Come join Pear as our Head of Talent!
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2021 Update: We learned a great deal last year about what a Head of Talent would mean to us and our founders. Today, we are as excited and focused as ever to find a Head of Talent to join the Pear team. To that end, we have updated the following post to reflect current expectations and best role description.
In order to create a more inclusive venture ecosystem, it’s important that funds like Pear continue to post open roles publicly. We are committed to building a diverse team internally, across our portfolio, and within the other Pear programs.
Pear’s founding story
The funny thing is that none of us quite set out to be VC’s. Pejman was a rug salesman in Palo Alto whose customers were changing the world with technology. Mar was a two-time entrepreneur who’d built highly technical companies after finishing her Stanford PhD in electrical engineering. It’s no surprise that when they joined forces to create what would later become Pear, they started by relentlessly focusing on building a home for founders.
Seven years later, with a third fund of $160M, that ethos is still the core of who we are. Every partner who’s joined after Pejman and Mar has done so not because they want to “look at deals,” but because they want, most of all, to work with founders. We consider ourselves founders with a checkbook rather than investors, and it’s why founders love us.
Pear in 2021
Pear partners with founders from 0 to 1. We’re experts in helping companies go from the idea (0) to Seed (0.5) to eventually raising a Series A (1). We provide hands-on support in product, growth, recruiting, and fundraising. Our Partners have founded & sold six companies and have invested early in startups now worth over $40 Billion. We have been fortunate to partner with the founders of DoorDash, Gusto, Branch, Guardant Health, and many more. While our LPs may judge us on our funds' performance, we judge ourselves on the experience we provide our founders.
The Role
You will work with the Pear team to craft the best strategy for our Talent initiative. Based on our experience working with founders and the early-stage focus of our firm, some responsibilities of the Head of Talent will include:
- Devising and implementing a curriculum for founders to learn about recruiting and talent from Pear.
- Forming relationships with founders and key stakeholders at Pear portfolio companies.
- Advising and coaching companies throughout their recruiting cycle.
- Sourcing candidates for our early-stage companies.
- Speaking to early-stage companies about Pear’s Talent offerings.
- Contribute to the platform of recommended talent-related vendors, resources, and content to offer Pear founders.
What we’re looking for
Although Pear is a VC fund, we think of ourselves as a startup. At other VC funds, it is rare to find a Head of Talent that sources candidates. While later-stage funds are focused on helping their companies make executive hires, we are constantly being asked to help with “first” hires (engineers, designers, sales, etc). We’re looking for someone scrappy who likes getting their hands dirty while also having the knowledge to be a thought partner to our portfolio companies.
You will probably have between 5 and 10 years of experience, although this is not a hard requirement. We’re looking for someone with enough knowledge to hit the ground running but not with too much seniority such that you are unwilling to get into the weeds with our companies.
The ideal candidate most likely will have worked in recruiting at a startup, technical recruiting at a search firm, and/or in the talent function of a VC fund.
That being said, as long as you think you can be successful in this role, we would be happy to consider you as a candidate. From our years of investing, we know that VC is often a game of exceptions.
