Person
Every book Bill Gurley recommended on podcasts
Across 4 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
- Breakneck by Dan Wang
- 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
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. Appearing on multiple podcasts, Bill recommended several books across different subjects. On All-In, he mentioned Alison Young's Pandora's Gamble while discussing investigations into lab safety and origins. On Modern Wisdom, he recommended Jean M. Twenge's Generations, Danny Meyer's Setting the Table, and discussed how the second half of David Epstein's Range impacted him. On The Tim Ferriss Show, he recommended Michael E. Porter's Competitive Strategy for industry analysis and Arthur C. Brooks's From Strength to Strength for career shift perspectives. On BG2 Pod, Bill highlighted Daniel H. Pink's The Power of Regret as a source for understanding boldness regrets and discussed Dan Wang's Breakneck as a personal lens on China.
Books recommended by Bill Gurley
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The Rational Optimist
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley is a bold exploration of human history that argues prosperity and rising living standards are driven by trade, innovation, and the free exchange of ideas.
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 explores the origins of incredible inventions and historical developments, arguing that innovation thrives on freedom and acts as the parent of prosperity.
Recommended“I would highly encourage listeners to read two books uh the first one is the rational Optimist by Matt Ridley and the second one is how Innovation Works also by Matt Ridley and they should be read in that order”
Where to get it
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Breakneck
Breakneck by Dan Wang is a bestselling book exploring China's engineering-driven quest for the future and offering a comparative look at the political economies of the United States and China.
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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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
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Gordon Malkiel is a foundational financial text arguing that stock market prices are completely unpredictable and that passive index investing outperforms active stock picking.
Recommended“A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel.”
Where to get it
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Build
Build by Tony Fadell is a comprehensive guide offering practical mentorship, hard-earned wisdom, and essential frameworks for entrepreneurship, product design, and career development.
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 famous memoir chronicling the founding and incredible rise of the global athletic brand Nike.
Recommended“I would mention Shoe Dog.”
Where to get it
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Startup
Startup by Jerry Kaplan is an insider account of the technology industry and the entrepreneurial journey behind early tech ventures.
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 Christensen is a seminal business book that explains why leading companies often fail when confronted with disruptive technological changes.
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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The Power of Regret
The Power of Regret by Daniel H.
Recommended“And there's a there's a great book. I read a lot of books in writing my book, but there's a great book called The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink. He's He's a well-known author, but he he has this thing he calls boldness regrets.”
Where to get it
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Finite and Infinite Games
Finite and Infinite Games by James P.
Discussed“there's a book that I've been rereading that the Collison's talked about once called Finite and Infinite Games by James Carrs. A finite game is a game that has a beginning and an end and a winner.”
Where to get it
The other 23 books Bill Gurley recommended or discussed, ranked
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- 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 Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff
- The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
- The Diamond Age, Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
- 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
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Tribe of Mentors by Timothy Ferriss
- Valuation by McKinsey & Company Inc.
- Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? by Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
Books Bill Gurley wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (9: 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.”
“So, the book has an interesting kind of novel architecture. We combine what I call profiles, so stories of success with principles, tools of success. So, they alternate.”
“James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits, maybe one of the best self-help personal development writers out there. He retweeted it and put a transcript on his own website.”
“But, you know, if you're feeling stuck in your career, I you should read it. If you're a teenager or young adult who feels overwhelmed by people telling you What do you want to major in?”
“You know, I haven't read this uh Apple China book. Um it's it a lot of people have been talking about it and I and I aim to.”
“And so there's a phrase, I don't know if it was in Dan's book or I read somewhere else called don't be the tallest tree.”
“he wrote this great book on kind of design and how he thinks about creation uh that came out last year”
“I in my in the speech I did on regulatory capture, I mentioned these two Matt Ridley books, How Innovation Works and The Rational Optimist.”