Effective today, I will be leaving Polaris Venture Partners, and setting out to launch a new seed firm.

While I am excited by the prospect of building something new, it is difficult to leave the partnership I have been part of for 12 years.  I feel lucky to have had the chance to learn the venture business from two of the industry’s finest practitioners, and to have worked with a remarkable group of partners.  But over the past few years I have grown a passion for working with young entrepreneurs at the very earliest stage of conceiving and launching a venture. I have certainly had the chance to do that at Polaris, whether it be through Dogpatch Labs or making seed investments, but now I’ve decided I want to make this my exclusive focus.

My Polaris partners and I have both come to the conclusion that pursuing this focus is best done in a vehicle other than Polaris funds.  While Polaris will certainly continue to dedicate a significant portion of its funds to seed investing through Dogpatch Labs, and other similar efforts, I want to focus exclusively on super-early seed stage investments.  Polaris’s diversified strategy has been and will continue to be an incredibly successful formula, but my partners and I have come to realize that a dedicated seed fund is the best platform from which to pursue my passion for the super early stage.

I am deeply gratified that Polaris is supporting the formation of my new venture, and look forward to what I hope will be numerous opportunities to co-invest with my Polaris partners