Episode #60: The 2025 Venture Review feat. Hunter Walk (Homebrew, Screendoor) and Peter Walker (Carta)
This end‑of‑year episode of The Learning Corner by Precursor brings together our first podcast guests, Hunter Walk (Homebrew, Screendoor) and Peter Walker (Carta) for a wide‑ranging conversation on how venture capital has evolved in 2025. We unpack ballooning early‑stage valuations, the distortion created by media attention, and how few companies actually sit at the top of the market. We also discuss today’s exit landscape, growing pressure for liquidity, the rise of secondaries, and what recent IPOs and M&A activity mean for funds of different sizes. We close by examining what early‑stage venture really looks like today, from changing GP‑LP dynamics to faster paths to scale and the push to build more with smaller teams.
Key Points
- There is a growing trend of founders aiming for arbitrary high valuations without necessarily having the metrics to support them, leading to potential difficulties in future fundraising rounds.
- The M&A market is becoming increasingly active, especially for AI startups, with many acquisitions happening at the pre-seed and seed stages, although the majority of exits are not high-value deals.
- The venture ecosystem is seeing a division between consensus-driven mega funds and non-consensus emerging managers, with hopes for a future that includes backing more unique and unconventional startups.
- Why I No Longer Care About Startup Valuation When I Invest (Except For These Four Reasons) – Hunter Walk
- Stop reading startup fundraising headlines – Peter Walker
- Startup valuation expansion at seed was fastest at the top end – Peter Walker
- Ya, it does happen – but for very, very few – Peter Walker
- Startup M&A is so hot right now – Peter Walker
- The Three Boxes Chime’s IPO Checked for Me – Hunter Walk
- Praise Our Lord for Secondary Markets, Because Selling Shares is Now an Essential Part of Seed Venture Capital – Hunter Walk
- How a Venture Fund (Ours!) Actually Works With Their LPAC – Hunter Walk
- Startup funding is up, startup hiring is down – Peter Walker
- Years from inception to $1B in revenue – Peter Walker
Chapters
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Transcript
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