The Minutes of Bill Gurley on organic traffic https://minutesof.com/bill-gurley/on/organic-traffic/ Everything Bill Gurley has said on organic traffic: 3 verbatim quotes from June 2011, each with a timestamp and a link to the recording it came from. en Sun, 30 Aug 2026 16:22:04 +0000 Gurley argues organic versus bought traffic is a critical distinction for valuing Internet businesses. https://minutesof.com/q/be64aa0b-ac89-425a-98c8-c96afd8fb140/ https://minutesof.com/q/be64aa0b-ac89-425a-98c8-c96afd8fb140/ “One that one that I think people really should focus on is where, especially for these Internet businesses, is whether traffic is organic or bought.” — Bloomberg Originals Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:20:44 +0000 organic traffic Gurley lists Google, Skype, OpenTable, and LinkedIn as examples of companies that never ran ads to grow. https://minutesof.com/q/6739783b-4e15-4875-bc06-8b7bdf592788/ https://minutesof.com/q/6739783b-4e15-4875-bc06-8b7bdf592788/ “Google never ran marketing ads, you know, in its day to get to get big. Skype never ran ads. OpenTable never ran ads. Linkedin doesn't run ads.” — Bloomberg Originals Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:20:44 +0000 organic traffic Gurley argues marketing-heavy companies rent customers and should trade at lower multiples than organic-growth https://minutesof.com/q/eb0aae37-546e-401d-9f11-b639e7e6f6b6/ https://minutesof.com/q/eb0aae37-546e-401d-9f11-b639e7e6f6b6/ “I don't see any reason why a company that's heavy on marketing will get the same kind of multiple as someone with an organic customer base.” — Bloomberg Originals Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:20:44 +0000 organic traffic