Having wanted to create something beyond my hedge fund and angel investing that captures my passion for all things social web–something team oriented and open sourced– I am happy to announce the launch of Social Leverage .

Social Leverage uses the web to accelerate businesses. Our focus is the businesses that we invest in, or help raise money, and/or businesses that are funded but need acceleration or a push towards profitability. I think we have a great team .

I have been fiddling with models for a long time now that would leverage my skills and the skills of my partners in Social Leverage to create a unique -‘Social Investment Bank’ if you would – of the post credit crisis era. The tagline I really wanted to use and may still switch to from time to time is Social Leverage…“Debt Free Since….Forever!’”

I could care less about the old rules of banking; they are all broken. Don’t tell me what the ”Smart Money” says because ”Smart is the new Dumb.” I trust my own instincts and the instincts of my partners and advisors. The new web is all about filters and reputation and our team is entirely capable of building something from the ashes. What we don’t know ( a lot ) is easily tapped from the social web.

I truly believe that the growth of the web will return soon and accelerate once again. Those with cash will not sit on it forever and I want to be a part of the next boom even if that means starting Social Leverage during the ‘depression’ of 2009.

How are we different? First things first, we invest our own money. No institutions. All my partners are investors. We want to creatively grow our own business as much as we can creatively help the businesses we fund grow faster. We plan on being flexible and some announcements coming soon will show how different and flexible we want to and WILL be.

We will invest all over the lifecycle of web businesses EXCEPT the idea stage. We are looking for a finished product with at least one customer.

We have a pipeline full of interesting ventures that we are considering and three underway.

I can’t wait to share the progress as we attack the web world with an open mind and an eye towards social leverage, flexibility, and, most importantly, profits.

Now go back to CNBC and mope about the end of the world.

PS – Thanks Marshall for this nice post on the launch .

PSS – Here is a Marc Andreesen like interview with me (much shorter and way dumber – not you Mary) with ‘The Deal’ :