Now might be 'as good a time as you've had in a decade' to build a company from scratch, says famed investor Bill Gurley

• Venture capitalist Bill Gurley talked about the environment for startups on a McKinsey podcast.
• Gurley said now might be as good a time as any in the past decade to build a company from scratch.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Gurley said on a podcast that right now might be as good a time as any in the past decade to build a company "from scratch."

Speaking to Rick Tetzeli, editorial director of "McKinsey Quarterly," on "The Quarterly Interview: Provocations to Ponder," Gurley discussed the environment for startups in today's unpredictable economy. Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark, is well known in Silicon Valley, having invested in startups like Zillow, Glassdoor, and Uber.

The environment of the past five years was "really crazy" to start a company, Gurley said. "And the truth is that if you're going to build something from scratch, this might be as good a time as you've had in a decade," he said.

Right now, Gurley said founders "can get all the real estate" they want, and worries about the cost of a lease are "all gone."

"That whole mentality of, oh, your competitor raised $100 million, now you have to raise $100 million. All those things have evaporated — for the better, I'd say," Gurley said about getting rid of money distractions.

Another reason that right now is a good time to build a company, he said, is "access to talent is way better" compared to before, adding that hiring people is "cheaper" than it used to be.

Layoffs at other companies also mean more talent is available, he said, and hybrid work means more people can join a company even if they don't live in the same area as the company.

"If you need an iOS programmer within 20 miles of your Silicon Valley location, that's way harder than if you can shop globally for that," Gurley said.

When Tetzeli asked Gurley if he thinks hybrid work will affect startup culture, Gurley said he doesn't "know what makes sense."

"The number one thing people at start-ups worry about is missing out on serendipity — just some random conversation between two people who were out visiting a customer and then said, 'Oh, wait, what if we did this?' and it becomes critical to the company's success," Gurley said, adding that it's more critical in a startup than it would be in a larger company.

But Gurley said going hybrid "is really a founder-centric decision."

In the macro environment, Gurley said events like Russia's war in Ukraine and Chinese escalations in Taiwan "are not things that start-ups can impact or control." So while they may "add anxiety," Gurley said they're not things that will "have any real impact" on startups.