About Us
Founded by Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford, Entrepreneurs First is a category-defining global investor in entrepreneurial talent.
Pioneers of global talent investing
You don’t need decades of experience to build a technology startup. Your ability to become a founder is simply defined by the act of getting started.Matt Clifford, Cofounder and Chairman of Entrepreneurs First
Our leadership team
Alice Bentinck
Cofounder and CEO
Alice is cofounder and CEO at Entrepreneurs First, which she started with Matt.
She co-authored the book ‘How to be a Founder’ with Matt as an essential guide on how entrepreneurs can identify, fund, and launch their best ideas.
Alice cofounded the non-profit organisation Code First Girls, which has since taught over 250,000 women to code for free. She now sits on the board.
Alice started her career at McKinsey & Co. She was awarded an MBE for services to business in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours. She was selected for the British Prime Minister’s Business Council in 2022.
Alice lives in San Francisco.
She co-authored the book ‘How to be a Founder’ with Matt as an essential guide on how entrepreneurs can identify, fund, and launch their best ideas.
Alice cofounded the non-profit organisation Code First Girls, which has since taught over 250,000 women to code for free. She now sits on the board.
Alice started her career at McKinsey & Co. She was awarded an MBE for services to business in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours. She was selected for the British Prime Minister’s Business Council in 2022.
Alice lives in San Francisco.
Matt Clifford
Cofounder and Chair
Matt is cofounder and Chair of Entrepreneurs First, which he started with Alice.
He is also the co-author of ‘How to be a Founder’ and sits on the board of Code First Girls, which he cofounded.
Matt is Chair of ARIA, the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency, which funds breakthrough R&D. In 2023 he was appointed the UK Prime Minister’s Lead Representative for the inaugural AI Safety Summit hosted by the UK at Bletchley Park. In 2025 he was appointed the UK Prime Minister’s Adviser on AI Opportunities.
Matt holds degrees from Cambridge and MIT, where he was a Kennedy Scholar. He was awarded a CBE for services to AI in 2024. He was also named in the 2024 TIME100 list of most influential people in AI.
He is also the co-author of ‘How to be a Founder’ and sits on the board of Code First Girls, which he cofounded.
Matt is Chair of ARIA, the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency, which funds breakthrough R&D. In 2023 he was appointed the UK Prime Minister’s Lead Representative for the inaugural AI Safety Summit hosted by the UK at Bletchley Park. In 2025 he was appointed the UK Prime Minister’s Adviser on AI Opportunities.
Matt holds degrees from Cambridge and MIT, where he was a Kennedy Scholar. He was awarded a CBE for services to AI in 2024. He was also named in the 2024 TIME100 list of most influential people in AI.
Tom Shinner
Partner and COO
Tom is COO of Entrepreneurs First, which he joined in September 2019.
Tom joined EF from the UK Civil Service, having served on the main board of two departments - as Director of Strategy at the Department for Education, and for the last three years as the director at DExEU coordinating the UK Government's domestic policy and technical implementation of Brexit.
Tom founded a school in South London and now is the Chair of Trustees. He sits on the board of Unlocked Graduates.
Tom started his career at McKinsey & Co., serving in the London and Middle East offices. He studied at the University of Oxford, where he was shortlisted for the All Souls prize fellowship.
Tom joined EF from the UK Civil Service, having served on the main board of two departments - as Director of Strategy at the Department for Education, and for the last three years as the director at DExEU coordinating the UK Government's domestic policy and technical implementation of Brexit.
Tom founded a school in South London and now is the Chair of Trustees. He sits on the board of Unlocked Graduates.
Tom started his career at McKinsey & Co., serving in the London and Middle East offices. He studied at the University of Oxford, where he was shortlisted for the All Souls prize fellowship.
Jonny Clifford
Partner and General Manager, London
Jonny is a Partner in London. He has been deeply involved in building companies such as Papers with Code (acquired by Meta), Sonantic (acquired by Spotify), Gensyn (a16z), Omnea (Accel, FirstRound), Magdrive (Founders Fund), Opply (Index Ventures).
He previously ran the sales team for a Series A funded edtech startup in the UK, having joined them as one of their first employees. He studied Mathematics at Warwick University.
He previously ran the sales team for a Series A funded edtech startup in the UK, having joined them as one of their first employees. He studied Mathematics at Warwick University.
Rahul Samat
Partner and General Manager, Bangalore
Rahul is a Partner in Bangalore. He has built companies at EF that have raised from some of the US’s best VCs including Felicis and Matrix Partners.
He joined Swiggy, one of India’s fastest growing startups, to create their private brands business from pre-idea to a business unit that scaled into tens of millions of transactions. He has a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
He joined Swiggy, one of India’s fastest growing startups, to create their private brands business from pre-idea to a business unit that scaled into tens of millions of transactions. He has a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Joe Ros
Partner and General Manager, North America
Joe is a Partner in San Francisco. He’s been at EF since 2017 and has been part of the company building journey of some of our best companies, including Eigen (Benchmark), Scarlet (Creandum), Peripheral (Khosla Ventures) and Neptune Robotics (Granite Asia). Before joining the EF team, Joe was a founder, software engineer, and early stage startup employee working in online games, edtech, and legaltech.
He is also an EF alum, founding a legal tech startup as a member of our third cohort in London.
He is also an EF alum, founding a legal tech startup as a member of our third cohort in London.
Elspeth Lawson
Partner and Deputy CPO
Elspeth is Partner and Deputy CPO at EF. She joined in 2016, working on the first programs in London before moving to Paris to set up and lead the Program team. After returning to London, Elspeth led the Program team and then transitioned to Deputy CPO working alongside Alice to build out our programs in new locations.
Prior to EF, Elspeth worked for Clifford Chance in Paris and at Change.org. In her spare time, Elspeth loves fitness and regularly takes willing team members to new crossfit and spin classes across London.
Prior to EF, Elspeth worked for Clifford Chance in Paris and at Change.org. In her spare time, Elspeth loves fitness and regularly takes willing team members to new crossfit and spin classes across London.
Max Neuberger
General Counsel
Max is General Counsel at Entrepreneurs First and is the Head of the Legal and Compliance Teams. Prior to EF he was General Counsel at Bloc Ventures, a deep tech venture capital company.
Max has been practicing law for more than 15 years, initially as a M&A lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills before moving in-house to Virgin Management, the Branson family office.
Max has been practicing law for more than 15 years, initially as a M&A lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills before moving in-house to Virgin Management, the Branson family office.
Isabel Bescos
Partner and General Manager, San Francisco
Isabel is a Partner in San Francisco who leads our SF Launch program. Isabel has worked with companies that have raised from some of the world’s best investors, including Benchmark, Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures.
Before joining EF she was a founder (backed by Balderton), was Head of Corporate Strategy for European Unicorn BlaBlaCar and was a VC investor at Balderton Capital. She was also a psychology & research assistant at Harvard Medical School.
Before joining EF she was a founder (backed by Balderton), was Head of Corporate Strategy for European Unicorn BlaBlaCar and was a VC investor at Balderton Capital. She was also a psychology & research assistant at Harvard Medical School.
Mike Phillips
Partner, London
Mike is the Partner that runs The Bridge. Since joining EF in 2019, he's helped hundreds of entrepreneurs find their cofounder and build world-changing companies, like Omnipresent, Gensyn, Opply, and Ochre Bio.
Before EF, Mike was the founder of a cross-continental P2P lending startup and spent time in Sales for Fintech startups. He splits his time between London and San Francisco.
Before EF, Mike was the founder of a cross-continental P2P lending startup and spent time in Sales for Fintech startups. He splits his time between London and San Francisco.
Max Mugnaioni
Principal, London
Max is a Principal in the London investment team at EF. He’s responsible for finding potential founders who are early in their career or graduating from top academic institutions. Whilst at EF, he has helped to build companies like Scope (Susa Ventures, SignalFire), Level Zero Health (Redalpine), Wexler.ai (Pear), Delfa (Air Street Capital) and Fleetcraft (Susa Ventures).
Max moved into the talent investing team after acting as EF’s in-house counsel, working on follow-on investments and M&A in the EF portfolio and helping EF raise its recent follow-on fund.
Before EF, Max practised as a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis focussing on private equity transactions for the likes of Carlyle, Bain, Cinven and Warburg Pincus.
Max moved into the talent investing team after acting as EF’s in-house counsel, working on follow-on investments and M&A in the EF portfolio and helping EF raise its recent follow-on fund.
Before EF, Max practised as a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis focussing on private equity transactions for the likes of Carlyle, Bain, Cinven and Warburg Pincus.
Ali Susskind
Principal, NORTH AMERICA
Ali is a Principal in the U.S., responsible for finding and backing the most exceptional individuals to become the next generation of founders. Since joining EF in 2018, she has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and built some of EF’s most successful early teams.
Initially part of the London team, Ali helped identify exceptional individuals to build early-stage companies like Gensyn (a16z), Unitary (Creandum), Omnea (Khosla Ventures, Insight Partners, Accel, FirstRound, Point Nine), and Scarlet (Creandum). She also led EF’s Product team, working closely with teams across EF globally and with customers to design and deliver the most effective founder experience in every location.
Since 2023, Ali has been in the U.S., launching EF and helping to build companies such as Icarus Robotics (Soma Capital, Xtal), Peripheral (Khosla Ventures), and ZeroEntropy (Initialized Capital).
Initially part of the London team, Ali helped identify exceptional individuals to build early-stage companies like Gensyn (a16z), Unitary (Creandum), Omnea (Khosla Ventures, Insight Partners, Accel, FirstRound, Point Nine), and Scarlet (Creandum). She also led EF’s Product team, working closely with teams across EF globally and with customers to design and deliver the most effective founder experience in every location.
Since 2023, Ali has been in the U.S., launching EF and helping to build companies such as Icarus Robotics (Soma Capital, Xtal), Peripheral (Khosla Ventures), and ZeroEntropy (Initialized Capital).
Julia Denoly-Lepic
Principal, The Bridge
Julia is a Principal Investor based in Paris. Since joining EF in September 2024, she has helped build companies including Eigen, Uncovr, Certo, or Tellia.
As a former founder herself, Julia leads the launch of EF’s newest U.S. residency product, The Bridge. She travels across Europe to build relationships with outstanding technical and commercial individuals and supports their transition into company building from EF’s San Francisco house.
Prior to EF, Julia was a founder and commercial operator. She cofounded two tech ventures, including Newtone AI, an EF portfolio company where she served as CEO, and previously held sales and strategy roles at companies such as LVMH and Otrium. She approaches talent investing with strong founder empathy, delivering a programme between the U.S. and Europe.
As a former founder herself, Julia leads the launch of EF’s newest U.S. residency product, The Bridge. She travels across Europe to build relationships with outstanding technical and commercial individuals and supports their transition into company building from EF’s San Francisco house.
Prior to EF, Julia was a founder and commercial operator. She cofounded two tech ventures, including Newtone AI, an EF portfolio company where she served as CEO, and previously held sales and strategy roles at companies such as LVMH and Otrium. She approaches talent investing with strong founder empathy, delivering a programme between the U.S. and Europe.
Carl Bishop
Head of Funds
Carl leads EF’s follow-on investments and portfolio management as Head of Funds, continuing to back EF founders up to Series B, and supporting them with fundraising along the way. As the Fund function’s first employee, he has helped build and scale the firm’s investment management function over the last seven years, across multiple fund vintages.
Before joining EF, Carl graduated from the University of Exeter and began his career at Mondrian Investment Partners, a public equities asset manager.
Alongside his career, he built and sold an e-commerce business, which he exited to a US-based conglomerate in 2021.
Before joining EF, Carl graduated from the University of Exeter and began his career at Mondrian Investment Partners, a public equities asset manager.
Alongside his career, he built and sold an e-commerce business, which he exited to a US-based conglomerate in 2021.