Applications for our Winter 2026 PearX cohort are closing this Saturday, September 13th at 11:59 PM PST. PearX is our exclusive, small batch accelerator program for pre-seed companies. Today’s featured post comes from Shravan, one of our investing partners.
Like many people on the team at Pear, I was a founder before I became a venture capitalist. As a former founder who once navigated the world of pre-seed, one of the things that drew me to Pear was the small, community-driven nature of PearX. Building a company can be an extremely lonely journey. With approximately twenty companies per cohort, PearX creates a tight-knit group of founders who support each other through all the ups and downs of company building.
I personally know that the founder journey can be anxiety-inducing, especially when trying to raise initial capital. We started PearX to support people along the way and we wanted to make sure we’re as transparent as possible about the application process.
About the process
Step 0: The app
First things first: you have to apply through our app. In this app, we hope to learn a bit more about what you’re building and why you might be uniquely positioned to succeed in a particular area.
Step 1: The 10-Minute Intro Conversation
Our process starts with a short, 10-minute interview. In this first conversation, we’re looking to quickly get a sense of:
- Your background: Tell us succinctly who you are and what makes you an outlier founder.
- Your insight into the problem: Why did you choose this particular area? What do you know that others don’t?
- Your perspective: The best conversations we’ve had are with founders who are building companies around problems they deeply understand. The strongest interviews leave us with a new insight.
Think of this step as the spark—your chance to show us why this problem matters to you and why you’re the right person to solve it.
Step 2: The 20-Minute Partner Interview
Next comes a 20-minute in-person (or virtual if you aren’t in the Bay Area) interview with two Pear partners: one who has already met you, and one who hasn’t. The format is straightforward:
- First 10 minutes: Walk us through your deck and share a product demo.
- Second 10 minutes: We’ll dive into questions.
What we’re evaluating here is twofold:
- Translation into product: Can you take the problem you’ve identified and translate it into a concrete product? Just as importantly, can you iterate based on feedback from early customers?
- Market depth: We want to understand the broader market context. What alternatives exist? What systemic need does your solution address?
This is where we go deeper, evaluating not only your vision but also your ability to build something real and relevant.
Step 3: The Final Interview with Our Founding Partners
If you move forward, you’ll meet with Pejman and Mar, our founding managing partners, in a 20–30 minute final conversation. By this point, they’ll be briefed on your company, and the discussion is intentionally open-ended.
- Mar’s approach: She has a way of quickly zeroing in on the most important question facing your business. Founders often tell us that her questions change the trajectory of their company, even in cases where we don’t end up investing.
- Pejman’s perspective: He’s a strong judge of founders. He probes into the dynamics between co-founders and the strength of your working relationship, knowing how critical these elements are for long-term success.
This step is as much about your team and relationships as it is about your product and market.
What to Expect Overall
At PearX, we want the interview process to be a dialogue, not an interrogation. While we’re assessing fit, we’re also hoping to share perspectives and ideas that are valuable to you regardless of the outcome. Many founders tell us that these conversations push their thinking in ways that endure well beyond the interviews themselves.
We’re excited to meet founders who are not just building companies, but who bring fresh insight and conviction to the problems they’re tackling.
How to apply to PearX
If you’re ready for Step 0, make sure to apply now at pear.vc/pearx-application to join PearX Winter ‘26. Deadline is September 13th, 2025 at 11:59 PM PST.