Bill Gurley

differentiating for someone is to learn the history of their field.

Yes.

And most people don't take the time to do it, but it will make you look very differentiated because it shows respect

And I also think there's an element of just bedrock knowledge that's nice to have.

There's an anecdote in the book where there's this world chess tournament, and they take a pause and do a trivia contest, and Magnus Carlsen wins the trivia contest, which I think is interesting.

He's the best chess player in the world, but my point is he knew all the history as well.

The other, by the way, I think there's a barbell thing here.

The other way to really differentiate yourself is to know the edge.

And so if you, I mean, as silly as it sounds, like if you really know how TikTok works,

and then you want to break into sales or marketing or PR, like that's hugely differentiating.

Like the people that have been in those roles for 10 or 15 years probably don't understand it at all.

And so even if, you know, you're chasing a field that doesn't feel like TikTok is the main part of it, it could be highly relevant to what makes you look different as you apply for jobs in those areas.

Especially for young people, like knowing...

the edge of these technologies, AI is another one, is just a great way to separate yourself.

And if you combine those two, you look really interesting.

You know, I had this experience in my life that was really amazing, and I was fortunate to have it.

It doesn't sound like I'm name-dropping, but a partner of mine at Benchmark won at auction a dinner with John Lasseter, who was the creative genius behind Pixar.

And we got invited to John's house, and he has a viewing room there.

It's not that big a surprise, but a big one.

And they served us a 10-course meal, and each course had a cartoon that John felt was one of the defining early cartoons in the history of cartoons.