Jun 14, 2024 · 1h 13m · sourcery
Hunter Walk, Homebrew & Screendoor · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea
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Hunter Walk, partner at Homebrew and co-founder of Screen Door, joins host Molly O'Shea on Sourcery to discuss Homebrew's strategic pivot to an evergreen, self-funded investment model and Screen Door's mission to anchor and mentor emerging venture managers.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Molly holds 14.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Molly as informed peer 5.6 Guest teaching 5.3 Guest disagreement 2.4 Molly pushing back 1.1
speaking balance: gold is Molly, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 36:03 Hunter's critique of the Midas List
Hunter pulls back the curtain on industry rankings, explaining that Midas List inclusion requires handing over confidential data and forcing internal attribution battles between partners.
Hardest push from Molly ▶ 49:12 Molly probes on scout fund dynamicsMolly interrupts to press whether Screen Door treats emerging managers as a feeder scout program or maintains strict operational separation.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 35:00 Hunter explains capital recycling mechanicsHunter provides a crystal-clear tutorial on how disciplined recycling allows a 35 million dollar fund to deploy 42 million dollars into winning positions.
Molly holds their own ▶ 57:00 Molly cites institutional FoF experienceMolly demonstrates her own domain expertise by citing her tenure at New York Life Ventures analyzing the structural outperformance of Fund I and Fund II vintages.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Molly as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Molly pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Evolution of Homebrew & The Self-Funded Model | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | Molly opens with an informed breakdown of VC incentive shifts and fund size bloat. Hunter expands with the origin story and philosophy behind Homebrew's pivot to a self-funded evergreen model. | |
| Venture Fund Mechanics, LP Dynamics, and Industry Incentives | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | Molly prompts Hunter to explain the structural differences between traditional 2-and-20 funds and his self-funded model. Hunter delivers a detailed explanation of capital calls on personal savings, carry structures, and why venture Darwinism moves slowly. | |
| Custom Playbooks and Value Creation in Venture Capital | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | Hunter reframes Molly's points on venture firm behavior, breaking down the industry's talent curve into a realistic single-hump distribution rather than the perceived double-hump of kingmakers versus vultures. | |
| Portfolio Wins, Capital Recycling, and Midas List Myths | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | Hunter discusses portfolio wins like Chime and Plaid, explaining how capital recycling works in early funds. He also deconstructs the Midas List, revealing that inclusion requires submitting non-public portfolio data and claiming internal deal attribution. | |
| Screen Door: Structure, Origins, and Mission | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | Hunter outlines the structure and thesis behind Screen Door, explaining how it acts as an anchor LP for diverse emerging managers. Molly presses with a sharp clarifying question about whether Screen Door uses these managers as proprietary deal scouts. | |
| Evaluating Emerging Managers & The Core Screening Process | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Molly asks how Screen Door filters through hundreds of applications to find enduring managers. Hunter explains their underwriting criteria, emphasizing the necessity of a consistent 'why' that aligns between LPs and founders. | |
| Fundraising Frameworks & Advice for New Venture Managers | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | Molly leverages her previous corporate fund-of-funds background at New York Life Ventures to validate first-time manager outperformance. Hunter delivers a comprehensive tactical roadmap covering Fund 1 MVP sizing, LP concentration risk, and narrative honesty. |
Statements from this episode (20)
Walk: Raising larger venture funds without structural planning hurts LPs and founders
“Like all of those are implications that I think actually when venture firms don't consider and they just raise more money and then figure it out as they go, like are bad for LPs and bad for founders and thus bad for those firms.”
Walk: Homebrew targets 10-12 annual seed investments of $100k-$500k
“We're going to keep our firm together. We're going to make the same number of investments each year, 10 to 12. But instead of having an ownership target that forces a certain check size, so, and so forth, we're going to write most checks between a hundred K an…”
Walk: Homebrew has made roughly 28 investments under its evergreen model
“You know, we've made 28 investments or so. I think we're just closing on a 29th a hundred percent, you know, a hundred percent win rate, you know, for whatever that's worth type of thing.”
Walk: Homebrew gives carried interest to every employee at the firm
“We've always given anybody who works for homebrew carry in the fund. So our head of ops, you know, executive assistant, our head of talent in addition to getting salaries and bonuses, they are, they get unbounded upside. In our success.”
Walk: Homebrew IV invests assuming it will only write one check
“When we write a check into a company as homebrew four we hope to have the opportunity to continue to support or, you know, put more capital in if it makes sense, but we make it, we write that check, assuming It'll be the only check we write and that the juice …”
Walk: Underperforming VC funds take a decade or more to exit
“It takes, you know, a decade or more, you know, barring a real firm, you know, a partnership breakup or you know, something illegal, you know, right? Like it takes a decade or more for a underperforming fund To actually exit the market.”
Hunter Walk: Only 5% of VCs are exceptional and 5% are horrible
“And then you get inside the industry and you realize like, actually it's a single hump. There's five percent of VCs who are really, really good at what they do. And even part of that is self-awareness, right? Oh, I'm best in these situations and this stage of …”
Hunter Walk: Homebrew's 2013 fund ranks in the top one percent
“Like, even if that fund didn't return another dollar, we'd be like a top one percent fund, and fortunately, it's gonna return more dollars.”
Hunter Walk: An investor's thesis is their portfolio, not their blog posts
“Your thesis is your portfolio page. It's not your tweets. It's not your blog post. It's not your market maps. The saddest thing in the world is to be an investor who, like, gets all of those right, but then doesn't invest in the best companies. ... Then you're…”
Hunter Walk: Homebrew's first two funds achieved over 120% capital recycling
“Our first two funds, I think are all maybe are a hundred north of a 120% recycling. So we really double triple down recycling as people, you know, I was using the example before of you draw down fees, right. But you have to invest the whole amount recycling is…”
Hunter Walk: Midas List inclusion forces confidential disclosures and deal attribution
“Anyone who's on the Midas list no matter what their firm says, they've turned over, you know, information to a third party about their portfolio. And they've decided internally that somebody gets to claim credit for that deal. Whether it's the person who deser…”
Walk: Screen Door writes 10% anchor checks for emerging VC funds
“Screen Door tries to help anchor a fund by, if it's a twenty million dollar fund, writing a two million dollar check. If it's a hundred million dollar fund, writing a ten million dollar check. So we're a big, big sum of capital.”
Walk: Differentiated new venture managers will eat mediocre firms' lunch
“I think it's a great time to be a differentiated quote unquote new manager, right? They are going to eat the lunch of mediocre firms, you know, slow moving firms.”
Walk: The venture capital industry moves quickly only out of fear or greed
“Venture, venture moves quickly out of fear or greed. Everything else is slow, right?”
Walk: Screen Door received over 700 emerging manager applications last year
“Last year we got over 700 applications.”
Walk: Giving different pitches to founders and LPs is duplicitous
“To the extent that those answers, the answers you would tell a founder are different than what you tell an LP. I think at best it's confusing and at worst it's duplicitous, right? Like you're sort of somebody's the rube, right?”
Walk: Fund I is raised on potential, II momentum, III results
“Fund one gets raised on potential fund two gets raised on momentum and fund three gets raised on results.”
Walk: Emerging VC managers should change only one thing for Fund 2
“Fund two shouldn't necessarily, shouldn't change too much. Like if you're adding, like, sometimes I see people try to add a partner Move up a weight class in terms of like, as opposed to one to three percent, now I'm gonna lead rounds, or, you know, they try t…”