20VC: Raising A Solo GP Fund & Why They Are So Prominent Today with Charles Hudson, Managing Partner @ Precursor Ventures

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The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2016

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner with Precursor Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on first check investments in strong teams developing innovative hardware and software products and services. Prior to founding Precursor, Charles was a Partner with SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed stage investors in Internet and mobile startups. Prior to SoftTech, Hudson spent time at Google, IronPort Systems, and In-Q-Tel.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Charles made his way into VC from working with the CIA? What were Charles biggest takeaways from his operational experience?

2.) Why have we seen the rise of the solo GP fund? What tools and services can be used by solo GPs to make their lives easier?

3.) Chris Sacca said, 'you have to be a moron to launch a solo VC fund'. What does Charles think about this and what was it about Precursor that made him want to leave SoftTech?

4.) How does Charles' market requirements change now as a pre seed investor, a 100m exit is excellent. Do you you still need unicorns?

5.) How does Charles look to differentiate with Precursor in the sea of emerging VC funds? What is the most important thing for him about pr-seed investing?

6.) What is Charles' vision for Precursor? What would success look like for him?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:

Charles' Fave Book: Alec Ross: Industries of The Future

Charles' Fave Blog: The Information

As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Charles on Twitter here!

If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, I start most episodes with welcome back to The 20 Minute VC, but I want to change it up,
0:04.8	so it hit me with some suggestions for how better to intro the 20 minute VC is a podcast.
0:09.9	And you can find me at H. Stebbings on Snapchat, and I'd love to hear what your thoughts are.
0:14.7	But back to the show today, and I'm so excited for this one.
0:17.7	The guest today was recommended by some stellar names in the business, including the
0:21.3	lights of Jeff Clavier and Andy McLaughlin of SoftTech, and he was actually introduced by the main
0:26.4	man Brad Feld at Foundry Group. Huge thanks to Brad for that. Therefore, joining me in the hot
0:32.0	seat today, I'm delighted to welcome Charles Hudson. Charles is the managing partner with Precursor Ventures, an early stage venture
0:39.3	capital firm focused on first check investments in strong teams developing innovative hardware and
0:45.8	software products and services. Prior to founding Precursor, Charles was a partner with SoftTech VC,
0:51.8	one of the most active seed stage investors in internet and mobile
0:55.1	startups. And prior to SoftTech, Hudson spent time at Google, iron port systems, which was acquired
1:01.4	by Cisco for 830 million, and Incutel. And before we dive into the show with Charles today,
1:07.6	we have to thank our sponsors. and each new sponsorship segment is going to
1:11.4	contain a did you know, so you can always be learning. So did you know, according to the trusty
1:16.6	Google, it is illegal to buy a mattress in Washington on Sunday. But I'm not so sure about that
1:21.7	if you buy your mattress from the best, and that is Lisa. Their mattresses are crafted with three
1:26.5	unique layers, one of which is memory foam,
1:29.2	perfect for when you get to my age and your back is not what it used to be, and another of cool
1:33.8	latex light foam, designed to keep you cool at night. And I have to say they really are the
1:38.4	comfiest, and it is more of an issue of getting out of bed in the mornings now. And all Lisa
1:43.3	mattresses are made in the US
	...

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