Aaron Batalion’s name travels fast through early-stage Slack groups—and for good reason. ⚡️ You’re racing to turn a “why-now” insight into software that developers or enterprises can’t live without. Capital alone won’t get you there; you need a co-founder-level ally 🤝 who has scaled from 2 engineers to 300 🧑💻 and already backed seven unicorns 🦄. That’s exactly why Aaron Batalion matters.👇
Who Is Aaron Batalion and Why Founders Listen
Before you pitch Aaron, you need to understand who you’re dealing with. He’s not just another check writer—he’s a builder 🛠️ who has sat in your seat, scaled through the chaos, and backed some of the most successful startups in tech. His experience spans both product and venture, making him uniquely fluent in what it takes to go from prototype to rocketship.
• 🚀 Co-founder & first CTO of LivingSocial, scaling headcount 150× and revenue to billions.
• 📈 128 angel+fund investments, including Instacart, Ramp, Gusto and Vanta—7 unicorns so far.
• 💼 General Partner at Pear VC, leading $250k-$2M pre-seed rounds and sitting on boards like Baseten.
• 💻 YC alumnus (Screendoor W15, acquired by HubSpot) who still codes and reviews architecture docs.
• 🧠 Signal NFX reviews rank him “most responsive” on talent hire closes and GTM experiments.
Positioning: Aaron Batalion is the hands-on, technical super-angel who bridges product, code and capital at the moment it matters most.
Aaron Batalion’s Thesis — Building From “-1 to 1”
Aaron doesn’t invest in traction theater 🎭—he invests in the messy, foundational work that precedes product-market fit. His thesis is rooted in the belief that the earliest stage is where real technical magic ✨ happens, and it’s where he adds the most value.
Great companies aren’t discovered at Series A—they’re engineered during the fuzzier “idea → first users” phase. 🧪
Core pillars
• 🧑💻 Technical Founders First – Back teams who can ship v1 without an outsourced dev shop.
• 💡 Non-Obvious Insight – Invest where deep domain knowledge unlocks a 10× better workflow.
• 🛠️ Infra Before Interface – Favors dev tools, data, and fintech plumbing that become category foundations.
• 🌍 Global TAM, Local Beachhead – Start with a niche user community; expand once love is proven.
• 🔁 Compound Network Effects – Look for data loops or marketplace dynamics that widen the moat over time.
Takeaway: Show Aaron Batalion how your code and customer feedback loop will compound long before revenue dazzles.
Angel Deal Terms at a Glance — Aaron Batalion’s Sweet Spot
Two decades of founder and investor reps mean Aaron Batalion decides fast and keeps terms clean. ✍️
| Stage | Typical Check | Sectors | Geography |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Seed (personal) | $25k–$100k SAFE | Dev tools, SaaS, AI/ML | Global, Bay-Area tilt 🌉 |
| Pre-Seed (Pear lead) | $250k–$2M equity | Enterprise SaaS, Fintech | North America |
| Seed (Pear co-lead) | $1M–$2M | AI infra, B2B SaaS | North America + Europe |
| Follow-on | Up to pro-rata | All portfolio | Same as initial |
Takeaway: If you’re raising the first institutional money for a technical B2B play, you’re in his bullseye.
What Aaron Batalion Looks For (Beyond the Hype)
Aaron Batalion doesn’t care about flash—he looks for founders who’ve done the hard thinking and built something real. These are the qualities he consistently screens for in the earliest conversations and pitch decks.
• 🔧 Founder-Problem Fit – Proof you’ve lived the pain personally.
• 🧠 Unique Technical Angle – Clear, defensible IP or algorithmic edge.
• ❤️ Early User Love – Even 5 design partners who rave beats 50 passive signups.
• 🗺️ 10-Year Vision – A credible map from tiny wedge to platform monopoly.
• ⚡️ Speed of Learning – Metrics dashboards, weekly retro cadence, rapid iteration.
Inside Aaron Batalion’s Portfolio
Seven unicorns didn’t happen by accident; each fit the thesis laser-tight.
| Company | Sector | Round Joined | Why It Fits Aaron’s Lens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanta | Security SaaS | Seed | Pain-killer for compliance, dev-founder CEO, strong user pull. 🔒 |
| Ramp | Fintech | Seed | Modern finance stack, infra moat, lightning execution speed. 💳 |
| Baseten | Developer Tools | Pre-Seed (lead) | Enables ML apps with minimal ops—pure infra before interface. |
| Instacart | Marketplace | Seed | Data loops + local wedge scaling nationally. 🛒 |
| Aurora Solar | Climate SaaS | Seed | Complex domain, high TAM, deep technical founding team. ☀️ |
Takeaway: Founders with platform-level ambitions and code to back it consistently win his vote.
Cold Outreach Playbook: Stand Out in Aaron Batalion’s Inbox
Subject: “Ramp-style infra for GenAI risk—3-slide deck & live demo”
• 💬 One-sentence problem + “why now.” ✨
• 🎥 30-second Loom of the product flow; link up front.
• 👥 Team line: “3 ex-Stripe engineers, security PhD.”
• 📈 Traction teaser: “5 pilots—one paying $12k ARR.”
• 💸 Ask: “$1.2M pre-seed, would love your $250k lead.”
Skip the fluff—signal technical insight early and Aaron’s response time shrinks to hours.
Life After the Wire: What Founders Actually Get
Backed by Aaron Batalion doesn’t just mean a check—it means having a technical operator in your corner. From debugging production issues to prepping for your next raise, Aaron shows up like a true co-pilot when it counts.
• 🛠️ On-Call CTO – Quick Slack pings on architecture choices, hiring ladders, or AWS bills.
• 🤝 Design Partner Intros – Rolodex of Pear founders and Fortune 500 engineering heads.
• 🧾 Fundraising Prep – Mock partner meetings and deck surgery before Series A. 💼
• 🧑🏫 Pear Platform – Community, talent team, workshops on everything from SOC 2 to PLG.
Anecdote: Baseten’s founders cite a 48-hour sprint where “Aaron debugged our Kubernetes cost blow-up and brokered our first enterprise design partner” (Pear VC blog).
Red Flags That Make Aaron Batalion Ghost Your Round
Just as he’s quick to respond to promising teams, Aaron is equally fast to disengage when he sees classic early-stage missteps. These aren’t abstract preferences—they’re patterns he’s seen tank promising products before they ever get a chance to scale.
Even the nicest CTO-angel has a kill list. 😬
• ❌ Outsourced dev shop building v1.
• ❓ Fuzzy answer to “what’s your unique insight?”
• 🚫 No technical co-founder in a deep-tech market.
• 📉 Vanity metrics over user love screenshots.
• ⚠️ Overly complicated SAFE terms or weird tokens.
• 🕳️ Pitch focused on short-term exit rather than long-term platform.
Takeaway: Skip these traps or risk silence from an otherwise speedy investor.
Final Thoughts: Aaron Batalion as Your Technical Co-Pilot
Raising a pre-seed round today is equal parts storytelling, shipping code, and courting the right believers. 📣 Aaron Batalion sits at that intersection, translating between engineering sprints and venture milestones with credibility few traditional VCs can claim. 🤝
If your startup is hammering out foundational SaaS, dev-tooling, or AI infrastructure, line up a warm intro through a Pear founder—or craft a crisp, demo-first cold email. Show the unique insight, prove users already care ❤️, and outline the long game. Do that, and you’ll not only unlock a $50k–$2M check 💰, you’ll gain a former unicorn CTO who answers your 11 p.m. “prod down” texts. 🕚
The code may be yours, but with Aaron Batalion as your co-pilot, the flight path toward category leadership gets a lot clearer—and faster. 🚀
