People often wonder about how rich Bill Gurley is or what Bill Gurley’s net worth is. As a self-made billionaire, Bill Gurley is an American venture capitalist and a high-profile blogger. The man knows what are the key things you need to establish a successful tech start-up, and he has proved that many times. Throughout his life, Gurley has invested in some of the biggest firms within the tech industry that has profited him quite well. Gurley has been referred to as “one of Silicon Valley’s top dealmakers,” by Wall Street Journal.
Bill Gurley is promptly known among the pioneers who believed in the potential of Uber and invested in the firm, likewise. He also holds the position of general partner at a Silicon Valley Venture Capital firm, Benchmark. Gurley has played a distinct role in disruptive technology that also featured on the Forbes Midas List.
Speaking of which, today we are here to talk about Bill Gurley’s net worth. So, let’s get started!
Full Name: John William Gurley
Popular Name: Bill Gurley
Born: May 10, 1966
Place of Birth: Dickinson, Texas, United States
Age: 56 years
Education: University of Florida and the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: White
Height: 6 ft 9 in (2.05 cm)
Weight: 74 kg (165 lbs)
Sexual Orientation: Straight
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Amy Gurley
Children: 3
Profession: Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist
Net Worth: USD 8 billion
Bill Gurley Early Life
Bill Gurley was born on May 10, 1966, and belonged to Dickenson, Texas. He went to the University of Florida where he graduated with a science degree. Later on, to pursue an MBA, he enrolled himself at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business.
After graduating, Gurley began his career through Compaq Computers where he worked as a design engineer. Then, he joined Wall Street as a prominent research analyst and worked there for four years before becoming a venture capitalist.
Personal Life
Bill Gurley tied the wedding knot with Amy Gurley, who also worked as a general partner in Benchmark Capital. The two have three very beautiful children together and reside in Atherton, California.
Gurley’s Career of a Venture Capitalist
Before starting his career as a venture capitalist, Bill Gurley worked as a research analyst at Wall Street. He is regarded as one of the premier technology analysts, who worked at Wall Street.
Gurley left Wall Street as a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. There, as he gained experience, he leveraged that to launch a successful career as a venture capitalist. In 1999, he joined Benchmark, one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture capital firms across the globe. He worked as a general partner for over 15 years. During this, he helped Uber, a ride-share company to achieve the goal of making the net worth of $50 billion.
He also funded many other companies such as Snapchat to increase its net worth up to $21 million from $15 million.
During an interview with Forbes, Bill Gurley revealed that the reason behind his net worth to be in billions is because of the investment he made in Uber worth $11 million and many other acquisitions when he worked at Benchmark. He left the company in 2020 as he wasn’t investing in any new firms.
Early Career as an Engineer
Bill Gurley’s knowledge of analyzing tech companies comes from his experience working as a computer engineer. He graduated with a degree in computer science from the University of Florida and a Master’s degree in Finance from Texas McCombs School of Business. By combining the knowledge of these two, Gurley established a successful venture capitalist investing career.
However, before establishing a career in investing, Gurley also worked as a design engineer at Compaq Computer, where he designed the first-ever multi-processor server for the company. As he got a position as a research analyst at Wall Street, Gurley joined the company. With his institutional research skills being very well recognized, Gurley was referred to the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team in 1995 and 1996.
While he worked there, Gurley became the lead analyst in Amazon’s IPO. He spent a good four years on Wall Street acquiring various research roles, before he stepped into the venture capital industry.
Gurley’s Investment in Uber
Bill Gurley is counted among the very first investors who invested in Uber, a rideshare company. The company started as a normal transportation company but now, has expanded to a global courier delivering rent-out cycles, scooters, food, and freight.
In 2011, Gurley invested a total of $12 million in Uber. Today, he owns $8 billion of the Company’s stock net worth and also became one of its board of directors in 2017.
He gained this position a day after the resignation of Travis Kalanick as Uber’s CEO. Gurley played quite a role in this as Uber’s advisor. And Uber CEO’s net worth is estimated to be $2.7 billion, as of today.
Personal Holder of Ethereum
Very few know this, but Bill Gurley was the personal holder of the cryptocurrency, Ethereum that acquired the second position in the market, after Bitcoin, as confirmed by Gurley himself during an interview with Trending News Buzz. He stepped into the crypto market in 2021 as he invested in equities.
He revealed, recently, that he prefers being a minimalist and that owning crypto is his personal choice.
Gurley’s Other Acquisitions
Bill Gurley is the longest-serving partner at Benchmark, and during his time there, he made several investments in promising firms. As one of the most noticeable remains to be Uber with funds of $11 million, it isn’t the only one.
Bill Gurley has funded many more acquisitions such as Nextdoor, Instawork, Solv, HackerOne, and Stitch Fix.
Bill Gurley’s Net Worth
As of 2023, Bill Gurley’s net worth is estimated to be around $8 billion. It boosted massively after his investment in Uber in 2011 worth $11 million. Currently, he is expected to acquire company shares worth $8 billion.
With such a significant net worth, Bill Gurley made the Midas List for Top Tech Investors of 2021, released by Forbes.
