Pejman Nozad

Founding Managing Partner, Pear VC · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorfounder@pejmannozad ↗LinkedIn ↗pear.vc ↗Wikipedia ↗

After immigrating from Iran and building relationships with Silicon Valley tech leaders, Nozad co-founded Pear VC with Mar Hershenson in 2013. He has backed notable technology companies at their earliest stages, including DoorDash, Dropbox, AppLovin, Guardant Health, and Gusto.

6statements → 0claims → 0claims resolved → 4.83/5average certainty → 1.17/5average debate potential → ≈4.0/5argument clarity, estimated → 41said about them ↓

5 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. none of them is a claim the record can settle: opinions, insights and disclosures never carry an assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Pejman argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

How they sound: speaking style how? →

224 words/min while actually speaking · 3.3 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Pejman Nozad: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 14 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.0/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 4,225 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Pejman Nozad is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 2/10

pushed back at the host ▾ 1/10

setup questions received 90%

host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 16:19“Was that a big learning curve for you, and how did it alter your approach after this, when you saw this happen?” ▶ 17:16“And then when you were establishing yourself in the ecosystem, when you were in it, when you were investing the initial two million dollars and, and in your kind of formative years…” ▶ 21:18“So what was behind that decision, and how's your investment thesis altered since you've broken out on your own?”

when Pejman pushed back ▶ 26:38“Yeah, that's, that's exactly opposite. I mean, that was my only hesitation not taking this because, you know, I'm a big man” ▶ 27:56“Hopefully, um, you change your religion and become a Man U fan next time we talk.”

What they said6 What others said41 Episodes1

Everything Pejman Nozad said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Disclosure

Nozad committed to his largest angel investment, Gusto, in 15 minutes

“It's my biggest, single biggest angel investment ever, and when I met Josh, it took me like 15 minutes to commit, and I didn't see even one page of the product he's building”

Pejman Nozad Feb 20, 2017 ▶ 3:11 20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+

Disclosure

Nozad's fund was the first investor in Andy Rubin's Danger

“We managed to be his first investor in Danger”

Pejman Nozad Feb 20, 2017 ▶ 9:11 20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+

Disclosure

Nozad was one of the first investors in Dropbox

“I actually became one of the first investors in In Dropbox”

Pejman Nozad Feb 20, 2017 ▶ 11:02 20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+

Disclosure

Nozad notes his top investments like Dropbox feature Iranian co-founders

“And if you look at my portfolio, your company, some of the best company I've ever invested founders are Iranian, you know, naming it Dropbox, one of them, Sound Hunt, the other one, and then current fund has few amazing Iranian founders.”

Pejman Nozad Feb 20, 2017 ▶ 19:08 20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+

Disclosure

Nozad funded his first $2M tech fund via carpet sales commissions

“I, we started, he asked me to put, I exactly remember, we started with two million dollars, majority of his money, and he said, you put 10% of it, and this is in the late nineties. I didn't have any money. I said, I don't have it. He said, okay, every month we…”

Pejman Nozad Feb 20, 2017 ▶ 8:41 20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+

What-if

Nozad missed massive returns by not maintaining pro-rata ownership in Danger

“Had we participated and kept our ownership after the initial investment, we would have made a lot of money through a half a billion dollar acquisition of Danger by Microsoft.”

Pejman Nozad Feb 20, 2017 ▶ 16:54 20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+

The other half of the tape: Pejman Nozad's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 40 times in 8 episodes on 20VC. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 27 Drew Houston 7 Mar Hershenson 5 Misha Esipov 1

Statements about Pejman Nozad, by other people (1)

Assertion Partly supported

Nozad went from undocumented immigrant to backing 200+ companies worth $20B+

“It reads, I was once an undocumented immigrant. Now, I'm a VC. I've backed over 200 companies worth over twenty billion, and I've created thousands of jobs.”

Harry Stebbings Feb 20, 2017 ▶ 1:06 20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+