When we decided to build a talent function at Pear, we set out to directly hire the most important early team members for our founders. At the core of that commitment is a promise to extend hands-on support to every company we invest in.
Today, we’re excited to share that we’ve now made 200 hires for Pear companies. To mark the occasion, we wanted to share a few observations about what we’ve seen in the market since our last post on the first 100 hires — 13 months ago.
Non-technical hires are joining earlier
It’s now common for the second or third non-founder hire to be non-technical. Companies are building more with less, and teams are pulling these roles forward to accelerate their growth.
Founding Engineers and AEs are still the hardest roles to fill
Demand for these roles is increasing, but supply remains limited, especially among candidates willing to take on early-stage risk. The number of people ready to step into true zero-to-one roles, with minimal structure and uncertain reward, is small.
They’re also the hardest roles to succeed in
Founders are often hiring someone to take on work they’ve already been doing themselves. The bar is high, the scope is vague, and the standard, set by the founder’s own execution, can be near impossible to match. Not only is it a demanding job, it’s one with a high chance of failure.
Remote-first is increasingly rare
Very few companies founded after 2022 are remote-first. Most early teams require in-office presence 3–5 days a week. That’s become the default, regardless of geography or stage.
Talent density is as much about perception as it is about reality
The belief that a team operates at a high talent bar makes it easier to attract exceptional candidates. That perception is often shaped less by the team’s actual capabilities and more by external signals — including brand, narrative, and how selectively the company hires.
Coding interviews are giving way to deeper evaluations
Teams are moving away from generic technical screens. Instead, they’re investing more time in working sessions, trials, and other formats that surface real signal, even if it takes longer.
LinkedIn continues to fall short
It remains the default sourcing tool and still doesn’t work very well. This has left the door open for a wave of newer AI tools, but most haven’t meaningfully improved on signal. Better UI and filtering can’t fix incomplete or low-fidelity data. As a result, most sourcing is still human-dependent.
Products we’re keeping our eye on: Profile.com, Noon.ai, Wrangle.
Outbound recruiting is broken
Cold outreach is oversaturated, and response rates have dropped significantly. The most effective outreach now happens through warm channels, referrals, community, and founder-driven networks, which remain largely underutilized.
Early-stage hiring keeps changing. We’re learning alongside the people doing it — and it’s shaping how we build and evolve our work at Pear.
If you’re a founder interested in learning more about our Talent Service offering, click here.