Warren Shaeffer
@wwshaef
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partner @pearvc leading consumer investing. repeat founder. very lucky. medium funny. wip.
Joined May 2010
The advice I most often give to anyone building consumer products: Reduce time-to-magic. Your product can be complicated under the hood, but to the user it should feel simple, delightful, and magical — as fast as possible. Some examples: • Tik Tok allegedly boosts a user’s
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Product idea for X: a native prediction tool for how well your post will perform before you Post. @nikitabier wdyt? Asking for a friend who's frustrated because they're not getting the engagement they used to. It's not me. I'm very good at X.
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Small teams can accomplish so much in 12 weeks. Congrats to the 18 pre-seed teams that just completed PearX, Pear's small-batch accelerator. From expanding access to dermatologists, to de-risking the electrical grid, to sending more people on dates, these founders are pushing
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A+ funding announcement 👇
announcing our $5 million raise led by abstract pear & hf0 back to work
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Want to start a VC-backed consumer company but don’t know what idea to pursue? Here’s my favorite heuristic: privilege expansion. Look at something only the wealthy can access today and imagine how tech makes it available to millions more. Classic example: Uber. Having a
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Prediction: The UX for creating new content will become more like biology Old workflow: blank textbox → output New workflow: combine two or more "parents" → children → pick your favorite Ex: Pride & Prejudice × Pulp Fiction = a new short film
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Hot take: in consumer it's better to be hated than ignored. Make something the status quo doesn't want.
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I'll start: @mattmuns is a former-founder-turned-coach. He's trained with some of the best coaches, including @jerrycolonna, and is deeply committed to the craft and improving outcomes for founders. Any founder would be lucky to have him in their corner.
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One of the best career moves I've made: hiring an executive coach at my last startup. I want to connect more founders with top coaches. Who should I add to the list? 👇
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Lazyweb, hi. Open-sourcing some research around B2C vs. B2B outcomes. It looks like since 2010, 14 of the top 20 US, VC-backed IPOs were consumer companies, including 8 of the top 10. Am I missing any companies that would make the top 20? >$10B in market cap at IPO.
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Well that's new. ChatGPT just gave me unsolicited product recommendations based on a related search. I asked for a running route. It appended links to running shoes. SEO is on the decline. GEO -- generative engine optimization -- is looking to usurp.
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One of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten: work with people who inspire you. Big congrats to @pejmannozad on being named as the #1 seed investor on the 2025 Midas List. Even more impressive than Pejman's track record as an investor, is the way he shows up for the team
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Veo 3 is truly mindblowing. You type an idea for a scene. A minute later: a fully rendered clip with sound, dialog, and emotion. A solo auteur may soon make your next favorite movie. No studio backing. No gatekeepers. Just good taste and a prompt.
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Going through an accelerator as a first-time founder was one of the best life decisions I've made. If you're all-in on your startup and are on the fence about applying to an accelerator, here's the message you've been waiting for: apply. Even if you don't get in, the forcing
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Everyone gets writer’s block. No one gets talker’s block.* That’s why I'm bullish on voice-first agents and companions. They tap into our natural interface: conversation. *Exception: kids when you ask how school was.
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Good news if you're an early-stage founder considering a pre-seed: applications for PearX are now open. PearX is a small-batch program (~15 companies per cohort) with best-in-class resources: ✅ $250K–$2M initial investment ✅ Dedicated support in GTM, hiring, fundraising,
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A lot of people are saying SF is dead for consumer startups. I disagree. Next week, I’ll be interviewing @Max, Instacart co-founder and investor in 100+ startups. We’ll dig into Instacart’s early days, hear the war stories and hard-earned lessons, and get his take on what
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