John Pearce came up as an operator, not just an investor, having served as CFO, CEO, and sales leader at enterprise software companies like Watermark, SilverStream, AppIQ, Demandware, and Actifio before co-founding Underscore VC, where he helped shape Actifio's early pricing and business model and became known for coaching founders on building long-term relationships with investors. At Underscore, he set the cultural tone of the firm through his humility and support for young entrepreneurs, which led the firm to create the Pearce Summer Fellows program in his honor.