Pearce Fellows Showcase
Meet the founders building tomorrow's most important companies — before the world knows their names.
The best investments don't happen at Series A. They happen earlier — when a founder has nothing but a question, a conviction, and the nerve to begin.
That belief was the foundation of John Pearce, Underscore VC's late co-founder and a legendary mentor who made a career of backing people before the idea. He didn't wait for traction. He looked for grit. The Pearce Summer Fellowship carries that philosophy forward, providing early founders with flexible funding, hands-on mentorship, and a community built to help them move fast.
This summer, ten Pearce Fellows are building across seven companies — tackling fraud in commercial health insurance, reinventing assistive mobility, building the infrastructure for AI-driven commerce, and rethinking how factories move from design to production. Each company is different. Every founder shares one thing: relentless drive.
On August 12th, you'll hear directly from them — what they're building, why it matters, and where they're going. This is the earliest look at companies that could define their categories.
Come meet the founders. Come be part of their story from day zero.