3min chapter

#682: Bill Gurley Interviews Tim Ferriss — Reflecting on 20+ Years of Life and Business Experiments

The Tim Ferriss Show

notes

CHAPTER

How to Be the Best in Your Field

LinkedIn is going through a powerful resurrection of sorts. If you don't have that type of focus, you haven't made those definitions ahead of time. You are going to be like a rabbit in a maze trying to find a piece of carrot. For me, it's complexity about Santa Fe Institute and a wonderful book called Mr. China about this guy that lost his shirt.

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Transcript

Episode notes

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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!

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[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.