The Vitalize Podcast

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Pejman Nozad (@pejmannozad), the Co-Founder and Founding Managing Partner of Pear VC, a firm specializing in seed stage investments that partners with founders at the earliest stages to turn great ideas into category-defining companies. Over the past two decades, he has been a seed investor in some of the most iconic tech companies including Doordash, Dropbox, Applovin, Gusto, Guardant Health, Branch, Aurora Solar, Soundhound, CourseHero, and others.

As an immigrant from Iran, Pejman did not take the typical path towards becoming a VC. After arriving in the U.S., he lived in an attic above a yogurt shop and then worked at a rug store in downtown Palo Alto. He immersed himself in the vanguard of technology and slowly, with a few small investments, developed a reputation for both identifying talent and taking promising ideas to the next level.

Pejman lives in California with his wife, Mania, and their two children. He was included in the Forbes Midas List in 2021 and 2022 and ranked #1 in the U.S. (#2 in the world) on the Forbes Midas Seed List in 2022.

Website: Pear VC

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pejman/

Twitter: @pejmannozad

Email: [email protected]

Show Notes:

• Pejman’s fascinating background and journey from Iranian soccer player to carwash and yogurt shop employee to rug salesman to investor
• Where Pejman derives his impressive work ethic
• What compelled Pejman to capitalize on the opportunity to transition from rug salesman to venture capitalist
• What makes a great sales person
• How Pejman was able to break into the industry and establish himself as a great investor and partner
• Fostering authentic connection in an over-networked society
• Building Pear as an institution to serve founders at the earliest stages
• Taking 4 years to convince Mar Hershenson to partner with him and start a fund together
• The process of raising their first fund while building community at Stanford
• What differentiates Pear
• Pear’s model and building their platform
• Pejman’s big vision for Pear
• What they look for in founders at Pear
• Why he prefers to get to know founders in person before investing in them
• What drives Pejman today
• What makes Pear a great partner

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale – https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline – https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin – https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/