Sean Dempsey is a founding partner of early-stage venture firm Merus Capital, based in Palo Alto, CA. Previously, Sean was a Principal of Corporate Development at Google, responsible for acquisitions and investments including Android, YouTube, and Postini. Prior to Google, he spent over six years at Microsoft in the Corporate Development team. At Microsoft, he led over 40 acquisitions and investments including Bungie, the creator of the Xbox hit Halo. In addition to M&A, Sean was part of the original team to drive Microsoft’s living room strategy which ultimately became the Xbox game console. His areas of focus at Google and Microsoft included consumer web services, online and traditional advertising, online video, gaming and enterprise SaaS. Before joining Microsoft, he spent two years in technology Mergers & Acquisitions at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in Menlo Park and was a Research Analyst at the Jennings Group in San Francisco. Sean currently serves on the board of directors of AdRoll, AllClear ID and ModeWalk. Outside of Merus, Sean is an avid trail runner and is doing his small part in keeping the Bay Area trails alive and well through his involvement with the Peninsula Open Space Trust. He is also an Advisory Board Member of the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College where he graduated with degrees in Economics/Environment/Politics and French.