Meet the Team: Clifford Cohn

Today we sit down with one of our investors Clifford Cohn to kick off our new WiL Team Spotlight Series! Cliff joined WiL in 2022 to focus on direct investments in software and emerging technologies. Prior to joining WiL, Cliff was at Lazard, advising mature and growth stage technology companies on M&A, capital raises, JV formation, and other strategic initiatives — and also spent several years abroad building global operational expertise. Cliff received a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

I was drawn to WiL because of its mission to drive innovation by bridging US startups and entities in Japan, and this is the first time where part of my core job is to be that bridge. I’ve learned there are so many ways we can support companies entering Japan, and in the next year I would love to provide tangible support to our companies, such as helping them set up an office in the region and hiring, or helping build commercial relationships through my personal and WiL’s network.

That all of my past experiences are somehow directly contributing to my current role. At the time, and in the moment, I felt like I was following various and sometimes conflicting personal and professional interests, but now looking back, I could say that everything went perfectly as if planned!

I started my career in a strategy role focused on ecommerce in Japan (Rakuten) and then moved to a business intelligence role at Google Japan. Having worked in Japan for a few years, connecting with both the country and my heritage, and experiencing differences in corporate cultures first hand - especially in regard to innovation and risk-taking - I knew that I eventually wanted to work cross-culturally. Then I branched out to an externally facing role leading app developer partnerships for Google in Australia and New Zealand, eventually took a hard pivot to finance with Tech Banking at Lazard, and now I’m here at WiL working across borders to help startups expand globally while driving innovation in Japan.

I try to enter every new situation with the assumption that I know less than others in the room and thus can learn that much more. This is a principle I adopted from my time abroad, particularly in Japan at Rakuten. Working in Japan at a domestic company as a foreigner and often in a language that was still challenging to me was quite the wake up call. When I first entered the company, I thought leveraging my foreign perspective would help “fix” less appealing and non-intuitive UI/UX and ultimately modernize the business. But I quickly learned that I lacked a perspective of Rakuten’s greatest asset: its merchants such as the knife maker who hails from a family of sword smiths, and the Hokkaido crabber sharing his delicious fresh catches throughout the country. It was humbling but valuable to learn from the ground up again.

Later, when I moved to Australia, I thought it would be a breeze compared to integrating into the Japanese business culture. I was wrong again! I vastly underestimated the cultural and market specific differences, and it was in my time there that I fully internalized that building trust is the first step in any successful partnership.

I’ve never considered myself a “morning person”, and I used to find myself the most energized and productive late into the evening. However, during the pandemic I became a dad – which means my own schedule no longer takes priority! Our son wakes up at 6am, which means I do as well, regardless of how late I was up the night before. I’ve learned that babies are not impressed with burning the midnight oil, unfortunately. ;)

Now I find myself getting the most done before my first meeting. I wake up and work out, do dad duties, and then try my best to get ahead of the day. This new routine has made me realize it’s better to complete tasks when I can, even if it’s not perfect, and then revisit things later with a fresh perspective.

During the pandemic with everyone at home, I started calling all sorts of friends somewhat randomly on a whim - as they popped into my head and I thought, hey how is that person doing? And people answered; some were busy and called me back, some didn’t but I got to reconnect over text, and some had time so we chatted - sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes for over two hours. It was spontaneous and went in unexpected directions, much more so compared to blocking time on a calendar.

Having lived abroad for so many years, I remember the times I used to schedule Skype calls with close friends and family. With the time differences and busy schedules, it was always a struggle and honestly sometimes felt like a chore. And how much time do you schedule…30 minutes, 1 hour? Organic conversations aren’t usually time boxed.

Nowadays with the world getting busy again, it’s harder to spontaneously call and successfully connect. Nevertheless, I learned a lot from making that small life change.

• Assume positive intent - There will be differences in communication across cultures and languages, as well as the reality that more conversation is moving from in person to Slack or other online mediums. As we collaborate more, there’s also more opportunities for miscommunication, which is why assuming positive intent is incredibly important and impactful.

• Be a contrarian - Don’t disagree for the sake of disagreeing, but actively seek to put yourself in the opposing perspective and ask tough questions when needed.

• Focus on what you can control - it’s easy to attribute poor business performance to macro conditions, but that mindset can also be deflating; instead take ownership of the levers you have control over.

• “Listen and learn” - There's no such thing as overestimating what we don’t know.

• “Do the work” - There is no substitute for hard work! You can’t rely solely on intuition or past experiences, and doing the work is the fastest path to learning.