Gurley's Regulatory Corruption Study

A story about Bill Gurley's presentation at the All-In conference where he exposed regulatory corruption after 15 years of documentation.

"Bill Gurley went to All-In and gave this incredible talk. The title was '2,851' - that's the number of miles between Silicon Valley and Washington DC. He exposed the grift of regulation through multiple examples. He showed how during COVID, the same tests in the UK or Germany cost 7 times less than in the US because in the US, only two companies' tests were allowed.

He'd show examples like 'here's the guy who passed this law saying these are the only three vendors the government can use, and then guess what - here's his LinkedIn, 5 years later he's on the board as the chief whatever at that same company.'

He said he'd been working on this for 15 years. Every time he saw something that was complete grift or a messed up part of the system, he wrote it down. His mic drop at the end was basically 'I called this talk 2,851 because when people in DC ask how Silicon Valley does so much innovation, it's because we're so far away from Washington DC. We're the farthest possible place away from the poison of how that place works.'"