Hilarie Koplow-McAdams brings an unusual operator-first perspective to NEA, having spent decades in senior go-to-market roles at companies like Salesforce, New Relic, Intuit, and Oracle before becoming a venture investor. She's one of the few VCs who has actually run large enterprise sales organizations and served as president of multiple high-growth SaaS companies, making her especially valuable to founders who need hands-on coaching on practical topics like pricing, quota setting, and building customer success teams.

• A strong focus on enterprise infrastructure and developer tools, evident in her enthusiasm for companies like Sentry and TimescaleDB that handle observability and database management. She also highlights back-office efficiency through investments in modern billing solutions like Metronome and security posture platforms such as SafeBase.
• Interest in the evolution of customer experience and user interface customization. She frequently shares updates on how low-code platforms like PixieBrix and e-commerce solutions like Bloomreach are driving the next generation of personalized web applications and post-cookie marketing.
• Appreciation for female leadership and operational strategy in large retail organizations. She has praised the flexibility strategies implemented by executives at Home Depot and shared inspiring interviews with female CEOs, such as the leader of Dick's Sporting Goods, focusing on their management styles.
• Deep personal commitment to pancreatic cancer awareness and research advocacy. She often shares her involvement with the PanCAN organization and fundraising efforts like PurpleStride to honor her late father, signaling a passion for medical breakthroughs and charitable causes.
• Attention to the tactical mechanics of scaling a business, such as understanding the drivers of churn or navigating the transition to becoming a public company. She shares educational content on financial leadership and metrics that drive material growth for startups.