Indeed, a lot of the folks who make their way to Precursor’s doorstep haven’t fundraised before. They’ve also never hired or fired anyone, set a strategy, or managed a budget — at least not as the operator of a startup. For many of them, building a company is what Hudson describes as “jumping into the deep end while holding a kettlebell.” That said, he’s never been shy about backing them.

Like his peers, Hudson wants to be the best pre-seed investor on the planet. Unlike many of his peers, he believes in following a formula that others see as theoretically impractical — what he calls investing in “strangers with no data.” In less than a decade, he’s built up a colorful roster that spans everything from women’s health apps to Gmail challengers.