#840: Bill Gurley — Investing in The AI Era, 10 Days in China, and Important Life Lessons from Bob Dylan, Jerry Seinfeld, MrBeast, and More

Bill Gurley ( @bgurley ) is a general partner at Benchmark , a leading venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. His new book is Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love . This episode is brought to you by: Momentous high-quality creatine for cognitive and muscular support Our Place’s Titanium Always Pan® Pro using nonstick technology that’s coating-free and made without PFAS, otherwise known as “Forever Chemicals” Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business Coyote the card game​ , which I co-created with Exploding Kittens * Timestamps: [00:00:00] Start. [00:01:43] The book that gave Jerry Seinfeld permission to pursue comedy and inspired Runnin’ Down a Dream . [00:03:59] AI bubble or not? [00:06:33] Circular deals and SPV chaos. [00:12:01] Angel investing in the AI era. [00:14:32] Why you should be the most AI-enabled version of yourself, regardless of field. [00:20:47] China deep dive: Ten days, six cities, high-speed trains, and a Xiaomi SU7 factory tour. [00:22:43] Communism misconceptions. [00:25:40] Lei Jun: The Steve Jobs of China. [00:29:17] Jack Ma, ByteDance’s invisible CEO, and the risks of prominence in China. [00:32:11] America vs. China (Lawyers vs. engineers). [00:41:01] Keys for US competitiveness. [00:43:47] Bill is bullish on these countries. [00:47:30] Matthew McConaughey’s “Don’t half ass it” moment. [00:49:45] Runnin’ Down a Dream thesis: Helping people pursue X instead of A, B, or C. [00:51:03] The 80,000-hour question. [00:52:47] The self-learning test. [00:56:58] Bob Dylan as music expeditionary. [01:00:27] Go to the epicenter where the action is. [01:10:56] Danny Meyer’s pivot. [01:13:30] Working for free. [01:19:37] Never too late: Tito Beveridge started Tito’s Vodka at 40. [01:21:51] AI sanity checks. [01:25:59] AI-proof bets. [01:29:13] Sam Hinkie’s Moneyball moment. [01:32:37] Competitive strategy, avoiding false failures, and regret minimalization. [01:43:46] Purpose, Progress, and Prosperity — the P3 Policy Institute. [01:47:18] Regulatory capture explained. [01:51:55] Why the IPO market is broken. [02:01:52] Stablecoins putting Visa and Mastercard on notice. [02:03:40] Hopes for Runnin’ Down a Dream and parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast . For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter ( 5-Bullet Friday ) at tim.blog/friday . For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts . Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books . Follow Tim: Twitter : twitter.com/tferriss Instagram : instagram.com/timferriss YouTube : youtube.com/timferriss Facebook : facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .