Pitch Practice with fnInvestor Charles Hudson (April 2, 2025)
Virtual · Zoom
Scale, Lead & Lifetime Members Only:
Watch, Pitch, Learn: Join fnInvestor Charles Hudson, Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, for a virtual pitch practice where you’ll have an invaluable opportunity to fine-tune your pitch, learn from the investor’s perspective, and potentially open the door for further conversations.
Key Event Details:
- Pitching Opportunity:
- RSVP & Selection: While RSVPing is necessary, spots are not guaranteed. Only three founders (Scale, Lead & Lifetime Members) will be selected based on criteria set by the investor. The selection will happen a week before the event.
- Pitch Format: Each selected founder will have five minutes to pitch their startup. This is your chance to deliver a concise, impactful pitch—essentially an "extended elevator pitch." Time is limited, so make sure you focus on the core elements of your startup’s story, value, and vision.
- Mandatory Dry Run Requirement: Before the event, you'll need to complete a dry run of your pitch with Patricia Liu, a pitch deck expert and startup advisor. This is a critical step to ensure you're prepared and confident going into the pitch practice session.
- Feedback: After each pitch, you will receive five minutes of feedback (3mins from the investor, 1min from Kevin Holmes, and 1min from one of your peers). Take notes and ask clarifying questions, as this could provide invaluable insights for refining your pitch moving forward.
- Post-Event Follow-Up:
- If there’s mutual interest, you may have the opportunity to connect with the guest investor to dive deeper into your pitch and explore potential next steps with your startup.
- Not Ready to Pitch?:
- Even if you’re not ready to pitch, you can still join the session as an observer. This is a great opportunity to watch, learn, and ask questions. You can gain insights from the feedback provided to others, and have the chance to engage directly with the investor.
How to Participate:
- The pitching opportunity is for Scale, Lead and Lifetime members only, while Launch is able to be a spectator (watch).
- RSVP to secure your spot (although not guaranteed to pitch, you’ll still be able to watch and learn).
- Prepare for the dry run with Patricia Liu beforehand to refine your pitch.
- If selected, pitch and get feedback from the featured fnInvestor.
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Investment Criteria:
- Invests in: Early-stage companies, particularly in their first institutional round
- Sectors: Generalist approach, investing in both software and hardware across various industries
- Investment Location: Primarily North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico), with openness to other geographies
- Investment Range: Up to $500,000 in pre-seed rounds of $1 million or less; up to $750,000 in seed rounds smaller than $4 million
Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner and Founder of Precursor Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on investing in the first institutional round of investment for the most promising software and hardware companies. He invests in people over product at the earliest stage of their entrepreneurial journey. Under his leadership, Precursor Ventures has raised four funds and has over $175 million under management. He has invested in more than 375 companies and has supported more than 400 founders, including the teams behind Clearco, Juniper Square, The Athletic (sold to the NY Times for $525 million in 2022), Incredible Health, Carrot, and Pair Eyewear.
Prior to founding Precursor Ventures, Charles was a Partner at Uncork Capital where he focused on identifying investment opportunities in mobile infrastructure, mobile applications, and marketplaces and supporting their portfolio companies on business and corporate development matters. He was also the CoFounder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games, an Android-focused mobile games startup based in San Francisco, CA.
Charles is an active member of the VC community. Charles is the 2023-2024 Chair of the NVCA Board of Directors, is a board member at Venture Forward, is on the investment committee for Screendoor, and recently joined Path Ahead Ventures Advisory Board. He is also an advisor and mentor to a number of emerging managers.
Charles holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Stanford University. He maintains close connections with his alma mater and was awarded the 2021-22 Governors’ Award in honor of his exceptional volunteer service to the university as a board member and volunteer. He is also on the teaching team for the Entrepreneurship from Diverse Perspectives course in the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
In addition to his volunteer work at Stanford, Charles serves on the Advisory Board for the San Francisco Opera Association, where he is a member of the Marketing and Directors and Officers Committees.
About Patricia Liu:
Patricia Liu teaches courses at Stanford Continuing Studies and Stanford Health Care on startup pitch decks and presentations. Her pitch deck and presentation clients include early-stage startups to Fortune 100 companies. Patricia is an angel investor and serves on the MIT NorCal Angels selection committee. She worked at Accenture, consulting to Fortune 500 clients, before pursuing an interest in the culinary profession that led her to the test kitchen at the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group. Patricia received a BS and an MEng in computer science from MIT.
Confidentiality Reminder
All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.
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