Last October, we [posted about](/content/2011/09/were-hiring-1.php) our search for a new analyst at USV. We received [many outstanding applications](/content/2011/10/analyst-hiring-update-2.php) and spent the fall reading blog posts, following Twitter streams, poking at side projects, and interviewing candidates.

We met a number of extraordinary people through the process, and making one hire wasn’t easy. We also thought about how much Union Square Ventures has grown over the past two years, with [new](http://content.usv.com/pages/john-buttrick) [partners](/content/2011/10/my-back-pages.php), a [new fund](/content/2011/01/the-opportunity-fund.php), and [new investments](/content/investments/index.html). As luck would have it, we had met two extremely-qualified analyst candidates, and we decided to hire both. Alexander Pease and Brian Watson introduced themselves on this blog today; [here’s Alexander’s post](/content/2012/06/hello-world-1.php), and [here’s Brian’s](/content/2012/06/joining-usv.php).

The Union Square Ventures investment [team](/content/team/index.html) is now nine: Albert, Andy, Brad, Fred, John, Gary, Alexander, Brian, and me. Please join all of us in welcoming Alexander and Brian!