Max Motschwiller has left Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in order to become the sixth general partner with later-stage VC firm Meritech Capital Partners, Fortune has learned.
Motschwiller began his investing career in 2009 with Summit Partners, before joining Kleiner Perkins in 2012 to focus on digital investments. The move to Meritech is a major upgrade, in the sense that he will be one of six equal partners.
“The youngest partner is 45, so I think they wanted to bring in someone a bit younger,” explains Motschwiller, who is only 28. “They also have more enterprise experience than consumer experience, so I’ll hopefully help balance that out a bit.”
Paul Madera, a Meritech co-founder and partner, adds: “We recognize we’re not getting any younger, and have been thinking about generational change and how to better relate to the younger entrepreneurs. We talked to over 40 people for the last 18 months, but Max is the one name we kept coming back to. Not only do entrepreneurs love him, but we spent a lot of time together as a partnership — not just Monday meetings — and we found him very smart and easy to get along with.”
While with Kleiner, Motschwiller spent a majority of his time working on growth equity investments, although he also was utilized a bit by the early-stage venture team. Meritech last year raised $565 million for its fifth fund. Recent portfolio additions include Nextdoor and GuideSpark.
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