Mara Zepeda

Post-pitch story

Jennifer Brandel gave one of the most quoted pitches in the show's history: Hearken, she argued, was a "zebra," not a unicorn — a company built for mission and sustainability rather than growth at all costs. Hearken's product helped newsrooms listen to their audiences, letting readers ask the questions reporters would then answer. The zebra survived. For a decade after the pitch, Hearken worked with some of the biggest names in journalism, including the Associated Press and Mother Jones, helping newsrooms rebuild trust with their communities. Then, in March 2026, Hearken was acquired by Indiegraf, a company that supports independent local news publishers, to scale its audience-relationship tools across more newsrooms. Brandel remains one of the most prominent advocates for mission-driven business anywhere in the startup world. For a show built on venture capital, Hearken is the great counter-argument: a company that refused the unicorn playbook and still made it to a successful exit ten years later.