Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is usually my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out the routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own lives.
This is a special episode and a turning of the tables. This time, legendary investor Bill Gurley interviews me, and the recording is from earlier this year at SXSW in Austin, TX. The conversation explores some of my lessons learned and favorite findings over the last two decades in areas like entrepreneurship, tech, and podcasting. I throw in some favorite books and other spice to keep things interesting.
Bill Gurley (@bgurley) has spent more than 20 years as a general partner at Benchmark. Before entering the venture-capital business, Bill spent four years on Wall Street as a top-ranked research analyst, including three years at Credit Suisse First Boston. Over his venture career, he has worked with such companies as GrubHub, Nextdoor, OpenTable, Stitch Fix, Uber, and Zillow.
For more takeaways from his incredible investing career, you can find my interview with Bill at tim.blog/billgurley.
As a side note, my 2007 SXSW speech that I mention in the interview is what started it all, in many senses. It’s what put my first book, The 4-Hour Workweek, on the radar of influential bloggers and bigger media outlets, ultimately landing it on The New York Times Best Sellers list, where it stayed, more or less, for the next seven years. It’s been a wild ride.
You can hear that 2007 presentation at tim.blog/sxsw.
One last thing: Hugh Forrest, if you’re listening, thank you again for giving me a shot way back in the day!
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Brought to you by Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, Secureframe automated security and privacy compliance platform, and AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.
The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
#682: Bill Gurley Interviews Tim Ferriss — Reflecting on 20+ Years of Life and Business Experiments
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Want to hear the last time Bill Gurley was on this podcast and I was the one asking all the questions? Listen to our conversation in which we discussed the most efficient short-form MBA one can find, sell-side analysts vs. buy-side analysts, repurposing good ideas for alternative applications, undervalued competitive advantages, the Santa Fe Institute, how to cultivate anti-tribalism, problems open source can solve, and much more.
#651: Legendary Investor Bill Gurley on Investing Rules, Finding Outliers, Insights from Jeff Bezos and Howard Marks, Must-Read Books, Creating True Competitive Advantages, Open-Source Strategies, Adapting Mental Models to New Realities, and More
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
- Connect with Bill Gurley:
- Featured Session: Turning the Tables on Tim Ferriss: A Conversation with Bill Gurley | SXSW 2023
- Legendary Investor Bill Gurley on Investing Rules, Finding Outliers, Insights from Jeff Bezos and Howard Marks, Must-Read Books, Creating True Competitive Advantages, Open-Source Strategies, Adapting Mental Models to New Realities, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #651
- Department of East Asian Studies | Princeton University
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss | Amazon
- Hobee’s Stanford | Yelp
- The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss | Amazon
- Timothy Ferriss and the ‘4-Hour’ Exit | The Globe and Mail
- Angel Investing: What It Is and How to Start | NerdWallet
- Tim Ferriss’ Angel Investing Profile | Signal
- Goodbye, StumbleUpon, One of the Last Great Ways to Find Good Things Online | The Verge
- Tim Ferriss’s Favorite Investment Is Uber (Video) | The Business Journals
- How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area | Codus Operandi
- From SF to Shenzhen: How Tech Hubs Are Built by Tanay Jaeel | LinkedIn
- Lost Generation: Paris, 1920s | Scott and Zelda
- A Fictional World Built for These Chaotic Times | The Legend of CØCKPUNCH
- The Lost Presentation That Launched The 4-Hour Workweek — “Secrets of Doing More with Less in a Digital World” from SXSW 2007 | The Tim Ferriss Show #548
- Blog Tool, Publishing Platform, and CMS | WordPress
- The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Timothy Ferriss | Amazon
- Tim Ferriss Episodes | The Joe Rogan Podcast
- Tim Ferriss | ID10T (Formerly The Nerdist Podcast) Episode 72
- Tim Ferriss | WTF with Marc Maron Episode 355
- Tim Ferriss | The Adam Carolla Show
- Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders | Six Degrees to Joe Rogan: A Podcast Network Analysis
- Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast
- Inside the Actors Studio | Bravo TV
- 10 Best Films That Tackle Toxic Influencer Culture | Screen Rant
- Welcome to 5-Bullet Friday | Tim Ferriss
- Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer | Amazon
- To Be Clear: Do Not Build Your Brand House on Land You Don’t Own | John Battelle’s Search Blog
- Finding the One Decision That Removes 100 Decisions (or, Why I’m Reading No New Books in 2020) | Tim Ferriss
- How I Built This with Guy Raz | Wondery
- This American Life
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout | Amazon
- Lex Fridman Podcast
- Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
- An Update on Changes to Spotify’s Podcast Business, June 2023 | Spotify
- How Spotify’s Podcast Plan Went off the Rails | The Verge
- “I’ll DM You Now” | Tim Ferriss, Twitter
- Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Timothy Ferriss | Amazon
- Sponsored InMail | LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
- Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos by M. Mitchell Waldrop | Amazon
- Science for a Complex World | Santa Fe Institute
- Mr. China: A Memoir by Tim Clissold | Amazon
- The Tao of Seneca: Letters from a Stoic Master (aka The Moral Letters to Lucilius) | Tim Ferriss
- Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de Mello | Amazon
- The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door: Thirty Poems of Hafez | Amazon
- Eight of the Very Best Nail Clippers 2023 | The Strategist
- Raynaud’s Disease Symptoms and Causes | Mayo Clinic
- HotHands Hand Warmers | Amazon
- Mittens | Amazon
- The Truth About the New York Times and WSJ Bestseller Lists | Observer
- Publishing Industry Data | NPD BookScan
- Today’s Book: The 4-Hour Workweek | Scobleizer
- Nonviolent Communication: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values by Marshall B. Rosenberg | Amazon
SHOW NOTES
- [06:32] From Princeton to podcasting.
- [07:39] How a disenchanted entrepreneur became a reluctant author.
- [14:22] Angel investing and The 4-Hour Body.
- [16:40] Investing rulesets and takeaways.
- [19:09] How a choice location maximizes serendipity.
- [20:42] Why did I back away from angel investing?
- [22:28] Entering the blogosphere.
- [27:02] Why podcasting?
- [28:33] Early and enduring lessons for improving the craft.
- [31:37] What makes a successful podcaster?
- [34:57] The power of direct communication with one’s audience.
- [38:48] Leveraging a lean infrastructure.
- [40:34] Helpful steps for effective interview prep.
- [45:08] Respected podcasting peers.
- [48:00] Spotify’s foray into podcasting territory.
- [50:09] Twitter and LinkedIn.
- [53:15] Books most gifted.
- [55:31] Most positively effective purchase of $100 or less.
- [55:30] Favorite failure.
- [57:50] Billboard.
- [58:49] Best investment ever made.
- [59:30] Most life-improving new belief, behavior, or habit.
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Related and Recommended
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for “Best of Apple Podcasts” three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it’s been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.