Bill Gurley: 6 Out of 10 People Are Making This Mistake

“We came across this Gallup poll that said 53% of people aren't engaged at work. And so we had this idea to ask, like, a thousand people if you could start your career over again, would you do it differently? And and seven out of 10 said yes. And then we we took that to to Wharton People Analytics to do the official academic version so you make sure you get all the statistical data correct. And their their number came back six out of 10, so still a really big number.”

“I once asked Jeff Bezos how he could possibly be good at angel investing while he's running this company. Oh, he did, Google, Uber. Like, it's a murderer's road. But but but to get to the point, he said the only thing he looks for is this insane determinism. He's like he he wanted to believe the person was gonna go do this no matter what come hell or high water.”

“We highlight in the book that that word's kind of cliched and overused. Seinfeld gave a talk at Duke where he said fascination was a better word. I think obsession's a good word. We titled the chapter chase your curiosity. Like, what just what is it that you you can't ignore? Like, what is this thing that you love so much that you always wanna know more about it?”

“I think the way you describe it is right. Like, everyone talks about mentors and no one talks about peers. So I do have a chapter on mentors, and I offer a ton of very practical advice about how to play that correctly. But the peer thing, the idea is that when you get on that first rung of the ladder and you're trying climate, if you could develop a friend group, it might be four, it might be six that are also on that same journey. And hopefully, I think outside your organization.”

“I think the CEO job is the loneliest job in America. I've said that many many times before. It's hard. And one of the things that makes it particularly hard, you need to run culturally opposite what's happening at the company. So if the company's doing poorly, you have to bring the positive energy and make people believe it's possible. And if the company's running hot, you wanna bring them down to earth.”

“most people don't think about continuous learning in their job. Now the the founders do because they they're learning these new technologies, and maybe doctors do because it's required by law, but most people that get into a field, I think I think the college experience and the high school experience were so exhausting. They're like worn out and they're like, I'm glad I'm done learning and then they're gonna go to work. But whatever you do, I guarantee you, especially with AI out there, there's some nuance of what you could be doing that's new and and unless you're trying to find that edge, somebody else may be.”

“I saw a ton of those people when I came to New York. we were getting paid decent money, like, for entry level jobs, but they would run and get they'd go get the place in the Hamptons, and they'd join the private club, and they'd run their budget right up to the top, sometimes above it. It's where if they don't get the bonus, they're underwater.”

“There's a lot of fear out there. Just remember, Warren Buffett said be be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. So the first wave of AI was a lot of people being greedy, and now all of a sudden there's fear for the first time. So if you're a net buyer of stocks, this is when you it's when you sharpen your pencil.”

“If you're crafting your own personal career and you're high agency, I think that's the word you used earlier, AI is like a jetpack. Like, you can do more stuff than you ever could before. You can learn faster than you ever could before in the history of time. You can find people to connect with. You can network faster than than you ever could before. And so if you have agency and and a direction you're headed in, AI is gonna make things way better.”

“So my mother-in-law, her name's Smithy. She came here, to to America from Haiti at, like, 14 years old. Didn't speak English. Married my father-in-law, Jeff. Jeff owned a moving company. Smithy was a stay at home mom for a long time. The kids grew up, and she was like, I'm kinda lost. I need to do something. So about five years ago, she says to me. She goes, Sam, I think I'm gonna start an online store that sells pillows. She now has a pillow company that sells over $1,000,000 a year in pillows. She has a warehouse in New Jersey with five full time employees selling pillows.”