Non-traditional education is the concentration of all changing social norms and infrastructure, which is a signal of the start of a generational shift.

What is Pier?

The first network-driven investment group focused on nonconformist entrepreneurs with non-traditional education backgrounds.

• Non-traditional education includes: alternative education, bootcamp, dropouts, and self-starters etc, and we are open to other creative interpretations. **
• Ticket size: typical investment is up to $100K through a SAFE at the following or first institutional round. But there are always exceptions of size and stage when we have strong convictions.
• Focus area: we like being around entrepreneurs that are creating new consumer experiences, making the world more efficient, or broadening access to products and services that are traditionally only available to a few.

Why Pier?

• A pier connects people to boats and prepares them to sail away. We want to support early-stage entrepreneurs with small checks but big drive and energy.
• The name resembles SF and all its piers, which also resembles where we all start and finish Minerva is important for the founding team.
• It's pronounced like "peer," which emphasizes our strong community-oriented approach and value-add practices.

Our Team

**A crew of people who pioneered new education and are building/investing in new norms.**

• Founding Team
  • João Jönk: Co-founder at Zapt (YC W21). Studied Finance & Economics at Minerva, worked with a consumer & SaaS VC, and covered TMT and retail at Kapitalo. Has background in product and marketing.
  • Heyu Huang: Partner at Fresco Capital. Studied Finance & CS at Minerva as founding class, and has a Masters in Behavioral Economics from NUS. Operating experience at Airbnb across product, ops, and strategy.
  • Evgeny Yurtaev: Co-founder and CEO at Zerion. Studied Computational Science at Minerva and Make School. Previously, Founder of CryptoTrader, the leading mobile app for professional cryptocurrency traders. Before, he worked at Google and Jufy.
• Advisor
  • Christine Looser, PhD: Research affiliate at Harvard and Assistant Professor of Business at Minerva. Focus: Behavioral science
• Venture Partner (Our closest community of alt-ed alumni, as sector specialists, as thought partner)
  • Guilherme Nazareth: Co-Founder & CEO at Zapt. Focus: Data Science and fundraising
  • Alberto Arenaza: Co-Founder at Transcend Network. Focus: Future of learning and work
  • Qiqi Xu: Senior Product Designer at Remix | Kleiner Perkins Fellow. Focus: Design
  • Yinwei Sun: Assistant to Founder at ZhenFund. Focus: China market
  • Gadi Borovich: Co-founder at Antigravity Capital. Focus: Community
  • Zitong Mao: Investor at Globis Capital Partners. Focus: Japan market
  • More to come