Greylock Raises New $575 Million Fund, Plans Move to Cambridge

"We spend a lot of time at Harvard and MIT, and this will give us a chance to be that much closer to those sources of unique geographic advantage," Helman said. "This is more of an offensive move than a defensive move."

Greylock wasn't approaching the end of its lease in Waltham, but it got an unsolicited offer for that space. Why move to Cambridge? "It's a lot of the stuff you've been writing about," Helman said. "The vibrancy, the opportunity set, and the fact that entrepreneurs wanted to be around there."

Greylock was in Boston before it moved to Waltham a decade ago. "It was never to be close to country clubs, as some have portrayed it," Helman said. "The major entrepreneurial activity of that period of time was enterprise technology and communications systems, and those companies are located out here [on Routes 128 and 495.] Give VCs some credit: they were moving west to be closer to their customers."

But now, Helman continued, "you have biotech and cleantech playing a more important role, and maybe consumer Internet and digital media will be more important in the future, and they're not out here [in Waltham.]"

So starting in January, you'll more often see the Greylock guys having breakfast at Henrietta's Table -- angling with General Catalyst for the prime real estate there.