Replay — Getting Smart on a New Market, Parts 1 & 2 (Charles Hudson)

On this special replay, Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures joins Nick to discuss Getting Smart on a New Market. In this episode we cover:  What Charles’ experience at SoftTech was like and how he made the transition to founding Precursor. What his continuing role as a Venture Partner at SoftTech entails. How Charles decides to study a new, emerging market and some of the markets that he’s analyzed over the years. The three components of his approach to getting smart on a new area. How important timing is and how he considers if the timing is right for a new area. If he assesses markets vertically and looks for the level within the supply chain stack to see where a company is playing and which level within the chain is going to exert the most control over the market. How he breaks down market structure and the critical components therein. The importance of the degree of homogeneity of the customer base within a target market. How he thinks about companies disrupting existing markets and those creating brand new markets. We discuss how there’s always a good reason to say no to startups and, more importantly, the key, recurring reasons that come up that cause him to say yes. How do you look at companies addressing industries where the incumbent product offerings are free.  Businesses like Slack that were replacing free options Fresh Eyes… You’ve written about how you don’t look at decks before the first meeting w/ an entrepreneur. Can you touch on the key reasons why you take meetings without reviewing the deck? If you are evaluating a startup that is pre-traction – what do you look for and why? In the spirit of continuous improvement… What are your thoughts on how one can learn and improve once they have a job in VC? What startup investor has inspired and influenced you most and why?