Hunter Somerville

“The venture team is, is over a hundred people.”

“So in order to fully answer that, you know, we have to factor in what we do on the discretionary side of our business, and then also what we do in separate account and advisory work. And that number of venture growth managers is over 200 at this point.”

“If you're waiting around and just judging what people have done on a realized basis or in DPI, you're not going to have a good sense for the momentum in those managers, and you'll probably wait too long to eventually pick A really interesting up and coming gro…”

“And on top of that, because we do direct investing, we're oftentimes board observers within companies, and we actually see the managers in action. So you see who comes to board meetings and who has nothing to say or isn't adding value or doesn't even show up t…”

“From our interpretation, it feels like companies are able to go out at a smaller top line scale. Than you would see in international markets where it's viable maybe in the hundred to one hundred fifty million top line range instead of what seems to be more lik…”

“We've been in discussions with a lot of managers in India increasingly that I think are exploring that. And they're either selling single positions to, you know, folks like us who do secondary investing, they're selling to private equity or other financial buy…”

“When you look at cross-border SaaS that's really more of a global perspective on investing. And so I think it ties to managers in India and gives them an advantage at earlier stages. But you're going to have significant capital that wants to come into those be…”

“That's prob, that's probably a fair assumption, but I would say on the fund side because we're beginning to be more active on the direct side. So it would not be that high yet.”

“We're not gonna suddenly have 20 to 30 managers in India. That, that's not our desire, and I don't think there's 20 to 30 that we would view as worth doing at this point in time.”

“I think there is increased interest in, in India and in Southeast Asia and in South Korea, specifically as people think of other ways to get exposure in Asia.”

“We're not as much of a believer in, in lottery ticket approaches to seed investing and, We don't think that it's enduring.”

“Right now what I'm seeing is probably more of like a festering kind of situation because it's pretty difficult to spin out and start your own firm right now. You know, people who may want to do that are just going to choose to wait because LPs aren't adding a …”

“In many of these scenarios, the junior partners don't have enough interaction or connection with the LPs because they don't do the fundraising exercises or the fundraising calls. And so you know, if the senior partner leaves, then the LPs get spooked, and you …”

“At some point when it becomes easier to raise, all these people that have been doing this aren't going to stay.”

“And particularly in an environment like the one we have now, where other liquidity options are more limited. You're not seeing companies go public, you're not seeing strategic M&A as a robust of a clip, and so they need to think more creatively about getting l…”

“The denominator effect is effectively when you have both a public and a private book, the public side has gone down more significantly. The private side has come down, but not at the degree or the speed that you've seen the public side go down. And what you're…”

“I have been surprised and happily so that people have taken discretionary markdowns more proactively for the first time in, in my history of doing this.”

“I would look at the companies that are shorter on runway that are going to need to raise within the next 18 to 24 months, and if those companies have hit a growth phase and a price that's too high, then I would take a discretionary markdown on it. If instead i…”

“I mean, we're seeing family offices that were overly adventurous in this category need to sell we're seeing corporate pensions similarly looking to sell, so it's not just specific to them.”

“I think what you'll see is smaller investment sizes in the managers that they like. In the ones they really like, they'll just stay the same instead of growing. And in the ones that are on the fringe or in their, you know, respective penalty boxes, as you may …”

“I don't think you're going to see massive upticks like we saw before where companies were raising it, you know, two X last round after six to nine months. I think we're not close to that environment nor will be in the near to medium term, but”

“I mean, specific to the crypto side, the only potentially interesting thing there is no mainstream generalist money at the growth stage investing in that category. So the people that will be coming in and supporting those companies are the crypto native folks.”

“You could argue in some scenarios, if you're buying off of current TVPI, it's already overinflated, and in order to actually get to that TVPI at the end of the day, it might not make sense from a duration standpoint to even consider that.”

“Deep pocketed investors that actually know how to do reserve management that will be there to support the companies in the future. If you don't have that, you're going to be more susceptible to down rounds or complete wipeouts.”

“Now, if a fund is at a three to a four X and you're asking them to take a 50% discount, they're still going back to their board with a two X return and the ability from an opportunity cost standpoint to then deploy it. Into what we all expect to be very good v…”

“Company side, people, I think, think of a little bit differently philosophically, but at the same time, they know that there's not going to be an IPO in the next two years, and A lot of those constituents are smaller, they're high net worths, they're individua…”

“I never thought valuation policy would change as much as it did have public comp reliance option pricing modeling inserted, broad scale discretionary markdowns. I just think how people will value these assets has probably been forever changed on a go forward b…”

“And as a result of that, and as a result of the limited liquidity options, the secondary part of venture is going to be very significant for a long period of time. And I think pretty interesting and also a compliment from a duration standpoint If you're doing …”

“I think what you're gonna end up having happen is increased infighting in a lot of groups, because you have older GPs that have done very well that are staying on longer than they ever expected just because they're going to be needed to get funds raised in the…”

“You're not going to provide any vintage or diversification, and those funds will probably end up being challenged if they were concentrated in, in parts of, like, 20, 21, and you didn't smooth it out enough, and if you manage to do two or three funds within a …”

“I think if you have someone that's been a partner or a senior member at an established brand who decides to leave and start something smaller, more focused on their own, those are generally highly competitive to get into. There's a big access premium. Most peo…”

“If it is more of a variety of spin out where it's someone who's junior or mid-level at a firm that Maybe has mixed attribution or has been responsible for sourcing, but not monitoring or carrying something through end to end. That can be a more challenging fun…”

“You just do not see a lot of new funds that emerge that want to do 200 to four hundred million dollar fund focused on A and start with that initially.”

“And so I do think the ones that choose to compete in that category will do so, for the most part, coming out of seed micro as a beginning point.”

“Yeah, I think there's definitely a shortage of dedicated B round investors.”

“For us as a direct secondary buyer, just for our model, we're more interested in buying typically from employees or departed employees just because for us as an investor in funds, if your fund manager is selling out into a secondary, it's not a great sign for …”

“Yeah, I mean, I think definitely on the micro side, it's something that people should be actively doing, and I would even consider selling majority positions, not full positions, into these mega growth rounds. I think it makes sense as a seed investor, you're …”

“Going back to companies staying private longer, that means that the life of funds will also stay in existence longer, and LPs of all different varieties have different tolerance for illiquidity and desire to stay into a fund into years. 10 to 15”

“Generational transition is something that is very difficult for any firm to navigate, and so it being done gradually with a good plan in place where people are thinking about it even 10 years before it's going to happen is the mark of a good firm with a health…”