A wide-ranging conversation about building a coastal VC presence and how a west-coast firm expands to Boston. Stories about founding and exiting a company and lessons learned along the way. Practical networking tactics and a look inside a selective pre-seed accelerator program. Reflections on the Boston tech scene and career pivots from finance to startups.
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Pear's Strategy And East Coast Expansion
Pear is a West Coast pre-seed and seed stage VC with a history of investing in breakout companies like DoorDash and Dropbox.
The firm runs PearX, a small-batch accelerator for pre-seed founders and is expanding its presence to the East Coast via Harris Stolzenberg.
question_answer ANECDOTE
LinkedIn Discovery Sparked The Interview
Harris Stolzenberg was discovered on LinkedIn as a Boston-based Pear investor leading the firm's East Coast expansion.
That LinkedIn discovery prompted Keith Cline to reach out and schedule this interview about Pear and Harris's background.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Harris's Personal And Professional Journey
The episode covers Harris's journey from MIT lacrosse to investment banking, founding Flock, and joining Pear after roles at Pando and Pillar VC.
It highlights a standout moment: Harris raising funds for Boston Marathon bombing victims, which even led to a donation from Oprah.
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Episode 421 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Harris Stolzenberg, Partner at Pear VC.
I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn and in my travels, I love discovering individuals who are local to the Boston area but are perhaps working for a meaningful company that is headquartered elsewhere.
This is what happened when I stumbled on Harris’ profile - I stopped and thought to myself… wait, Pear has an investor in Boston who is leading the firm’s expansion to the East Coast? No way - game on and off I went to connect with Harris and ultimately bring you this interview!
Pear is a west coast pre-seed / seed stage VC firm which has invested in over 200 companies like Doordash, Gusto, Vanta, Dropbox, and many more. The firm also offers an exclusive, small batch accelerator program for pre-seed companies called PearX.
In this episode of our podcast, we cover:
* Harris’s best networking advice plus tactical tips.
* His background playing lacrosse at MIT, and the incredible story of how he raised money for the Boston Marathon bombing victims which even led to a personal donation from Oprah.
* Getting his start in investment banking before moving into the startup world at Pando and eventually landing his first role at Pear.
* The story of Flock, the company retreat platform he co-founded, its eventual acquisition, and the hard-won lessons he took from that experience.
* His transition back to the East Coast and his time serving as Chief of Staff at Pillar VC.
* His current role at Pear as a Partner, the firm’s approach to investing, and all the details on how the PearX program works.
* Harris’ thoughts on the Boston tech ecosystem.
* Plus, so much more!
The VentureFizz Podcast