Charles HudsonFounder and Managing Partner, Precursor Ventures

Is shared optimism the secret sauce in venture investing?

13 Jun 2025 · 0 min

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Charles Hudson invests in founders when he shares their vision of what the future looks like if they're right. He looks for that shared optimism rather than betting on companies that appear attractive on paper, like retail businesses.

Is going to go wrong. And I don't know. I always feel like when I'm doing due diligence or trying to get to know a company, I'm like, okay, what do they believe the world's going to look like in the future if they're right? Is this a big company? And most of the investments I end up making, it's because I have a shared optimism with them about what the future looks like. And look, as we say all the time, for retail companies, they all look pretty terrible.