Mr. Watson, left, and Mr. Pease (Photo: Twitter/bwats and USV.com)

Union Square Ventures just capped a nine-month search for fresh blood, announcing not one, but two new investment analysts this afternoon. New York City's best known venture capital firm welcomed Alexander Pease and Brian Watson, bringing its total investment team up to nine staffers, including its newest partner Andy Weissman, who was poached from Betaworks back in October.

In an introductory post, Christina Cacioppo called the young men "extremely-qualified candidates," which is why USV opted to hire both.

Mr. Pease, who goes by Zander, first joined the firm a year ago as a hackNY fellow. He recently graduated from Princeton with an A.B. in Physics and a thesis covering quantum information for practical use--no doubt a light-hearted romp. He may already have a leg up on some of the founders in USV's portfolio. He knows how to code, worked as a social games developer for Vostu*, did a turn at MIT Media Labs, and founded MetroGenome, interactive music education iPad app.

Mr. Watson also hails from the Ivy League. He recently graduated from Columbia with a B.S. in engineering management systems, which he describes as "a degree that remixes traditional industrial engineering with economics and computer science." (Did we mention how eager the Alley's been to brush up on its techie cred?). Mr. Watson also comes on board with startup experience. As an intern, he analyzed social data for Trendrr, worked on user acquisition and community engagement at Gilt Groupe, as well as helping JPMorgan build Chase Community Giving.

Considering USV's emphasis on "web presence" for potential hires, it's no surprise that both analysts will follow Fred Wilson's footsteps with their own blogs (here and here). If you're looking to get their attention, perhaps throw in a sneakerhead reference. Mr. Pease did some freelance work for Phineas Barnes' side project, Today's Kicks and Mr. Watson admits to "sometimes blogging about cool sneakers" in his free time.

*Disclosure.