A Step Back and a Step Forward

After almost 20 years with Emergence, I have made the difficult decision to step back from an active investing role in our new fund, Emergence VI. However, I intend to stay actively engaged with our portfolio and the firm for the foreseeable future. As a Founding Partner, I am incredibly proud of what Emergence has become since Brian, Gordon and I first dreamt of what was possible. 

Our team has delivered remarkable performance over multiple decades to impactful LPs that make a positive difference in the world. We have achieved this while maintaining a highly focused, disciplined, collaborative, and caring culture. We have endeavored to be in service as the most important partners to the amazing entrepreneurs and teams that are the foundation for all of our success. The impact of our portfolio companies on the workplace is broad and profound with companies like Salesforce, Zoom, Veeva, Box, Bill.com, Yammer, Gusto, SuccessFactors, ServiceMax, SalesLoft, and many, many others that have changed the way millions collaborate and work together around the globe. 

The decision to recruit and grow our partnership from within has produced an amazing next generation of investors and leaders consistent with our values who will help steward the firm's success well into the future. We have built a team that cares deeply about doing well, treating others well, and doing good. The firm has never been in a stronger position, and I am incredibly grateful to be in a position to take this next step. 

I am proud of the impact the venture industry has made in unleashing human potential and fueling entrepreneurship and innovation globally. At the same time, I recognize that not all entrepreneurs have had equal access to the resources, advice, and talent that our industry can foster. As a founding board member of Endeavor, the leading global non-profit serving high impact entrepreneurs, where I have served over 20 years, and the Founding Chairman of the Kauffman Fellows Program, the leading global educational, non-profit serving venture capital investors, I have seen, first hand, the powerful impact of investing in human capital and building trusted networks of relationships for both entrepreneurs and investors. These organizations at their heart are committed to broadening access and opportunity with an ethos of paying it forward. Entrepreneurship is not a zero-sum game, and success breeds more success. 

I am excited to continue my efforts to expand access and opportunity and enhance the diversity of the venture and entrepreneurial ecosystem. As a first step, I have begun to advise and make LP investments in emerging venture firms run by talented, passionate leaders that our industry needs more of such as MaC Venture Capital, Slauson & Co, New Age Capital, and Zeal Capital. New firms led from the outset by diverse managers and dedicated to diversity and inclusion will serve to further accelerate inclusivity and broaden opportunities for all. Hometeam Ventures, Chingona Ventures, and Buoyant Ventures are great examples of emerging venture funds founded and led by women who are focused on making great returns and having a positive impact on the world. I’m proud to be supporting all of them. 

In addition, my wife Ann and I have set up the Greenbridge Family Foundation to support philanthropic efforts focused on important societal issues and helping those most in need. We intend to support initiatives including ending mass incarceration, providing educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth, as well as reducing carbon emissions to net-zero, and adapting to the negative impacts of climate change. Some examples include Freeworld, which is creating second chances for the formerly incarcerated; Peninsula Bridge, which supports youth in the Bay Area with educational mentorship and support; and Cool Earth, One Acre, and The Clean Air Task Force, which are non-profits helping reduce the impacts of climate change. We intend to spend more time learning, identifying, and backing important educational, environmental, and social causes where we hope to have a meaningful impact. 

So, as hard as it is to take a step back now, I feel incredibly blessed, and I am excited to take this step forward on this new journey. 

Onward and Upward, 

Jason Green