Hunter Walk and Satya Patel are Co-Founders and Partners @ Homebrew, one of the leading seed funds of the last decade. Following 10 years of stellar returns with investments in the likes of Chime, Plaid, Gusto and many others, they decided to not accept any further LP capital and to only invest their own money moving forward through Homebrew Forever. In Today's Discussion on Homebrew We Breakdown: 1. ) The Foundings of a Great Partnership: What was the moment when Hunter and Satya decided they were going to go out and raise their first fund with Homebrew I? What are the core principles that all founding partners need to align on before they start a firm together? What questions should they ask of each other? Why does being independently wealthy coming into a partnership make the partnership easier and more efficient to operate? What changes when the partners have money already? 2.) What Changes When Moving From LP Dollars to Personal Capital: Why did Hunter and Satya decide to not raise any further capital from external LPs? Asset allocation-wise, how did they determine how much is the right amount to set aside for the first 2 years of investing? How many investments do they want to make with that cash? How does investing their personal capital change their deployment pace and cadence? How does it change their approach to reserves management and follow-on financing? How does it change their approach to pricing? How price sensitive are they today? 3.) Analyzing the Seed Landscape Today: Why do Hunter and Satya not think that a $100M seed fund is enough to properly execute a world-class seed strategy today? Who is their competition with the new strategy? How does it change their relationship with large multi-stage funds? How does it change their relationship with seed funds? Do they agree that the last generation of sub $20M micro-funds will not raise another fund in this cycle? How did their entrance impact the seed landscape over the last few years? Why are LPs also to blame for many of the original seed managers raising larger and larger funds? 4.) Companies: Money and People are The Problem: Why has too much money been such a problem for many Homebrew portfolio companies over the last few years? How has too much money changed their execution plans? What happens to the "living dead" companies with many years of runway but no product market fit? Who does this market cater to well? Who will thrive in this market? What have people forgotten about both startups and venture in the last 2 years that we have to remember? Why is this generation so entitled and expectant? Why are startups not a get-rich-quick scheme?

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.On this week’s show we’re fortunate to be joined by Hunter Walk and Satya Patel, founders of Homebrew, a seed-stage firm founded over a decade ago that’s backed companies such as Chime, AngelList, and Gusto. Just over a year ago, Homebrew announced that it was moving away from a seed-focused traditional LP-backed fund to an open-ended evergreen structure that is funded from the proceeds of prior investments.Additionally, they are also leading up efforts of Screendoor, a fund of funds focused on supporting underrepresented fund managers by offering capital and counsel. Satya is coming back on the show for the second time, and it was fun to have Hunter on with him this time, as we dove deep into their learnings from building homebrew, what they look for when back fund managers, and their view on what makes a great partner for founders. This was a fun one, and we think you’ll really enjoy hearing their thoughts. Let’s now get right into it!A word from our sponsor:Privately owned and headquartered in New York City, Grasshopper Bank is built to serve the business and innovation economy. As a client-first digital bank, Grasshopper combines the best of banking technology and years of industry expertise to deliver best-in-class experiences with trusted security and unparalleled support. Grasshopper's digital solutions are tailored for venture capital and private equity firms, startups and small businesses, fintech-focused Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and commercial API banking platforms, and more. Serving clients globally, Grasshopper provides flexible, firm-focused lending solutions, as well as a dedicated Relationship Manager committed to meeting the unique needs and strategic focus of your firm across all entities, including funds, general partner and management companies. Grasshopper is a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender.For more information, visit the bank's website at www.grasshopper.bank or follow on LinkedIn and Twitter.About Satya Patel:Satya Patel is a Founding Partner of Homebrew and Co-Founder of Screendoor. Prior to Homebrew, he was VP Product at Twitter, building and leading the Product Management and User Services teams. Before Twitter, he was a Partner at Battery Ventures, where he co-led the seed and early-stage investing practices. He joined Google in 2003 and was responsible for AdSense product management and partnerships.Before heading to Silicon Valley for Google, he worked for DoubleClick, in venture capital, and as a strategy consultant.He has a BS in Finance and a BS in Psychology from The University of Pennsylvania.About Hunter Walk:Hunter Walk is a Founding Partner of Homebrew and Co-Founder of Screendoor. Prior to Homebrew, Hunter led consumer product management at YouTube, starting when it was acquired by Google. He originally joined Google in 2003, managing product and sales efforts for AdSense, Google‘s contextual advertising business.His first job in Silicon Valley was as the founding product and marketing guy at Linden Lab.Before graduate school, he was a management consultant and also spent a year at Late Night with Conan O‘Brien. He has a BA in History from Vassar and MBA from Stanford University.In this episode we discuss:(03:32) The decision to move to an evergreen fund structure with Homebrew(07:32) The biggest constraints when early-stage fund sizes balloon(17:34) How to survive a down market and become a force multiplier on a cap table(24:58) The inspiration to start Screendoor(33:33) The type of managers they are looking to back at Screendoor(37:54) Patterns they’ve seen in great investors(42:13) The most important question they ask GPs(44:42) The biggest lessons from their time as investorsI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Satya and Hunter. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Satya Patel joins Jason to discuss the economics of being a self-funded GP and the structure of their fund (6:51). Then, they have an all-encompassing discussion about the challenges of running Google today, the state of VC, and much more (15:44). Before wrapping, they discuss their investing frameworks and when and when they will not break them (43:29).  (0:00) Nick kicks off the show (1:21) Satya's early days a Google (6:51) The economics of being a solo GP (9:29) Mercury - Apply in minutes and get up to $5M in FDIC insurance at https://mercury.com (10:58) The structure of a fund (15:44) The challenges of running Google today (17:51) The evolution of chat-based search  (22:55) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/TWIST (24:25) The balkanization of AI data  (29:55) The pace of AI and the harsh reality of the private sector  (38:11) Clumio - Start a free backup, or sign up for a demo at https://clumio.com/twist (39:28) Saying "no" to external funds  (43:29) Flexible Frameworks (58:05) Founder Archetypes  (1:01:38) Being "founder friendly" and the importance of board meetings  (1:14:09) Screendoor  (1:22:25) Satya's thoughts on SVB  FOLLOW Satya: https://twitter.com/satyap FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Subscribe to our YouTube to watch all full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkkhmBWfS7pILYIk0izkc3A?sub_confirmation=1 FOUNDERS! Subscribe to the Founder University podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/founder-university/id1648407190