Charles Hudson shares the common mistakes he’s seen after investing in 500+ startups
Charles Hudson shares the common mistakes he’s seen after investing in 500+ startups
查尔斯·哈德森分享了他投资 500 多家初创公司后总结的常见错误
Charles Hudson has spent more than a decade investing in early-stage startups. As the founder and managing partner at Precursor Ventures, he’s invested in hundreds of companies and has seen massive shifts in the markets that require founders to get creative and do away with the old fundraising playbooks. In this week’s episode of Build Mode, Startup Battlefield lead Isabelle Johannessen talks with Hudson about the headwinds facing early-stage founders today and the most common mistakes founders should avoid in order to get funded.
查尔斯·哈德森（Charles Hudson）在早期初创企业投资领域深耕了十多年。作为 Precursor Ventures 的创始人和管理合伙人，他投资了数百家公司，并见证了市场的巨大变革。这些变革要求创始人必须发挥创造力，摒弃旧有的融资套路。在本周的《Build Mode》节目中，Startup Battlefield 负责人伊莎贝尔·约翰内森（Isabelle Johannessen）与哈德森探讨了当今早期创始人面临的阻力，以及为了获得融资必须避免的常见错误。
Optimizing for high valuations over prudent planning
盲目追求高估值而非审慎规划
A high valuation doesn’t make sense for every company. While it can garner attention from media and legitimize the company to other investors, founders should be realistic about the expectations they are setting for their company with their valuation and most importantly think about who they’re choosing for their cap table. Is a big check worth working with a bad-fit investor for the next 10 years?
高估值并不适合每一家公司。虽然高估值可以吸引媒体关注并向其他投资者证明公司的合法性，但创始人应理性看待估值所带来的期望，最重要的是要慎重考虑选择谁进入公司的资本结构表（cap table）。为了拿到一笔大额支票，而与一位不合适的投资者共事十年，这真的值得吗？
“The real risk with these big rounds is you end up being a prisoner of your own company. You raise all this money, and you’ve sold people on a big vision. They don’t want the money back — they want you to find a way to build something that’s worthy of what they gave you,” Hudson said.
“这些大额融资真正的风险在于，你最终会成为自己公司的囚徒。你筹集了这么多资金，向人们兜售了一个宏大的愿景。他们不想要回本金，他们想要你找到一种方法，去打造出配得上他们投资的产品，”哈德森说道。
Run your own due diligence on prospective investors
对潜在投资者进行尽职调查
Talk to portfolio founders to see the kind of value-add the investor can offer. Verify claims they make about recruitment, GTM support, and connections to other platform teams. Remember, the VCs are courting you as much as you’re courting them.
与该投资者投资组合中的创始人交谈，看看他们能提供什么样的增值服务。核实他们关于招聘、市场进入（GTM）支持以及与其他平台团队联系的承诺。请记住，风投机构在争取你的同时，你也在争取他们。
Know whether venture capital is right for your business
明确风险投资是否适合你的业务
Great businesses aren’t always venture-scale businesses. Venture capital only works if you’re building a company capable of returning a fund. “I’ve been more successful lately in telling people, ‘This is what venture capital needs you to do. Let’s abstract away from your company. This is the kind of business you need to want to build. Is that your desire?’” Hudson said.
伟大的企业并不总是适合风险投资规模的企业。只有当你建立的公司有能力实现基金回报时，风险投资才有效。“最近我更倾向于直接告诉人们：‘这就是风险投资对你的要求。让我们抛开你的具体公司不谈，这就是你需要去打造的业务类型。这是你的愿望吗？’”哈德森说。
Understand today’s fundraising reality
理解当今的融资现实
Venture capital has changed dramatically in the past few years. Investors aren’t just evaluating your company against last year’s startups; they’re also comparing you to the fastest-growing AI companies in history. Even startups that are showing growth that would be amazing in other markets aren’t keeping up. “They’re doubling, they’re tripling, they’re quadrupling, and the message they’re hearing from the market is that’s good but not great,” Hudson said.
过去几年，风险投资发生了巨大变化。投资者不仅在将你的公司与去年的初创公司进行比较，还在将你与历史上增长最快的 AI 公司进行对比。即使是那些在其他市场表现出惊人增长的初创公司，也难以跟上步伐。“它们的业绩翻了一倍、两倍、四倍，但从市场得到的反馈却是：这还不错，但不够出色，”哈德森说。
The new season of Build Mode is out now. Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And watch the full videos on YouTube.
《Build Mode》新一季现已上线。请在 Apple Podcasts、Spotify 或你喜欢的任何播客平台订阅《Build Mode》，并前往 YouTube 观看完整视频。