Hunter Somerville
The Orchestrator
Scaling people and moving parts into one working whole.
Hunter Somerville demonstrates the Orchestrator archetype throughout this interview, coordinating across fund investing, direct company investing, and secondaries to create what he describes as a flywheel ecosystem in venture capital. Somerville does not position himself as a lone decision-maker but as someone who connects early-stage fund managers, founders, and institutional capital into a coherent, mutually reinforcing system.
“I don't have an issue with kickers. I don't like it when people get cute and have three or four levels, and it just becomes overly complicated. But if someone puts out like a step up F, I also don't like when it's less than 3x and people start doing kickers at 2x or 2.5. That's just not high enough for a venture fund.”
“I think it's the secondary side, which we spent most of the episode today talking about. I just don't think people think about this segment with Adventure. And Venture isn't this tiny cottage industry anymore that it used to be.”
“Yeah, it's very different from 08 to 2010 because then when you were buying it a 30 to 50% discount, you were causing someone to maybe get a 1x or to lose money because the funds weren't written up to the level that they are currently.”
“It depends on the region, but yes, I think there will be more of a re emphasis on the, but certain areas like people are much more excited about India and there continues to be interested in investing there.”
Money Maze Podcast: “Venture Capital: From Niche to Mainstream. With Hunter Somerville, Partner at Stepstone Group”
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