Lerer Hippeau is a New York-native seed fund founded by former media and tech operators (Huffington Post, SoftBank, Yahoo) who backed NYC startups before the city had an established tech ecosystem and now run the firm like a startup with lean teams and internal technology. They operate as "seed first, New York first" generalists who have backed culture-defining consumer brands like BuzzFeed, Warby Parker, and Glossier while maintaining a dense network where dozens of portfolio founders are also LPs in their funds and roughly two-thirds of companies are New York-based.