Warren Shaeffer

Partner @pearvc. Repeat founder. Very lucky. Medium funny. Trying to be your favorite investor.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

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 first post, making the user feel the magic of distribution without the pain of building a following.

• Uber subsidized the supply side of the market so that a user could hail a car in minutes.

• Tinder first populated the app at USC by paying Sorority members to create profiles, overcoming the empty-room problem.

A good way to improve time-to-magic is to ruthlessly reduce friction in your onboarding.

Try to give as much value as possible upfront.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@Celesteamadon @dateknown Great news!

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@ScottHickle @JohnCapodilupo @ThroneScience @WHOOP Thoughtful and inspiring, as expected from John. Thanks for sharing!

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@ivanhzhao Impressive. Congrats Ivan!

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@anvisha So good!

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@anvisha Best AI design tool on the planet. API direction is smart!

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

Drone window washing = new HVAC rollup

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@ShawKylin @Hipposexo Huge! Way to make it happen, Kylin. US is so lucky to have you here.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@AnhPhuNguyen1 Hyped!

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@zebriez 👀

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

Building a startup is lonely.

Hosting a poker night in SF this week:

• 100+ founders & builders
• A few who are already iconic, many who will be
• Winner gets VIP World Cup tickets (USA vs Turkey)

Want to join? Link below / DM me

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@ankithharathi @nitinrajini Looks fun. Congrats @ankithharathi !

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@ngavini @extradotemail Looks like a beautiful product. Excited for email to get an upgrade. Congrats @ngavini!

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@jonaswillett1 @Tinder Yes! Very excited about URL => IRL and glad to see @Celesteamadon on the list.

@SalarShahini and @sweatpals are doing big things here too.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@Max @Instacart @jaltma Congrats Max! Founders are lucky to have you in their corner.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@arashf @anvisha Agreed! Dream team. The product is already one of my favorites.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@ScottHickle I love my Throne!

Proud of what you've built so far, Scott.

You're going to save a lot of lives.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@ravisparikh Yes! I'm a power user. And everyone I've referred is too.

Thank you for making this @ravisparikh and @anvisha

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

Once in a while, you meet a true craftsperson.

Someone who takes deep pride in their work.
Someone who turns function into art.

It was clear from the first minute I met @anvisha, she’s one of them.

Excited to share that @pearvc backed her new company, @trymoda.

Moda is a beautiful product. It gives more people the ability to create design work that actually feels… crafted.

In a world of increasing AI slop, craft stands out more than ever.

Everyone I’ve sent Moda to has become a power user. Nearly every founder in the Pear portfolio, and every partner, has organically started using it for deck design.

Grateful to @anvisha and @ravisparikh for putting something this thoughtful into the world.

[Warren Shaeffer @wwshaef]

@anvisha @pearvc Easy to be a power user when the product is so good. Your craftsmanship shines through in every detail.