolio founders from seed through follow-on rounds. (Note: the stub data listing her as an "Associate" at an "Angel" firm is outdated — she is a Partner deploying Lerer Hippeau's institutional fund.)

• Invests at the seed stage, with selective Series A follow-on participation; typical checks run roughly $500K–$3M, with a sweet spot near $1.5M–$2M.
• Sector-agnostic within the firm's wheelhouse: consumer internet, enterprise software and infrastructure, AI, fintech, healthcare, and proptech.
• Emphasizes founder quality and technical credibility — in the Augmodo deal, Lerer Hippeau cited the CEO's "technical vision and credibility" and being "compelled by the huge opportunity in this space."
• Looks for evidence a startup can navigate hard, real-world go-to-market (e.g., she highlighted how Augmodo handled "notoriously long and complex sales cycles in retail" and generated strong inbound demand).
• In her own words on what energizes her: she enjoys "sitting down with entrepreneurs to learn about their vision, market, and technology," and values Lerer Hippeau's "deep operating experience, a collaborative approach to investing, and comprehensive support."