The Minutes of Bill Gurley on capital allocation https://minutesof.com/bill-gurley/on/capital-allocation/ Everything Bill Gurley has said on capital allocation: 12 verbatim quotes between July 2019 and January 2025, each with a timestamp and a link to the… en Sun, 30 Aug 2026 16:21:59 +0000 Gurley says late-stage investors force-feed capital to companies based on power law beliefs in unprecedented w https://minutesof.com/q/38b4e4d8-6263-482d-b43d-4956e85b0217/ https://minutesof.com/q/38b4e4d8-6263-482d-b43d-4956e85b0217/ “It's it's it's just worse as it's ever been, where because you have these monolithic late stage players who believe in power laws, believe in network effects,” — McCombs School of Business Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:57:51 +0000 capital allocation Gurley says excess capital prevented winner-take-most dynamics from developing profitably until capital dried https://minutesof.com/q/26a2f882-5241-4350-9fb4-50905c5b0327/ https://minutesof.com/q/26a2f882-5241-4350-9fb4-50905c5b0327/ “it slowed down and prevented the natural order of things. The 8020, the winner take most from developing in a profitable way.” — Bg2 Pod Mon, 10 Jun 2024 14:22:07 +0000 capital allocation Gurley argues excess capital distorts company behavior and makes it difficult to stay efficient when all optio https://minutesof.com/q/3f55a815-cb79-4050-aa00-57bc41b27b0e/ https://minutesof.com/q/3f55a815-cb79-4050-aa00-57bc41b27b0e/ “It's not impossible, but it's very difficult to stay fit and efficient when you have a buffet of all options sitting in front of you and you can fund all of them.” — Bg2 Pod Mon, 10 Jun 2024 14:22:07 +0000 capital allocation Gurley notes four non-Microsoft coding copilot companies raised over $200M each despite being only 18 months o https://minutesof.com/q/f18ae4cd-864c-4bf0-b328-98090bea616e/ https://minutesof.com/q/f18ae4cd-864c-4bf0-b328-98090bea616e/ “There are four companies in the coding co pilot space that are not named Microsoft that have raised over $200,000,000 each. And we're just these companies are all of a year and a half old.” — BG2 Pod Mon, 10 Jun 2024 13:40:00 +0000 capital allocation Gurley says foundational model companies burning $100-200M yearly cannot possibly represent high quality capit https://minutesof.com/q/0c0919e4-1f85-43b9-a386-96bb682fb306/ https://minutesof.com/q/0c0919e4-1f85-43b9-a386-96bb682fb306/ “100,000,000 a year? 200,000,000 a year? There's no way that's high quality capital allocation from my point of view.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 23 Apr 2024 08:00:00 +0000 capital allocation Gurley argues foundational AI model companies burning $100-200M annually represents poor capital allocation bu https://minutesof.com/q/682c9fbf-482e-4076-926a-e1e64b4e24c5/ https://minutesof.com/q/682c9fbf-482e-4076-926a-e1e64b4e24c5/ “100,000,000 a year? 200,000,000 a year? There's no way that's high quality capital allocation from my point of view. There's no chance. But maybe they don't have the alternative.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 23 Apr 2024 08:00:00 +0000 capital allocation Gurley calls foundational model companies' hundred-million-dollar annual burn rates poor capital allocation bu https://minutesof.com/q/e98656f5-e49e-4765-ad64-d71113e105f4/ https://minutesof.com/q/e98656f5-e49e-4765-ad64-d71113e105f4/ “200,000,000 a year? There's no way that's high quality capital allocation from my point of view. There's no chance. But maybe they don't have the alternative.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 23 Apr 2024 08:00:00 +0000 capital allocation Yeah, the flow of cash and the competition and how that money is being used. https://minutesof.com/q/63af2351-00a9-43a5-9a0f-9d2578277d46/ https://minutesof.com/q/63af2351-00a9-43a5-9a0f-9d2578277d46/ “Yeah, the flow of cash and the competition and how that money is being used.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 02 Jul 2019 09:30:00 +0000 capital allocation Gurley criticizes VCs who think cheap capital enables them to pursue low-return businesses in new industries. https://minutesof.com/q/91a7bb16-6d51-4980-8548-69b7ced6e390/ https://minutesof.com/q/91a7bb16-6d51-4980-8548-69b7ced6e390/ “But I overheard a VC on a panel say that now that capital's become so cheap, we as venture capitalists get to go after all these new industries.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 02 Jul 2019 09:30:00 +0000 capital allocation Gurley argues that VCs using cheap capital to enter new industries are actually funding low-return businesses. https://minutesof.com/q/348a68f1-9d14-4cb1-a949-1312117e8e38/ https://minutesof.com/q/348a68f1-9d14-4cb1-a949-1312117e8e38/ “I overheard a VC on a panel say that now that capital's become so cheap, we as venture capitalists get to go after all these new industries.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 02 Jul 2019 09:30:00 +0000 capital allocation Gurley mocked a VC who said cheap capital enables going after new industries, calling it flawed logic. https://minutesof.com/q/a299e771-4e48-439c-818d-165c43fe935b/ https://minutesof.com/q/a299e771-4e48-439c-818d-165c43fe935b/ “I overheard a VC on a panel say that now that capital's become so cheap, we as venture capitalists get to go after all these new industries. And it really made me chuckle.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 02 Jul 2019 09:30:00 +0000 capital allocation Gurley argues that funding businesses because capital is cheap is equivalent to funding low-return businesses. https://minutesof.com/q/fdfccf6b-0c20-47c3-9a39-376d35f04df9/ https://minutesof.com/q/fdfccf6b-0c20-47c3-9a39-376d35f04df9/ “The exact flip way of saying that is, I'm excited about funding low return businesses and I'm gonna go do it.” — Invest Like the Best Tue, 02 Jul 2019 09:30:00 +0000 capital allocation