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Bill Gurley
Encyclopedia
Bill Gurley is a general partner at Benchmark Capital
, a Silicon Valley
venture capital firm in Menlo Park, California
. His current investments include: Avvo
, Glassdoor, LiveOps, Move Networks, Nanosolar
, OpenTable
, Red 5 Studios
, Second Life
, Tropos Networks
, Vudu, Inc.
and Zillow.com
. His previous investments include: Avamar Technologies (acquired by EMC Corporation
), Business.com
(acquired by R.H. Donnelley
), Clicker.com
(acquired by CBS Interactive), Crossgain
(acquired by BEA Systems
), Employease (acquired by Automatic Data Processing
), JAMDAT Mobile
(IPO: JMDT; acquired by Electronic Arts
), Nordstrom.com (acquired by Nordstrom
), Shopping.com
(IPO: SHOP, acquired by eBay
), and The Knot (IPO: KNOT). Gurley was an early investor in green technology with a 2002 Series A investment in Nanosolar. He is listed consistently on the Forbes Midas List and is considered one of “technology’s top dealmakers.”
With the economic collapse in the fall of 2008, Gurley garnered attention when he sent a letter to his portfolio companies, advising CEOs to exercise caution in spending but to look for and take advantage of opportunities that become available during harsh economic times.
Before joining Benchmark, Gurley was a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. He had also spent four years on Wall Street as a research analyst, including 3 years at CS First Boston. He was considered “one of Wall Street’s premier technology analysts.” He covered companies including Dell, Compaq and Microsoft and was the lead analyst on the Amazon.com
IPO.
Prior to his investment career, Gurley was a design engineer at Compaq Computer, where he worked on products such as the 486/50 and Compaq's first multi-processor server. Before Compaq, he worked in the technical marketing group of Advanced Micro Devices' embedded processor division. With both a financial/business and engineering background he “has a way of sizing things up that makes him both intriguing and highly quotable."
Gurley is known for his above average height; he is 6’9”. The title of the newsletter he once authored, “Above the Crowd," and the book eBoys that profiles the Benchmark team, both reference his height. The subtitle of eBoys is “The true story of the six tall men who backed eBay, Webvan, and other billion-dollar start-ups."
Gurley was born in Dickinson, Texas
, outside of Houston, on May 10, 1966. Gurley received his MBA from the University of Texas in 1993 and his Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida
in 1989, where he was a member of the men’s basketball team. He is married with three children and lives in the Bay Area.
Randall E. Stross, eBoys : The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work. (New York: Ballantine Books, 2000). ISBN 0-345-42889-7.
Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...
, a Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
venture capital firm in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
. His current investments include: Avvo
Avvo
Avvo.com is an expert-only Q&A forum where people can ask legal and health questions of lawyers and doctors, for free. The Q&A forum is backed by an online directory of doctors and lawyers licensed in the United States. Avvo provides listings to which doctors and attorneys can submit their own...
, Glassdoor, LiveOps, Move Networks, Nanosolar
Nanosolar
Nanosolar is a developer of solar power technology. Based in San Jose, CA, Nanosolar has developed and commercialized a low-cost printable solar cell manufacturing process. The company started selling panels mid-December 2007, and plans to sell them at around $1 per watt...
, OpenTable
OpenTable
OpenTable is an online real-time restaurant reservation service founded by Chuck Templeton in San Francisco, CA in 1998. Reservations are free to end users; the company charges restaurants monthly and per-reservation fees for their use of the system. In 1999, the website began operations...
, Red 5 Studios
Red 5 Studios
Red 5 Studios is a computer game company currently most known for their high ratio of former employees of Blizzard Entertainment. The founders previously worked on World of Warcraft. Mark Kern was Team Lead, William Petras was Art Director, and Taewon Yun was part of the company's Korean operation...
, Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
, Tropos Networks
Tropos Networks
Tropos Networks was founded in 2000 and is a United States-based provider of IP broadband mesh network solutions for building utility distribution area networks for the smart grid and smart cities. Tropos systems aggregate communications from utilities for multiple applications with the goal of...
, Vudu, Inc.
Vudu, Inc.
Vudu, Inc. , acquired by Wal-Mart in March 2010, is a content delivery media technology company responsible for the development of its Vudu-branded interactive media services and devices that are used to distribute full-length movies over the Internet to television in North America, via its content...
and Zillow.com
Zillow.com
Zillow is an online real estate database that was founded in 2005 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia. The website uses a proprietary algorithm called the "Zestimate" to appraise property values based on undisclosed factors...
. His previous investments include: Avamar Technologies (acquired by EMC Corporation
EMC Corporation
EMC Corporation , a Financial Times Global 500, Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, develops, delivers and supports information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure hardware, software, and services. EMC is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.Former Intel executive Richard Egan and his...
), Business.com
Business.com
Business.com is a business search engine and web directory and pay per click advertising network. It includes Work.com, a business-to-business community publishing platform where experts share advice on common business topics in the form of how-to guides....
(acquired by R.H. Donnelley
R.H. Donnelley
Dex One Corporation provides online, mobile and print search marketing via their DexKnows.com website, print yellow pages directories and pay-per-click ad networks in the U.S.-History:...
), Clicker.com
Clicker.com
Clicker is an Internet video directory and search company based in Los Angeles, California. Their website aims to be the TV Guide for all full episodes of programs available to watch on the Web. It is owned by CBS Interactive....
(acquired by CBS Interactive), Crossgain
Crossgain
Crossgain was a pioneer in developing tools and applications to enable customers to build web services. It was acquired by BEA in July 2001....
(acquired by BEA Systems
BEA Systems
BEA Systems, Inc. specialized in enterprise infrastructure software products known as "middleware", which connect software applications to databases and was acquired by Oracle Corporation on April 29, 2008.- History :...
), Employease (acquired by Automatic Data Processing
Automatic Data Processing
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. with about $10 billion in revenues and approximately 545,000 clients, is a provider of business outsourcing solutions. ADP offers a range of human resource, payroll, tax and benefits administration solutions...
), JAMDAT Mobile
JAMDAT Mobile
EA Mobile is an American video game development studio of the publisher Electronic Arts .The studio's primary business is producing games for mobile phones. It has also produced other entertainment-related software such as ringtone applications, as well as games for other platforms such as PDAs and...
(IPO: JMDT; acquired by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
), Nordstrom.com (acquired by Nordstrom
Nordstrom
Nordstrom, Inc. is an upscale department store chain in the United States, founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. Initially a shoe retailer, the company today also sells clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and in some locations, home furnishings...
), Shopping.com
Shopping.com
Shopping.com is a price comparison service owned by eBay and operates websites in USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia. Shopping.com started out with the name DealTime.com which still operates as a related, but otherwise separate website....
(IPO: SHOP, acquired by eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
), and The Knot (IPO: KNOT). Gurley was an early investor in green technology with a 2002 Series A investment in Nanosolar. He is listed consistently on the Forbes Midas List and is considered one of “technology’s top dealmakers.”
With the economic collapse in the fall of 2008, Gurley garnered attention when he sent a letter to his portfolio companies, advising CEOs to exercise caution in spending but to look for and take advantage of opportunities that become available during harsh economic times.
Before joining Benchmark, Gurley was a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. He had also spent four years on Wall Street as a research analyst, including 3 years at CS First Boston. He was considered “one of Wall Street’s premier technology analysts.” He covered companies including Dell, Compaq and Microsoft and was the lead analyst on the Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
IPO.
Prior to his investment career, Gurley was a design engineer at Compaq Computer, where he worked on products such as the 486/50 and Compaq's first multi-processor server. Before Compaq, he worked in the technical marketing group of Advanced Micro Devices' embedded processor division. With both a financial/business and engineering background he “has a way of sizing things up that makes him both intriguing and highly quotable."
Gurley is known for his above average height; he is 6’9”. The title of the newsletter he once authored, “Above the Crowd," and the book eBoys that profiles the Benchmark team, both reference his height. The subtitle of eBoys is “The true story of the six tall men who backed eBay, Webvan, and other billion-dollar start-ups."
Gurley was born in Dickinson, Texas
Dickinson, Texas
Dickinson is a city in Galveston County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 17,093 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, outside of Houston, on May 10, 1966. Gurley received his MBA from the University of Texas in 1993 and his Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
in 1989, where he was a member of the men’s basketball team. He is married with three children and lives in the Bay Area.
External links
- Bill Gurley and Matt Cohler interview on TechCrunch
- PersonRatings Profile
- Bill Gurley on CNBC September 14, 2007 with Bill Griffeth
Randall E. Stross, eBoys : The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work. (New York: Ballantine Books, 2000). ISBN 0-345-42889-7.