Charles HudsonFounder and Managing Partner, Precursor Ventures

Is winning now and paying later the best strategy?

13 Sept 2025 · 0 min

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Charles Hudson argues that in winner-take-all, network-effect markets dominant firms (e.g., Google, Microsoft) often find it commercially preferable to prioritize rapid market dominance — accepting the risk of regulatory fines or penalties later — rather than strictly adhering to rules from the start. The excerpt frames this as a recurring historical strategy: "win now and pay later."

Whatever penalties Google is ultimately assessed for whatever they're accused of doing with Chrome. You think about that, you're like, well, if you're Google, I hate to say it, don't you think you're better off having Chrome as the dominant browser and paying a fine 10 or 15 years later? Same thing with Microsoft. So I think the history has been that in these competitive network effect driven or winner take all markets, it is probably a better business strategy to win now and pay later than it is to actually stick to the rules.