Move to Where the Action Is
An average player at the epicenter beats the best player in a market that doesn't rank.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 87%
This was the sixth tenet Gurley added between his University of Texas speech and the book. His claim is strong: if you can afford it, you'd rather be an average player where everyone is doing this thing than the best player in a market that doesn't rank for it. The reason is optionality — the number of chance positive things that can happen goes up roughly 20x. You run into people doing the same thing constantly, and if a job doesn't work out, many other employers are hiring for exactly that skill. Songwriters go to Nashville, founders to Silicon Valley, finance to New York. He rates it eight out of ten for most fields, with two exceptions: some roles (coaching) can't do it, and some fields have real virtual epicenters like subreddits. The strategy also assumes you're self-motivated — proximity produces the surface area, not the effort.
Origin
Gurley added 'moving to where the action is' as a sixth tenet after his UT Austin speech, when translating the talk into Running Down a Dream. Hala corroborates it: she moved to Austin as a podcaster and found that serendipity started happening naturally.
Core principles
- 01Being at the epicenter multiplies the chance positive events — optionality goes up roughly 20x.
- 02An average player where everyone does the thing beats the best player where nobody does.
- 03Density means if one job doesn't work out, many others are hiring for the same skill.
- 04Some fields have virtual epicenters — subreddits and online communities — but most don't.
- 05The strategy assumes you're self-motivated; the density does nothing on its own.
How to run it
- 1
Locate the epicenter
Name the place where your field concentrates. Songwriters: Nashville. Founders: Silicon Valley. Finance: New York City.
- 2
Test the exceptions
Check whether your field is one that can't relocate (coaching) or has a genuine virtual epicenter — subreddits and online communities.
- 3
Go, if you can afford it
Gurley's bar is affordability, not certainty. The optionality gain — roughly 20x more chance positive events — is the return.
Pro tip The fallback density matters as much as the upside: if one job fails, many others hire for the same thing.
Watch out This only pays off if you're self-motivated. Proximity creates the surface area; it doesn't do the work.
- 4
If you can't move, time-box it
In distributed fields, conferences are the concentrated substitute — going to the action for a point in time rather than permanently.
Pro tip Don't become known as the person always out at conferences; there's a limit.
In the wild
Working early in athletic departments — a field where everyone is geographically distributed and there's no epicenter — Del Conte attended a conference and met four or five young people at exactly his career station. It was the only opportunity for those chance moments.
→ The group became a lasting text group and all of them became D1 athletic directors.
Hala moved to Austin a year ago as a podcaster and found there was simply so much serendipity — things happened naturally that wouldn't have elsewhere.
→ Confirms Gurley's mechanism: proximity manufactures chance encounters.
Common mistakes
Optimizing for being the best in a small pond
Gurley inverts the usual instinct: the best player in a market that doesn't rank for their field is worse off than an average player at the epicenter, because optionality is what compounds.
Expecting the location to do the work
Gurley notes it's probably important that you're someone who is self-motivated. Density raises the ceiling on chance encounters; it doesn't generate them for a passive person.
Is it for you?
Best for
Early- and mid-career people in fields with a clear geographic center — tech, finance, music, film.
Not ideal for
Fields tied to specific institutions or locations (a coach), people who can't afford the epicenter's cost of living, and fields with genuinely strong virtual communities.
From the transcript
“I strongly believe that if you can afford it, you'd rather be an even average player where everyone's doing this thing than being the best…”
“If you're a songwriter, that means Nashville. If you're a founder, that means Silicon Valley. If you want to work in finance, it means New…”
“I'd probably use the word optionality just goes up 20x.”
From the episode
Bill Gurley: Break Free From Career Regret and Design Work You Love
Bill Gurley