Person
Every book Bill Gurley recommended on podcasts
Across 3 podcasts. Every show Bill Gurley appears on, in one place — not just one.
Bill Gurley’s most recommended books
- The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
- How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley
- Mr. China by Tim Clissold
- Range by David J. Epstein
- Setting the Table by Danny Meyer
- One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Gordon Malkiel
- Build by Tony Fadell
- Competitive Strategy by Michael E. Porter
- Complexity by M. Mitchell Waldrop
John William Gurley is an American venture capitalist. Since 1999, he has been a general partner at Benchmark, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm in San Francisco, California, and is best known for an early investment in Uber in 2011. Gurley recommended and discussed several non-fiction books across multiple podcast appearances. On All-In, he highlighted Alison Young's 'Pandora's Gamble' as a relevant data point examining lab leak failures prior to COVID-19, and he repeatedly recommended Danny Meyer's 'Setting the Table' as a valuable read on career inspiration and hospitality. On Modern Wisdom, Gurley recommended Jean M. Twenge's 'Generations' as a fascinating read and noted that the second half of David Epstein's 'Range' had a significant impact on him. On The Tim Ferriss Show, he urged business-minded listeners to read the first three chapters of Michael Porter's 'Competitive Strategy' for industry analysis techniques, recommended Arthur C. Brooks's 'From Strength to Strength' to help navigate career shifts, and praised Tim Clissold's 'Mr. China' as a wonderful book that he frequently gifts to others.
Books recommended by Bill Gurley
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The Rational Optimist
Matt Ridley's influential work "The Rational Optimist" explores the long-term history of human progress, arguing that prosperity fundamentally arises when ideas are shared and combined.
Discussed“And this gets back to Ridley's book, The Rational Optimist, but he talks about prosperity comes when ideas have sex. And just the sharing of information in my mind should be free”
Where to get it
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How Innovation Works
How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley is a non-fiction exploration that examines how major historical inventions, technological breakthroughs, and standard of living improvements develop over long stretches of time.
Recommended“For kind of high-tech macro, if there is such a thing, I think Ridley's two books, The Rational Optimist and How Innovation Works, they're just fantastic and spectacular.”
Where to get it
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Mr. China
Mr.
Recommended“and a wonderful book called Mr China about this guy that lost his shirt”
Where to get it
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Range
Range by David J.
Recommended“Um, the second half of Range impacted me and Yeah.”
Where to get it
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Setting the Table
Setting the Table by Danny Meyer is a renowned memoir and business guide that outlines the author's philosophy of enlightened hospitality and leadership in the restaurant industry.
Recommended“He has a great book setting the table if people haven't read it.”
Where to get it
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One Up On Wall Street
One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch and John Rothchild is a classic investment guide that teaches individual investors how to find lucrative market opportunities using everyday observations.
Discussed“You know, I'd read one up on Wall Street.”
Where to get it
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A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Burton Gordon Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street is a widely read finance book that advocates for the efficient market hypothesis, arguing that stock market prices completely reflect all available information and that active investing cannot consistently outperform a simple index fund.
Recommended“A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel.”
Where to get it
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Build
Build by Tony Fadell provides practical frameworks, mentorship insights, and hard-earned lessons on entrepreneurship, product design, and leadership from a veteran tech innovator.
Recommended“And on Tony, I'd read his new book, Build.”
Where to get it
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Competitive Strategy
Competitive Strategy by Michael E.
Recommended“For people who are not going to get an NBA, would you still suggest everyone read the first three chapters of Michael Porter's competitive strategy techniques for analyzing industries and competitive? Unquestionably, anyone that's going to do anything in business should read that book.”
Where to get it
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Complexity
Complexity by M.
Recommended“The first one that I've gifted the most is called Complexity by Mitchell Waldrop, which is about the rise of the Santa Fe Institute.”
Where to get it
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Crossing the Chasm
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A.
Recommended“And Crossing the Chasm, which does a really good job of explaining how a startup should kind of sequence their customer base as they grow.”
Where to get it
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From Strength to Strength
From Strength to Strength by Arthur C.
Recommended“Because you had two successful careers as not just a podcast or influencer, but as an angel investor, I would I would encourage you to read Arthur Brook's book, Strength to Strength. I did. I did. It was already it was great.”
Where to get it
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Generations
Jean M.
Recommended“So, generations is is really fascinating. This stinks of you. Highly recommend it.”
Where to get it
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Pandora's Gamble
Pandora's Gamble by Alison Young examines laboratory safety failures, regulatory oversights, and the historical precedents surrounding risky biological research that occurred prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommended“and then Alison Young wrote a book called Pandora's Gamble that looks at all of the lab leak failures that have happened prior to COVID, which is an interesting and relevant data point to study if you want to consider whether or not that was part of the problem.”
Where to get it
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Shoe Dog
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is a compelling entrepreneur autobiography detailing the grueling early struggles, near-failures, and ultimate triumph behind the founding and rise of Nike.
Recommended“I would mention Shoe Dog.”
Where to get it
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Startup
Startup is a book by Jerry Kaplan that offers an insider account of the founding and early struggles of GO Corporation, providing a vivid narrative about Silicon Valley startup culture during the early 1990s.
Recommended“There's a book I love called Startup by Kaplan.”
Where to get it
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The Innovator's Dilemma
The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M.
Recommended“The two books that I would put for the venture community, for the startup community that I would put as next level right on top of Competitive Strategy or Innovator's Dilemma, which does an amazing job of describing why startups can compete with big companies.”
Where to get it
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Breakneck
Breakneck by Dan Wang is a comparative study of political economy that examines the contrasting trajectories of the United States and China, famously framing the difference through the lens of a lawyer-dominated society versus an engineer-driven state.
Discussed“I was aided by the fact that Dan Wong shared his book Breakneck with me right before I left and I read it while I was there, which was interesting.”
Where to get it
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Corporate Valuation
Discussed“McKinsey had a book called Valuation, they still do, that uses this type of analysis.”
Where to get it
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Flow
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a psychological masterpiece that explores the state of optimal experience, immersion, and deep engagement where challenges perfectly match an individual's skill level, resulting in profound fulfillment and distorted perceptions of time.
Discussed“the word that popped into my brain, and there's a book by this title was flow.”
Where to get it
The other 15 books Bill Gurley recommended or discussed, ranked
- Flying Blind by Peter Robison
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
- Grit by Angela Duckworth
- GRIT The Power of PASSION and PERSEVERANCE by Angela Duckworth
- Moneyball by Michael Lewis
- Running down a Dream by James Fore
- Sharkproof by Harvey Mackay
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
- Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital by C. Perez
- The new journalism by Tom Wolfe
- The New New Journalism by Robert Boynton
- The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
- The Sports Gene by David Epstein
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Tribe of Mentors by Timothy Ferriss
Books Bill Gurley wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“So, I did a TED talk which will come out soon that's related to the book. Um I I uh there's a professor in Miami that's built a course around the book which I'm excited about”
“So, as part of researching my new book, Running Down a Dream, my coowriter and I, we spent six years just diving through stories because I had done this speech at the University of Texas and we wanted to enhance it, you know, when we went to the printed form.”