Breaking up with Google: a difficult, highly personal decision and a very fond farewell

I feel like I'm breaking up with Google. Can we still be friends?

I've decided that it is time for me to move on from Google, and have resigned effective at the end of 2007. I made this decision after very careful consideration, checking my logic with many mentors and overcoming my sadness at leaving so many friends. I leave with an enormous amount of fondness and gratitude, and wish everyone the very best.

Google has been like a family, one of the most significant shaping influences in my life -- so significant that I'm certain I'll be expounding further in future posts. :) For now: I'm grateful for the fortuitous opportunities I was gifted with during the past five years, the phenomenal people I've had a chance to work with, and the knowledge and experience I have gained that I'll carry through my career and life.

This decision has been quite difficult but ends with positive feelings. I've felt in the past months as if I was breaking up with Google, and I don't think that to be a stretched analogue. I have countless close friends who I've been through the eye of the storm with to see clear sky, and we have history that is hard to think past. So, for all of my friends still in the 'plex, know that "it's not you (Google), it's me," and I hope that we can still stay close after we take some time apart.

I've been comforted by the realization that Google benefits by my departure to tackle new endeavors. Great companies like Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, Procter & Gamble, and GE all consistently turn out leaders in their fields; their employee departures complement the mother ship by spreading the culture and working ethos. Google has many more fine minds joining than it has leaving, and is training them to be technology-focused leaders with a passion for building great consumer focused services.

I'm very lucky to be in a position to make this choice. I leave with certainty that Google will continue its success, and I'll enjoy following from outside as much as I have from inside. I was a Googler long ago, and I'm sure I will be for a long time to come along with millions of others. Keep in touch Google!

Update 1/4/08: My departure from Google has caused general interest with articles in TechCrunch and Mashable that wondered what my plans were for the future. In my email to friends and colleagues, I explained that I'm going to be working hard on a venture of my own in San Francisco. I'll write more in future posts.