Gurley frames luck and optionality as something you can increase by taking seemingly superfluous meetings that lead to outcomes.
“it's a question of can you increase your optionality for fortune or luck or whatever anyone else says by taking meetings that may seem superfluous or uncertain or that then lead to these big outcomes?”
“I paused in each one of them and said, do I want to be here thirty years from now, like in that office?”
Gurley argues going to an industry epicenter accelerates learning, networking and optionality through increased chance meetings.
“And so the ability to learn, the ability to network. I know I know that you're a big fan of the word optionality, which I love.”
Gurley argues being where everything happens generates more fortunate opportunities than choosing a smaller pond.
“The number of fortunate opportunities, if you're where it's all happening, is a lot higher than if you're not.”
Gurley says being at the industry epicenter amplifies all career principles because continuous learning, mentors, peers, and optionality happen naturally.
“all the other principles in the book get better. So I talk about continuous learning, I talk about finding mentors, I talk about finding peers. Like, all those things in the epicenter happen continuously.”