Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures - Venture Unlocked 002

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner and Founder at Precursor Ventures, one of the first and most active pre-seed focused venture firms in the world. Precursor seeks to invest in a company’s first round of institutional investment and focuses on investments in B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware. Prior to founding Precursor Ventures, he spent 5 years as a Partner at Uncork Capital (formerly known as SoftTech VC). Charles was also the Co­Founder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games, a mobile games startup. Prior to this he held Business Development roles for Serious Business (acquired by Zynga), Gaia Interactive, and Google. Prior to joining Google, Charles was a Product Manager for IronPort Systems, and he worked at In-Q-Tel, the venture capital fund backed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Charles holds a BA and an MBA from Stanford University.In this episode, Charles and I cover the following topics:* What his thought process was of spinning out of an established seed firm to start his own firm. * Why positioning your fund correctly represents such a critical part in fundraising successfully.  * His experience raising his first two funds relative to what he expected. * How he manages his time as a solo GP. * Why running a venture firm is actually multiple businesses in one. * The role of diversity in venture, and the opportunity ahead. Mentioned in this episode:* Precursor Ventures* Diversity & Inclusion in the VC Industry study by the NVCA and DeliotteI’d love to know what you took away from my conversations with Charles; Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to considered as a guest, or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter. 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