David Lerner
Director, Venture Lab

David operates the Venture Lab @ CTV which helps launch 12-15 new faculty spinoffs each year, manages Tech Ventures' portfolio of spin-off companies, and administrates Tech Ventures' Seed Fund. During his tenure he has helped incubate/spinoff 60+ companies. Of Columbia’s 100+ historical portfolio companies: 33 were venture-backed, 9 have gone public, and 13 have been acquired. David also serves as Venture Mentor and Board Member of the Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School.

By background he is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and community organizer and was recently named one of the "top 100 most influential New Yorkers in the digital business community" by Silicon Alley Insider. He sold his first company to one of the nation’s leading providers of physical medicine and rehabilitation services and then co-founded a video management platform that raised $6 million in their Series A and sold to a publicly held company on the NASDAQ. He authors a personal blog on the subjects of entrepreneurship, early-stage investing as well as the university space.

David is a graduate of Williams College and received his JD at Washington University. He serves on the Boards of the New York Tech Meetup, the New York Venture Community and the Columbia Venture Community.

Andres Soto
Assistant Director, Venture Lab

Andres is heavily involved with structuring and spinning off new companies from the University, with the administrationmanagement of CTech Ventures’s SeedValidation Fund investments, and management of the University's interests in Tech Ventures' portfolio companies. He and David also provide entrepreneur office hours to the entire Columbia campus as a service to the entrepreneurial community.

Prior to joining the Venture Lab team at Columbia Technology Ventures, Andres spent five years founding, operating, and funding early-stage companies. During this time he served as a general partner managing the investment portfolio of an early-stage venture fund. Investment areas include the medical device, video platform, security software, skill-based gaming and new-media sectors.

Andres began his career at Brown Brothers Harriman, working for eight years with the Latin American corporate banking group, where he gained a broad range of experience in investment management, corporate finance, and structuring cross-border financial transactions.