Bill Gurley and Philip Rosedale - Back to the Future - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 254] - Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

My guests today are Philip Rosedale and Bill Gurley. Philip created Second Life in the early 2000s and helped build it into the largest virtual 3D world ever created at the time. Frequent listeners will recognize Bill, who was an investor in Second Life via Benchmark Capital. During the conversation, we cover the fascinating story of Second Life and the billion-dollar economy that persists through to this day. Bill and Phillip share their key learnings from the experience, including the importance of usability, their views of the current metaverse opportunity, and what excites them most about the current focus on virtual realities. If you’re curious about what the metaverse might become, these two experts have seen much of this already and are kind to share their lessons with us. Please enjoy my conversation with Phillip and Bill.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

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Show Notes

00:03:22 - [First question] - The origin story of Second Life and why they created it

00:05:38 - How many people were playing Second Life at its peak, the in-game economy and its growth trajectory

00:06:49 - The interface between the in-game currency and its function for players

00:10:53 - An example of early entrepreneurship and user-created IP in Second Life

00:12:13 - Was technology a rate limiter to success in such an early version of the metaverse?

00:14:35 - What was most exciting about creating it and it’s early-stage potential

00:18:23 - Why Unity isn’t more adopted by creators and players like Minecraft

00:24:42 - Defining what the metaverse means to each of them today

00:28:50 - What Discord has taught them about aggregating people digitally

00:33:02 - Simultaneously crossing the digital chasm and the uncanny valley

00:38:16 - Key differences between games and platforms and the role of purpose

00:42:04 - Why cryptocurrencies and blockchains haven’t produced experiences akin to the virtual Travis Scott concert

00:47:13 - Why removing friction and centralizing financial structures can help growth and thoughts on play to earn gaming and user spending

00:53:27 - Digital asset ownership and digital trustless exchanges in the metaverse

00:57:30 - Pros and cons of today’s speculative digital asset valuations

01:01:05 - Interesting pockets of opportunity that could benefit the metaverse ecosystem

01:04:28 - How they’d build and construct an ETF with metaverse exposure

01:07:18 - Thoughts on AR and VR and which holds more promise for public adoption

01:08:02 - Surprising findings about the role audio plays in digital worlds

01:10:23 - What they’re watching most closely in this emergent sector

01:11:29 - Limitations of visual and sonic barriers when recreating real-world interactions

01:12:42 - The kindest things anyone has ever done for them