Mr Pearson, a lawyer at Gallaway Cook Allan, is now chairman of Startup Dunedin; a not-for-profit trust founded and funded by the Dunedin City Council, University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic.
A University of Otago graduate himself, where he obtained law and arts degrees, Mr Pearson worked at MinterEllisonRuddWatts in Wellington, where he worked with a wide range of clients, particularly in the technology and start-up sectors.
Going along to a few start-up events in the capital, he quickly realised the start-up world was "quite fun".
Returning to Dunedin in 2018 after nearly four years in Wellington — the move south driven by lifestyle and family reasons, along with a more affordable housing market — he did not expect what he discovered in the city’s start-up scene.
"The startup ecosystem here has been fantastic, Startup Dunedin is a huge part of it," he said.
Initially he did some work with Startup Dunedin through his day job and then Sarah Ramsay invited him on to the board.
Startup Dunedin aimed to make the startup process easier by facilitating connections, capability and community.
He enjoyed being a trustee, seeing how the organisation worked and being able to help from a governance perspective.
Having a legal brain and also a start-up brain, and being able to merge the two, was beneficial.
He became chairman two years ago when Mrs Ramsay stepped down, and he was grateful for the faith shown by her and the rest of the board.
He loved his involvement, saying the Startup Dunedin team made it very easy.
And Dunedin was a great place for start-ups to establish.
For anyone keen on entrepreneurship, with an interest in business or wanted to study, then it was "the place to be".
There were many reasons why people did not proceed with entrepreneurship or an idea, and part of Startup Dunedin’s role was to figure out what the barriers were and try to remove them.
There had been some real start-up successes in Dunedin, including the likes of tech companies Timely and Education Perfect.
While he believed there were some start-ups in the city that could do quite well, there were also smaller businesses that would never go on to make a billion dollars but would do a really good job, employ staff and make people’s lives easier.
Not all start-ups were chasing the path of investment — some were setting their sights smaller by concentrating on making revenue, which they were, then using it to fund themselves.
It was very much a long-term game and his involvement with the start-up sector was something which he really enjoyed.
He also acknowledged the support of Gallaway Cook Allan.
Named as a rising star for 2022 by NZ Lawyer magazine, Mr Pearson has presented nationally on legal topics at the New Zealand Game Developers conference.
He enjoyed gaming, and also the chance to help the burgeoning industry, which was growing both locally and nationally.
"It just really exciting to see what they are doing and helping them on their journey," he said.
