Top Silicon Valley Investor Bill Gurley Is All About These Startup Trends Right Now
In an interview with Forbes contributor Eric Jackson, Gurley spoke about his experiences as an investor and his observations on the startup space.
"I am fascinated with the art of personalization in the context of online businesses," Gurley said. "Delivering custom built experiences for each and every customer has huge impact on conversion ratios and long-term NPS. And it is very hard to do at scale."
Gurley pointed to Sailthru as one startup that is really pushing this idea forward. Sailthru is NYC-based software-as-a-service (SAAS) company that lets brands deliver personalized search results. According to Gurley, they have more than 400 customers and "super high ROI."
Gurley's also excited about another startup he invested in call Stitch Fix. The San Francisco women's fashion retailer "uses data science to create personalized product recommendations for its customers (optimizing both style and fit)," he said.
With a successful record of investing - Gurley and his firm Benchmark Capital has invested in OpenTable, Yelp, GrubHub, Twitter, Zillow, and Uber - Gurley seems to really get the industry. He recognizes a good business model when he sees it.
Now he's eyeing the hyper-personalized and individualized trend. And he's betting his money it's the next big thing in the startup space.