Pear VC is a pre-seed and seed specialist run by founders-and-operators-turned-investors who 'meet mission-driven founders where they're at' and back 'entrepreneurs who are eager to solve big problems in large markets, even prior to finding the perfect solution.' Their core conviction is to 'bet on the people' first; capital 'doesn't give you direction; it amplifies the direction you already have.' Pear has seeded 200+ companies including DoorDash, Gusto, Vanta, Aurora Solar and Affinity, and now invests heavily in AI-first companies going from 0 to 1.
Founders obsessed with a specific customer and problem who can show they live close to it, not founders assembling a deck. Pear backs people willing to attack big problems in large markets even before the solution is clear.
“Pitching is more than putting numbers together in a deck. It's your opportunity to show that you're obsessed with your customer, the problem, and the path to winning.” — Raising your first round: What early-stage VCs actually look for
“We meet mission-driven founders where they're at, and we're willing to back entrepreneurs who are eager to solve big problems in large markets, even prior to finding the perfect solution.” — How We Invest - Pear VC
“The best meetings are the ones where I leave feeling excited, saying to my partners, 'This company has to exist.'” — Pepe Agell
A solution rooted in genuine customer/problem insight rather than feature polish; at pre-seed the bar is validating the idea, and for AI specifically the product should combine specialized models and proprietary data into a reliable workflow.
“Successful entrepreneurs will focus on using a mixture of specialized models fine tuned using proprietary or personal data, to a specific workflow along with retrieval augmentation and prompt engineering techniques to build reliable, intelligent applications that automate previously cumbersome processes.” — Anatomy of a Successful Artificial Intelligence Startup
“Traction is about validating the idea, not scaling it” — Pepe Agell
“We back companies early, when it's often just a co-founder with an idea.” — Arash Afrakhteh
Bottom-up market sizing (customers x revenue per customer) that proves ICP clarity and a long-term plan, in the context of the right go-to-market motion. A raw TAM number on a slide is a non-starter.
“Throwing '$2B TAM' on a slide won't cut it.” — Raising your first round: What early-stage VCs actually look for
“Show me the number of customers x revenue per customer. This tells me...how you're thinking about your business, that you're clear on your ICP, and that you have a long-term plan.” — Pepe Agell
“It's not about how big the market is on its own; it's how you're going to build value within that market.” — Pepe Agell
Stage-appropriate traction: at pre-seed, evidence the idea is validated; at seed, signs of product love over growth-at-all-costs. Pear treats traction as the most important signal but interprets it differently at every stage.
“Traction is about validating the idea, not scaling it” — Raising your first round: What early-stage VCs actually look for
“active patience” — Why Pear - Pear VC
“To successfully raise capital, you need all four to be great OR one or two to be exceptional” — Nate Hirsch
A 'Minimum Fundable Team' before raising: a deep subject-matter expert, someone who has built a product from zero, and the skill mix to ship quality fast. Pear bets on the people first and reads co-founder dynamics closely. Character (integrity, obsession, self-awareness) is non-negotiable.
“At Pear, we refer to the completeness of a team at this stage as Minimum Fundable Team or MFT.” — Minimum Fundable Team: how early team shapes seed fundraising
“Is someone on the team a deep subject matter expert with the market or product you're building?” — Nate Hirsch
“Founders who achieve MFT prior to fundraising will have a higher likelihood of success compared to those who don't.” — Nate Hirsch
“How co-founders interact — who talks, who defers, who interrupts — can reveal a lot more than what's in the pitch deck.” — Pepe Agell
A go-to-market motion matched to your customer and ACV, expressed as customers x revenue per customer. For AI, Pear wants proprietary data and human expertise as the basis for durable economics.
“An enterprise company with $100K Annual Contract Values (ACVs) needs a very different go-to-market motion than an SMB or consumer product.” — Raising your first round: What early-stage VCs actually look for
“Show me the number of customers x revenue per customer. This tells me...how you're thinking about your business, that you're clear on your ICP, and that you have a long-term plan.” — Pepe Agell
“Fine tuning models for specific use cases using proprietary data and knowledge is key for building a moat.” — Aparna Sinha
Evidence you know what competitors are doing as part of real market knowledge, plus a defensibility story. For AI, Pear looks for moats built on proprietary data and skilled human expertise rather than access to commoditized models.
“Access to proprietary data and skilled human expertise are even more important for building a moat.” — Anatomy of a Successful Artificial Intelligence Startup
“what your competitors are doing” — Pepe Agell
“Fine tuning models for specific use cases using proprietary data and knowledge is key for building a moat.” — Aparna Sinha
A credible reason this must happen now, anchored in a shift in technology, behavior or capability. Pear's own thesis is that AI is a generational platform shift on the scale of the web, making this an exceptional moment to start companies.
“2023 was the year that generative AI went mainstream. 2024 is shaping up to be the year founders put AI to work across the board.” — Pear is built to support early-stage AI founders
“Advances in these fields are game-changing, paralleling the advent of the web in the late '90s.” — Aparna Sinha
“Be clear on why now, why this, and why you.” — Pepe Agell
Clarity not just on how much to raise but why, with milestones the capital unlocks. Pear sees capital as an amplifier of existing direction, not a substitute for it, and wants the ask to answer why now, why this, why you.
“Capital doesn't give you direction; it amplifies the direction you already have.” — Raising your first round: What early-stage VCs actually look for
“Be clear on why now, why this, and why you.” — Pepe Agell
“We guide founders through a disciplined process of refining their pitch decks, sometimes going through 30 iterations to get the story just right.” — Ajay Kamat
“To make a company succeed, you should think in terms of and, not or. Team and market and execution. Hard work and smart work. Tough times and good times.”
“Create your own opportunities.”
“Pitching is more than putting numbers together in a deck. It's your opportunity to show that you're obsessed with your customer, the problem, and the path to winning.”
“Access to proprietary data and skilled human expertise are even more important for building a moat.”