Mar Hershenson
InvestorFounding Managing Partner at Pear VC · Lecturer Management, Science and Engineering at Stanford University
Los Altos, California
Writes $250K – $3M checks · typically $2.5M
Midas 2025 · #44Midas 2024 · #31Midas 2023 · #26Midas 2022 · #30Midas 2021 · #29
About
Mar Hershenson is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Pear VC, a Palo Alto–based seed-stage firm whose portfolio includes Guardant Health (NASDAQ: GH), DoorDash (NYSE: DASH), Gusto, Aurora Solar and Branch. Before Pear, she started three companies and held product and engineering leadership roles at Magma Design Automation, and she earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, where she now teaches as a lecturer in the engineering school. She sits on the Board of Trustees of Harvey Mudd College and the Advisory Council of Carnegie Mellon's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and is a founding member of All Raise and the Equity Summit.
Contact· published on Mar's own website
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingConsumerDeep TechE-commerceEnterprise SoftwareFintechHardwareMarketplacesSaaSSemiconductors
Beyond investing
- Founded
- She co-founded Barcelona Design while a graduate student at Stanford. She co-founded Sabio Labs, which was acquired by Magma Design Automation. She co-founded Pear VC (founded as Pejman Mar).
- Education
- Studied at Universidad Pontificia Comillas (B.S., electrical engineering) Studied at Stanford University (M.S.) Studied at Comillas Pontifical University
- Awards
- She received the Women of Influence Award from the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal in 2011. She received the Marie Pistilli Award in 2010. She was named among EE Times' Top Ten Women in Microelectronics in 2009. She was named to MIT Technology Review's TR100 Innovators under 35 in 2002.
- Family
- She came to the United States from Barcelona, Spain for a summer job and met her future husband there.
- More
- Her native city of Barcelona gave its name to a company she co-founded.
From Mar's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Founding Managing Partner at Pear VC
Intro paths
→
In turn, Mar can intro founders to Pear VC's investors below.
Pear VC's investors · 5
Co-founders at Pear VC
PN
Pejman NozadFounding Managing Partner
Experience
- Pear VCManaging Partnercurrent2013 — presentPalo Alto, CA
- Stanford UniversityLecturer Management, Science and Engineeringcurrent2021 — present
- Revel TouchVP Product Development, co-founder2011 — 2012
- Foundation CapitalEntrepreneur in Residence2010 — 2011
- Stanford UniversityConsulting Assistant Professor Electrical Engineering2002 — 2011Stanford, CA
- Magma Design AutomationVice President Product Development2008 — 2010
- Sabio LabsCEO and Co-founder2004 — 2007
Skills & more
Strategy18Management13Start-ups71Cloud Computing10Venture Capital41Entrepreneurship65Corporate Development11E-commerce15Software Development4Business Development10Product Management11Software Engineering4
+12 more
ICMobile DevicesStrategic PartnershipsProduct MarketingGo-to-market StrategyBusiness AlliancesCompetitive AnalysisCross-functional Team LeadershipProgram ManagementMergers & AcquisitionsSaaSEnterprise SoftwareLanguages Catalan · English · French · Spanish
From Mar's professional profile.
Investments
Board seats
Solvvy
Investor
AffinityAurora SolarBranchDoorDashGuardant HealthGustoVanta
Per curated public sources.
Colleagues at Pear VC
Ajay Kamat
Partner at Pear VC
Alex Gao
Engineer at Pear VC
Aparna Sinha
Advisor at Pear VC
Arash Afrakhteh
Partner at Pear VC
Curt Herberts
Investor at Premji Invest
Eddie Eltoukhy
Partner at Pear VC
Emma Krivoshein
Senior Operations Associate at Pear VC
Eric Lin
Acting Associate Director for Innovation & Industry Services (ADIIS) at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Network5
Adeyemi AjaoScout
Managing Partner at Base10 Partners
Ajay KamatScout
Partner at Pear VC
Carl ByersScout
Partner at F-Prime Capital Partners
Eddie EltoukhyScout
Partner at Pear VC
Enis HulliScout
Investor at 500 Emerging Europe
Investors connected to Mar in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Mar Hershenson?
- Mar Hershenson is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Pear VC, a Palo Alto–based seed-stage firm whose portfolio includes Guardant Health (NASDAQ: GH), DoorDash (NYSE: DASH), Gusto, Aurora Solar and Branch. Before Pear, she started three companies and held product and engineering leadership roles at Magma Design Automation, and she earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, where she now teaches as a lecturer in the engineering school. She sits on the Board of Trustees of Harvey Mudd College and the Advisory Council of Carnegie Mellon's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and is a founding member of All Raise and the Equity Summit.
- Where does Mar Hershenson work?
- Mar Hershenson is Founding Managing Partner at Pear VC.
- What does Mar Hershenson invest in?
- Mar Hershenson invests in AI & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Consumer, Deep Tech, E-commerce, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Hardware, Marketplaces, SaaS, Semiconductors.
- What check size does Mar Hershenson write?
- Mar Hershenson typically writes checks of $250K – $3M.
- What boards does Mar Hershenson sit on?
- Mar Hershenson holds tracked board seats at Solvvy.
- What companies has Mar Hershenson invested in?
- Investments tracked here include Affinity, Aurora Solar, Branch, DoorDash, Guardant Health, Gusto, Vanta.
- Where did Mar Hershenson go to school?
- Mar Hershenson studied at Stanford University (PhD, Electrical Engineering); Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Bachelor's degree, Industrial Engineering (Electronics)).
- What awards has Mar Hershenson received?
- She received the Women of Influence Award from the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal in 2011. She received the Marie Pistilli Award in 2010. She was named among EE Times' Top Ten Women in Microelectronics in 2009. She was named to MIT Technology Review's TR100 Innovators under 35 in 2002.
Same school
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Shared employers
Also worked at Foundation Capital66
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