Invoice Gurley (@bgurley) is a common associate at Benchmark, a number one enterprise capital agency in Silicon Valley. Over his enterprise profession, he has invested in and served on the boards of such corporations as Nextdoor, OpenTable, Sew Repair, Uber, and Zillow. He earned his Bachelor of Science diploma in laptop science from the College of Florida after which his MBA from the College of Texas at Austin. For greater than 20 years, Invoice has written about know-how and different topics on his standard weblog Above the Crowd and on his social media accounts.
I interviewed Invoice for the second time lately, and we bought into his new guide Runnin’ Down a Dream: Methods to Thrive in a Profession You Really Love, which can come out subsequent month and is now out there for preorder.
To provide you a style, I requested Invoice if we would reprint a chapter on the weblog, and he and his writer kindly agreed.
Enter Invoice . . .
PRINCIPLE V
GO WHERE THE ACTION IS
If you wish to begin a tech firm, go to Silicon Valley. If you wish to be in motion pictures, go to L.A. Geography nonetheless issues.
—Brian Chesky, cofounder and CEO of Airbnb
By the point Tony Fadell graduated from the College of Michigan, he already had extra entrepreneurial expertise in his discipline than nearly all of his friends. As a young person within the mid-Eighties, he created a semiconductor firm that bought components to Apple. He had one other firm that bought mail-order software program for the Apple II, and he additionally began a 3rd firm, with certainly one of his professors, that bought instructional software program for Mac computer systems. He skipped his first week of faculty lessons to man a sales space on the Applefest in San Francisco.
Tony had spent years studying all the things he may in regards to the laptop trade, principally in Byte Journal and MacWorld. In story after story, he examine corporations based mostly within the Valley. Learning the advertisements within the magazines, he famous that a lot of the firm addresses had been additionally in Northern California.
He flew out to Silicon Valley a couple of instances a 12 months for conferences, all on his personal dime, and he completely beloved it. On one journey, he rented a automotive and drove to the unique Fry’s Electronics in Sunnyvale—“a superstore, like Costco, for all the things below the solar on the earth of electronics.” For a child who grew up obsessive about computer systems and constructing know-how—in elementary faculty he rigged his clock radio to place a headphone jack in it so he may take heed to music all evening with out his dad and mom realizing—this journey felt extra like a pilgrimage.
“I used to be like ‘Ho-ly shit!’” he advised me. Many years later, you’ll be able to nonetheless hear that unique awe in his voice.
Tony knew that when he graduated, he wanted to maneuver to Silicon Valley, the epicenter of the trade he beloved. At first he thought he needed an internship at Apple, which was run by John Sculley on the time. The corporate flew Tony to Cupertino and put him up in a pleasant lodge with a fruit basket ready within the room. However once they provided him the internship, Tony declined.
To his shock, they provided him a full-time job, working at a three way partnership Apple was doing with IBM. However once more, stunningly, Tony turned them down. He had his eye on a distinct job. “I mentioned, ‘No, I don’t need something to do with that,’” he advised me. “I needed Common Magic.”
On the time, Tony didn’t even know what Common Magic was doing, however a couple of years earlier he examine Silicon Valley laptop engineer legends Invoice Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld in a Rolling Stone story profiling the Mac crew. As Tony was flying to the West Coast, doing these interviews, he learn at the back of certainly one of his tech magazines that a few of these huge names had begun a secretive spinoff from Apple. “I’m like, ‘No matter it’s,’” Tony advised me, “‘that’s the place I need to be.’”
Regardless of his outstanding résumé and community of contacts, Tony was advised that there weren’t any openings at Common Magic—however that simply made him need it extra. So on certainly one of his journeys to California, Tony determined to go to the Common Magic constructing, in downtown Mountain View, and current himself unannounced. He discovered the handle within the Yellow Pages and drove over at 8:30 a.m. He wore a jacket and tie and an enormous, naive midwestern smile. However when he bought to the constructing, it was principally empty. Safety canines roamed the halls, able to assault any intruder. When he discovered the correct flooring, he walked up together with his résumé in his hand. The workplace door was open. Inside, he discovered—nothing. “It was simply dice wall after dice wall, a desolate dice space,” he says.
As he walked by means of the rows of cubes, he thought he was utterly alone. However then he noticed two males in a dice and so they appeared like they’d been up all evening. Undaunted, Tony made certain that this was certainly the Common Magic workplace—they mentioned it was—and provided up his résumé. With out even it, the 2 males advised him the corporate wasn’t hiring. So Tony left and went again house to Michigan.
At this level, leaving the Valley gave him one thing akin to withdrawal signs. Michigan appeared bleak. “I went again to Ann Arbor and it was actually a frozen tundra,” he advised me. “I stored asking myself what I used to be doing there.”
It’s completely different now, however on the time Michigan didn’t have a neighborhood of know-how lovers like these within the Valley. There have been no startups. It felt like folks there barely spoke the identical language. So he was much more satisfied that he wanted to be in California— and extra particularly, he wanted to be at Common Magic.
First, he racked his mind to think about anybody he knew at Apple, anybody who would possibly have the ability to open a door there for him. He made some calls, pleading his case, and it took a couple of months, however finally he bought a name again from a lady at Common Magic named Dee Gardetti. Tony didn’t realize it on the time, however Dee was the fourth worker on the firm and she or he was the pinnacle of HR. She advised him she was impressed together with his résumé and she or he would see what she may do. She advised him to be affected person.
However Tony just isn’t a very affected person individual. He began mailing letters to the corporate. He estimates that he despatched between fifteen and twenty old-school letters, pleading for a job. As time glided by, he graduated from Michigan and moved again in together with his dad and mom. He bought his instructional software program firm. He turned down quite a few different jobs—a lot to the chagrin of his dad and mom. He was relentless, however he was additionally charming. When he known as Dee, he was capable of make her chuckle and win her help. Then, in November 1991, almost seven months after that unique unannounced go to, Tony was invited again for an interview.
He flew again out to the Valley, placed on his jacket and tie, and confirmed as much as Common Magic’s new workplace in Mountain View. “There have been no canines this time,” he jokes.
However now, in spite of everything this time and this relentless pursuit, Tony started to really feel one thing all of us have felt at one level or one other: imposter syndrome. “I’m like, ‘What am I doing right here?’ I’m completely melting. I’m seeing these people who I’ve idolized, my heroes, they’re interviewing me. I’m just a bit child.”
He was advised to take off his tie and his jacket. He was advised to take a seat on the ground like everybody else, round an arcade machine in the course of the workplace. As he bought extra snug, Tony confirmed the Common Magic crew his senior mission: a transportable touchscreen laptop— one thing most individuals had by no means heard of in 1991.
Nicely, it turned out that Common Magic, this top-secret firm of superstars, had been engaged on a transportable gadget with a touchscreen, the earliest iterations of what would grow to be the smartphone. A few of their companions and buyers included Sony, Motorola, and AT&T.
Tony thought the interviews went effectively, however he left with no job provide. He went again to Michigan, the place the nippiness of autumn was morphing into the bitter chilly of winter. Greater than two weeks later, he lastly bought the decision from Dee.
“I need to let you’re going to be a diagnostic engineer on the {hardware} crew at Common Magic,” she advised him. “And you can begin instantly.”
Tony nonetheless remembers operating round and screaming when he bought the decision. His wage was $28,000, under the price of dwelling within the Valley on the time, however he didn’t care. He packed up his automotive, mentioned goodbye to his dad and mom, left his mom crying within the driveway, and headed to California.
Tony is an efficient buddy of mine, and we’ll focus on a few of his unimaginable accomplishments later, however I need to spotlight this a part of his story for a cause. He made the audacious resolution to maneuver, not simply to the geographic middle of the trade he needed to work in, however to the one firm the place so a lot of his idols had come collectively.
It’s a tough resolution and sometimes a tough pursuit, however in case you have the prospect, put your self within the middle of the motion.
GO WHERE THE ACTION IS
As your dream job journey evolves, you could finally confront a call with huge penalties: Ought to I bodily relocate so as to maximize my probability of general success?
After all, many people transfer away for the primary time to attend faculty. And that isn’t the top of the world. We meet new folks, we meet new buddies, we’re uncovered to new cultures and experiences. We be taught and develop. Making that call a second time can and could have a profound affect in your probabilities of dream job success. It might appear extremely intimidating, however it might even be the perfect resolution you make in your total life.
Your journey might not be as dramatic as Bob Dylan hitchhiking from Minnesota to Greenwich Village. I relocated twice in my profession— first to New York after which to Silicon Valley—partly as a result of I noticed how my dad benefited from shifting from Virginia to Houston to work at NASA.
The reality is, completely different industries are greater and extra outstanding elsewhere—for all kinds of causes. The tech trade and a disproportionate variety of start-ups are within the San Francisco Bay Space. For finance and banking, it’s New York Metropolis. New York can also be the middle of the guide publishing world and America’s theater scene. However for tv and movie, the epicenter is Los Angeles. Authorities and coverage? Washington, D.C. Biotech and pharma? That’s Boston. Oil and vitality? Houston. The automotive trade continues to be largely based mostly in De- troit. If you wish to make it as a singer-songwriter, you’ll in all probability must spend a while in Nashville, no matter your style.
Just a few industries have a number of hubs, which suggests you’ll have extra decisions. The style trade, for instance, is huge in Milan, Paris, New York, and L.A. If you wish to make it in esports, you’ll be able to in all probability decide between Tokyo, Seoul, or Los Angeles—although you’ll have a ton of different components to think about as you resolve.
Being in these locations places you within the movement of the trade. You’re surrounded by individuals who converse the language. You’re nearer to decision-makers, mentors, collaborators. You’ll be able to be taught quicker, transfer quicker, be seen extra shortly. And generally, most significantly, you’re merely reminded that that is actual—that there are people who find themselves doing the factor you need to do, each single day.
Whatever the geography, there are no less than ten methods relocating may also help your profession.
1. Extra jobs—There are simply extra alternatives the place the trade is dense.
2. Extra networking—You’re vastly growing the possibilities you’ll stumble upon folks in your discipline.
3. Extra mentors and extra friends—The most effective within the enterprise are sometimes only a espresso store away.
4. Extra occasions—Meetups, panels, workshops—they’re occurring rather more typically within the trade’s epicenter.
5. Publicity to traits—You’re first to see what’s subsequent.
6. Résumé credibility—“She’s based mostly in L.A.” or “He labored in New York” carries weight.
7. Sooner development—Your probabilities of shifting up go up once you’re the place issues are occurring.
8. Larger pay—It’s extra aggressive and sometimes costlier, however these locations additionally include greater compensation.
9. Serendipity—The breakthrough assembly, the surprising connection—it’s extra more likely to occur once you’re immersed. You create your personal luck.
10. Enjoyable and vitality—You’re surrounded by individuals who care about the identical issues. That issues. When you really love your chosen discipline, that may excite you.
I noticed this in Silicon Valley. I watched folks have lunch with billionaires, go to talks by start-up founders who had simply IPO’d, meet cofounders over espresso. Individuals within the Valley take time to reply to genuine requests for studying and recommendation. I felt it on the way in which up, and I’ve tried to reciprocate and proceed the custom. It’s a vibe you don’t essentially see somewhere else. I’ve heard loads of comparable tales about musicians in Nashville. They transfer there with no ensures. However they know one factor: The most effective individuals are right here. I need to be round that.
That’s the concept. You need to roll round in it. If the concept of being immersed in your trade doesn’t attraction to you, you would possibly want to return to the primary precept and rethink whether or not that is really your ardour. It is best to need to be so steeped in your craft that enormous components of it grow to be second nature.
Immersion isn’t passive—it’s transformative. Whenever you’re absolutely submerged within the tradition of your discipline’s epicenter, studying accelerates. Alternatives multiply. Your community organically expands. Immersion creates a robust osmosis impact, exponentially accelerating your development and visibility.
All of this may appear intimidating, I do know. Perhaps it sounds too aggressive. Being nervous a few step like that is completely comprehensible. My recommendation: Attempt your greatest to take away these ideas out of your thoughts.
VIRTUAL AND EMERGING EPICENTERS
So what should you simply actually can’t relocate? We dwell in an period the place bodily relocation just isn’t the one choice. Digital epicenters can even propel your profession. You possibly can interact deeply with Reddit teams and Twitter/X communities. You possibly can eat and even take part in Twitch streams, podcasts, LinkedIn teams, digital programs on nearly any topic.
You possibly can set up your self with an internet presence by means of content material curation, professional interviews, and constant digital engagement. You probably have one thing fascinating and considerate to say a few topic frequently, you’ll construct an viewers finally.
To be clear: These are all issues you ought to be contemplating whether or not you’ve already relocated or not. That is a part of the training course of, a part of constructing a peer community, and a part of searching for out mentors. Bodily proximity will possible provide you with an additional benefit, however in as we speak’s world you ought to be using each device out there.
There are additionally trade epicenters that appear to bubble up, generally in stunning locales. Within the Seventies, northern Florida turned a hub of Southern Rock, producing a surprising lineup of bands that included Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers Band, and 38 Particular—all from Jacksonville. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers shaped across the similar time down the street in Gainesville.
Just a few years in the past, comic Ron White inspired Joe Rogan to relocate to Austin. For greater than 20 years, Rogan lived in Los Angeles, one of many two or three huge hubs for top-tier stand-up comedy, together with New York and Boston. Rogan was a staple at The Comedy Retailer on the Sundown Strip. For years, he went a number of nights per week. He honed his act with two or three quick units in an evening and spent the remainder of his time hanging out together with his fellow comedians within the venue’s legendary inexperienced room.
In March 2023, Rogan opened his personal membership, Comedy Mothership, on Sixth Road in downtown Austin. He named the bar Mitzi’s, after Mitzi Shore, the lady who owned The Comedy Retailer till her loss of life in 2018. Rogan introduced Adam Eget, certainly one of The Comedy Retailer’s bookers, to Austin to assist launch the enterprise. Across the similar time, different outstanding nationwide comedians relocated from each Los Angeles and New York. Inside a couple of years, the Austin comedy scene included Tom Segura and his spouse Christina P, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Shane Gillis. They’re all regulars on the Mothership, and now almost each huge comedian has to cease in Austin a couple of instances a 12 months.
However one thing else occurred, too. Different smaller comedy golf equipment began popping up throughout city. There have been extra open mics and extra paying gigs. As Tony Hinchcliffe’s podcast, Kill Tony, bought extra standard, increasingly more aspiring comics migrated to Austin as an alternative of New York or L.A. Austin has formally grow to be a comedy hub. Although they tour lots, comedians nonetheless want a high quality base to sculpt and workshop their materials.
After all, some professions are itinerant by nature. Some industries don’t have conventional hubs. Take into consideration sports activities. If you wish to be a school or skilled coach, you’ll in all probability have to relocate a number of instances. That’s true whether or not you’re an assistant or a head coach. It’s actually true for athletic administrators. Chances are high your subsequent job is not going to be in the identical place as your final one. That is true of journalists, too. As you come up within the trade, you’ll possible have to maneuver a couple of instances.
However even these itinerant occupations have trade occasions, causes to come back collectively in the identical place. There are annual conferences, key networking occasions that operate as momentary epicenters. In these industries, it’s much more vital to hunt out and join with mentors and specialists and to remain in contact with friends.
RELOCATING IS HARD
I do know this isn’t simple. Transferring is dear and hectic. Most of us will not be nomadic by nature. We crave stability. Relocating is without doubt one of the single most disruptive issues you are able to do in life. Perhaps your dad and mom dwell close by, and you’re the one they lean on. Perhaps your youngsters love their faculty and your weekends are full of soccer video games and birthday events. Perhaps you’ve constructed a close-knit neighborhood over years, or many years, and the concept of leaving that appears like tearing one thing sacred.
Transferring additionally means going through extra intense competitors. You would possibly know extra a few topic than anybody else in your graduating class, however as soon as you progress to an trade hub, you’re all of a sudden the bottom individual on the totem pole. However careers will not be zero-sum video games. Competitors is a tide that raises all boats. Certain, for some time everybody you encounter will know greater than you, however that simply means you should have the chance to be taught infinitely quicker than you’ll should you stayed at house.
You may additionally want a “help job” when you grind. Loads of struggling actors discovered different gigs to pay the hire—generally for years—earlier than touchdown a breakthrough function. A number of the greatest musicians in America spent substantial parts of their lives busking on sidewalks or taking part in without cost in dirty bars. That perseverance can repay. Typically the primary job is not going to be the large profession winner. It might simply be a important stepping-stone.
That’s what occurred with Tony Fadell.
After he lastly bought that job at Common Magic, he labored there for 3 and a half years. However the firm was not successful story. Common Magic’s failure has grow to be one of the crucial vital legends within the historical past of Silicon Valley. (It’s additionally the topic of an amazing documentary that I’d extremely encourage everybody to observe.) Nonetheless, becoming a member of Common Magic put Tony squarely within the epicenter of the Valley. And the connections he made there have been a part of a tremendous basis that may assist launch him to better and better heights.
After leaving Common Magic, Tony continued his pursuit and keenness for designing breakthrough transportable computing gadgets. His subsequent cease was constructing the Philips Cell Computing group, the place he assumed the function of CTO on the age of twenty-five. After 4 years there and a quick dance with Actual Networks, he began his personal firm in 1999 known as Fuse, which aimed to be the “Dell of Shopper Electronics.” That timing was not very best, because the dot-com crash made it tough for Fuse to lift its second spherical of financing. Tony stored grinding.
After ten years, Apple employed Tony by means of an eight-week consulting contract to develop a brand new MP3 music participant. Tony’s 9 years in Silicon Valley, and the training he had completed by means of almost a decade of engaged on cell computing merchandise, had been lastly about to repay. After a profitable consulting gig, Apple employed Tony internally. Inside a 12 months, Apple would launch their first MP3 participant, the iPod, which might finally promote over 450 million items. After that, Tony assumed the function of head of engineering for the iPhone. Everyone knows how that turned out. Apple has bought 2.3 billion iPhones, making it essentially the most profitable cell computing gadget of all time.
Tony wasn’t completed. He later left Apple to construct yet one more mass client product by way of Nest Labs. Nest launched a breakthrough product—the Nest Studying Thermostat—which might revolutionize the house automation trade. When you don’t have one, you’ve in all probability stayed in an Airbnb with a Nest thermostat.
Google finally acquired Nest for $3.2 billion. Since leaving Google, Tony has grow to be a prolific angel investor and has authored a bestselling guide that I’d suggest to everybody devoted to discovering their very own distinctive profession pathway—Construct: An Unorthodox Information to Making Issues Price Making.
Consider your dream as a seed. The epicenter of your trade is the fertile soil that enables that seed to flourish. Embrace the problem—not as an finish in itself, however as the mandatory step towards significant development. If the concept of shifting ignites one thing inside you, belief that intuition. You have already got your reply. Go the place the motion is.
From Runnin’ Down a Dream: Methods to Thrive in a Profession You Really Love by Invoice Gurley, out there for preorder, to be printed on 2/24/2026 by Crown Forex, an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random Home, LLC. Copyright © 2026 by Invoice Gurley. Reprinted with permission.
