Top all-time · #494
Bill Gurley
Personal blog · abovethecrowd.combusinessstartups
Bill Gurley writes Above the Crowd, a personal blog at abovethecrowd.com about business and startups. Since 2008, 117 different Hacker News readers have linked it 146 times, most often “The Freight Train That Is Android”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-11-03, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 7 of 38 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Bill Gurley's blog for an investor's analysis of startups, IPOs, valuations and platform moats, often as a source for their own points. Commenters call it great when he posts.
- Recommended for · 7 comments
- Called great, excellent, a good read, and helpful; one commenter says it is great when the author posts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 38 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Above the Crowd - By Bill GurleyAbove the Crowd | By Bill Gurley
Most-linked posts?
- The Freight Train That Is Android11 people · 13 mentions · first linked 2011-03-25
- The Keys to the 10x Revenue Club8 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2011-05-25
- On the Road to Recap7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2016-04-21
- Money Out of Nowhere: How Internet Marketplaces Unlock Economic Wealth5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2019-02-27
- Venture Capital Red Flag Checklist4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2022-11-29
- Factors To Consider When Evaluating Digital Marketplaces4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2012-11-14
- The Dangerous Seduction of the Lifetime Value (LTV) Formula4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2012-09-04
- A Rake Too Far: Optimal Platform Pricing Strategy4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2013-04-18
- An Alternative Look at Uber’s Potential Market Size4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2014-07-11
- When It Comes To Television Content, Affiliate Fees Make The World Go ‘Round4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2010-04-29
What Hacker News says?
Thompson quoted it from http://abovethecrowd.com/2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-an...
Comment linking /2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-android/
on “Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking”Submitted Money Out of Nowhere: How Internet Marketplaces Unlock Economic Wealth as a story · 148 points
HN discussionThe comment about the social network for pet owners made me think of this, which actually turns out to be quite a good idea I think: http://abovethecrowd.com/2012/11/13/our-most-recent-marketpl... "DogVacay is an online marketplace that links dog owners with passionate dog care providers who open up their own home as an alternative to the traditional cage-oriented kennel."
Comment linking /2012/11/13/our-most-recent-marketplace-investment-dogvacay-from-los-angeles/
on “How to Get Startup Ideas”Submitted On the Road to Recap as a story · 117 points
HN discussionNot sure if you mean "individuals" compared to companies or organizations, or actually just solo bloggers, so I'll include a few that have more than one individual author but are "personal". https://marginalrevolution.com/ - on economics but so much else https://avc.com/ - Fred has some of the best startup insights https://abovethecrowd.com/ - Gurley doesn't blog much but when he does it's great
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favorite Blogs by Individuals?”Submitted Google Redefines Disruption: The “Less Than Free” Business Model as a story · 111 points
HN discussionYou state your answer with great confidence, but I think you are wrong. In the US (where Netflix is based), the "first sale doctrine" has been held to allow the rental of any legally purchased DVD (even those purchased at Walmart): Because of the first-sale doctrine, any DVD reseller, including Netflix, can basically buy a DVD at WalMart, and turn around and rent it to someone else the very same day. The content own…
Comment linking /2011/09/18/understanding-why-netflix-changed-pricing/
on “Save Netflix”Submitted An Alternative Look at Uber’s Potential Market Size as a story · 75 points
HN discussionBill talks about issues with traditional IPOs here [0] under _DOOR #1: THE STRUCTURALLY BROKEN IPO PROCESS_. Worth a read. 0: http://abovethecrowd.com/2020/08/23/going-public-circa-2020-...
Comment linking /2020/08/23/going-public-circa-2020-door-3-the-spac/
on “SEC Approves NYSE’s Plan for New IPO Alternative”Submitted Why Dropbox Is A Major Disruption as a story · 69 points
HN discussionNot sure what you mean. Prices would be set in order for supply and demand to even out. The startup is unlikely to use undocumented supply because of risk. Don't understand the second point either. 20% margins is plenty. See: http://abovethecrowd.com/2013/04/18/a-rake-too-far-optimal-p... And tech-driven businesses have lower marginal costs thus can succeed with lower gross margins.
Comment linking /2013/04/18/a-rake-too-far-optimal-platformpricing-strategy/
on “Homejoy says goodbye”Submitted All Revenue Is Not Created Equal (2011) as a story · 61 points
HN discussionIt's not really HIPPA. I think it's more things like a lack of price transparency, the 'customers' of health care being disconnected from the users of health care and so on. Kind of like how B2B software is often horrible because the customers are disconnected execs and the users (employees) pay the price. This goes into more detail: http://abovethecrowd.com/2017/12/18/customer-first-healthcar...
Comment linking /2017/12/18/customer-first-healthcare/
on “Microsoft Urges Congress to Regulate Use of Facial Recognition”Submitted Amazon’s AWS Strategy Becomes Clearer Every Day as a story · 41 points
HN discussionAgreed, that is the biggest challenge for them, and the First Data IPO (which is probably the best comp for them) has been challenging. OTOH Square is on pace to hit $1B revenue / year and growing quickly vs. anybody else in the processing space, but it will all come down to how the market thinks about their business and their ability to cross the chasm from very small merchants (which makes up the majority of their…
Comment linking /2011/05/24/all-revenue-is-not-created-equal-the-keys-to-the-10x-revenue-club/
on “Square files for IPO”Submitted The Freight Train That Is Android as a story · 34 points
HN discussion> Wall street rewards growth over profits That's not true, or at least it's only partially true. In the end, Wall street values discounted cash flow. As Bill Gurley has said: > So growth is good, correct? There is a reason to save growth for last. While growth is quite important, and even thought we are in a market where growth is in particularly high demand, growth all by itself can be misleading. Here is the probl…
Comment linking /2011/05/24/all-revenue-is-not-created-equal-the-keys-to-the-10x-revenue-club/
on “Square files for IPO”Submitted Going Public Circa 2020; Door #3: The SPAC as a story · 33 points
HN discussiondan wang. he wrote why so few people major in CS. interesting dude. https://danwang.co/ bill gurley, investor http://abovethecrowd.com/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are some great personal blogs/portfolios?”Submitted Today’s $100M+ Late-Stage Rounds Very Different from IPOs as a story · 33 points
HN discussionOne theory, discussed by Bill Gurley in the post below, is that it'll put them in a better negotiating position with the studios, who were trying to get a percentage of Netflix revenues (not just the streaming revenue)... http://abovethecrowd.com/2011/09/18/understanding-why-netfli...
Comment linking /2011/09/18/understanding-why-netflix-changed-pricing/
on “Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses”Submitted A Rake Too Far: Optimal Platform Pricing Strategy as a story · 22 points
HN discussionhttps://abovethecrowd.com/2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-a...
Comment linking /2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-android/
on “Google Stories”Submitted Factors To Consider When Evaluating Digital Marketplaces as a story · 20 points
HN discussionSam HAS to play down the fact that we are in a tech bubble. He is, after all, a venture capitalist, so do note the conflict of interest here. My friend referred me to this Bill Gurley article [1]. My metric for whether there is another bubble is not so sophisticated. I feel that there is a bubble when celebrities (like sports personalities) begin investing in questionable startups [2][3]. Harkens back to the '99 bub…
Comment linking /2014/01/24/on-bubbles/
on “'We're in a Bubble'”Submitted Optimal Platform Pricing Strategy as a story · 19 points
HN discussionA reference to http://abovethecrowd.com/2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-an...
Comment linking /2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-android/
on “Google buys Zagat”Submitted In Defense of the Deck as a story · 13 points
HN discussion"In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats" - Warren Buffett I completely agree that its in Google's interest to have faster pipes. But I think Google Fiber may just be another moat for Google, another way for them to hinder their perceived threats. This was an excellent write up on Google's strategy to build business moats (from 2011): http://abovethecrowd.com/2011/03/24/freight-train…
Comment linking /2011/03/24/freight-train-that-is-android/
on “Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas”Submitted How To Monetize A Social Network: MySpace And Facebook Should Follow TenCent as a story · 12 points
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