Mar Hershenson

Mar Hershenson is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Pear VC, a seed-stage investment firm in Palo Alto backing companies like Guardant Health(NASDAQ: GH), Doordash, Gusto, and Branch. At Pear, Mar works closely with founders to take companies from an idea to defining business. Mar has been recognized in the Midas Brink List of Top Tech Investors in 2015. Mar received her PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 2000 for her breakthrough work in circuit design automation, and taught the Analog Circuit Design course at Stanford for over a decade. Mar made her mark as an entrepreneur by co-founding three companies: Barcelona Design, Sabio Labs, and Revel Touch. She ran each company from day one, being deeply involved in all aspects of the business, including product definition and development, business strategy, sales, recruiting, and financing. After the acquisition of Sabio labs, Mar served as VP of product development for Magma Design Automation’s Mixed Signal division. Mar has received many awards throughout her career. Among them, the renowned T35 Young Innovator Award by MIT (for her technical work), and the prestigious Marie R. Pistilli Women in EDA Achievement Award in 2010 (for her work in entrepreneurship). Mar currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University. Mar previously served on the board of Palo Alto Child Care Centers. Mar is a founding member of All Raise and the Equity Summit.