Every company has a story.
Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them.
Avsnitt
The Steve Ballmer Interview
We sit down with Steve Ballmer, the legendary former Microsoft CEO and owner of the LA Clippers, for an epic conversation covering his 34 years at Microsoft. Steve listened to our Microsoft episodes and had some thoughts to share — and boy, did he deliver. Steve takes us point-by-point through the original IBM DOS deal that started everything, how he built Microsoft's enterprise business from scratch, and offers his candid reflections on missing mobile and search. We also cover the story behind “developers, developers, developers”, the complexities of his relationship with Bill Gates (including a year where they didn't speak), and why he ultimately decided to step down as CEO. Plus, we learn why Steve has held onto his Microsoft stock through it all — giving him arguably the best investment track record in the world over the last 10 years with his net worth growing from $20B to $130B since leaving. And of course, we couldn't resist also talking about his other passion: the Clippers and Intuit Dome. Hit play and get ready to experience the patented Steve Ballmer energy and fun on full display!
Sponsors:
Many thanks to our fantastic Summer ‘25 Season partners:
Links:
More Acquired:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Announcement: Acquired Live at Radio City Music Hall!
A few weeks ago, we told you that Acquired is doing something in New York City on July 15 with our good friends at J.P. Morgan Payments. Well, the big announcement is finally here: We are doing our 2025 Live Show… at Radio City Music Hall!
Radio City is of course the iconic New York City theater that hosts the Rockettes and the Tony Awards, and has hosted the Grammys, the MTV VMAs, and the NFL Draft. And it’s also a storied part of Rockefeller Center, as chronicled on our Standard Oil episodes. We can't think of anything more "Acquired".
If you want to be part of the ticket pre-sale, you can sign up at acquired.fm/nyc. While Radio City is the world's largest indoor theater (with room for 6,000 Acquired fans), more than 6,000 folks came to last year's Chase Center show! So get cracking on figuring out which friends and co-workers you want to go with (seats are assigned), and get your hotel + plane tickets booked! Tickets will be available in $100 and $200 tiers.
This is — without a doubt — the biggest undertaking we've ever done here at Acquired. In true Broadway fashion, we’re keeping the show details under wraps… but trust us, it'll be an evening of surprise and delight. If your idea of fun is the world’s greatest business and technology nerds gathering together for a night on the big stage, this is for you. Oh, and a huge thank you to all our friends at J.P. Morgan for making this possible.
We can't wait to see you there!
Sign up for ticket pre-sale: https://acquired.fm/nyc
Epic Systems (MyChart)
What if we told you that the most important company in US healthcare was run from a farm in rural Wisconsin? And that farm contained the world’s largest subterranean auditorium, as well as Disneyland—style replicas of Hogwarts and the Emerald City? What if we told you that the person who started, runs and owns this establishment has legally ensured that it will never be sold, never go public and never acquire another company? And that this person, Judy Faulkner, is also likely the wealthiest and most successful self-made woman in history?
Welcome to the story of Epic Systems, the software company that underpins the majority of the American healthcare system today. Epic isn’t “just” an electronic medical record (the category it’s usually lumped into), or an online patient portal (which is how most of the US population interacts with it via its MyChart application). It’s more akin to a central nervous system for hospitals and health clinics. Almost everything in a hospital — from patient interactions to billing, staffing, scheduling, prescriptions and even research — happens on Epic’s platform, and over 90% of American medical schools’ graduating doctors, nurses and health administrative staff are trained on it during their educations. Tune in as we dive into the almost-unbelievable story of how this epic company came to be!
Sponsors:
Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:
Links:
- Save the date, July 15 in NYC!
- Epic’s Verona campus
- Worldly Partners’ Multi-Decade Epic Systems Study
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Ken Block in San Francisco
- Nintendo Switch 2
- Knives Out
- Brat by Charli xcx
- Music To Refine To: A Remix Companion to Severance by ODESZA
More Acquired:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Indian Premier League Cricket
When you saw this episode pop up in your feed, you either jumped for joy and hit play immediately (in which case you’re not reading this), or you said “Huh. That’s a surprising episode.” Well, if you’re in group two, boy do we have a treat for you!
IPL is the fastest-growing, most dynamic and most disruptive force in the sports industry today… and this may come as a shock to many Americans, but it might just be on track to surpass the NFL as the world’s most valuable sports league. The IPL is currently valued at $16B, with a TV rights deal that’s higher in per-match dollars than the NBA and the English Premier League. And all this for a league that’s right now just 10 teams who collectively only play 74 total games per season… and oh yeah, the whole thing is only 17 years old! Tune in for an absolutely amazing story, filled with genius, drama (Rupert Murdoch! Disney! Bollywood!) and a perfect encapsulation of the rise of modern India.
Sponsors:
Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:
Links:
- Save the date, July 15 in NYC!
- Ed Cowan’s Business Breakdowns of IPL
- Worldly Partners’ Multi-Decade IPL Study
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
More Acquired:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Rolex
Rolex is a series of paradoxes. They sell obsolete and objectively inferior mechanical devices for 10-1000x the price of their superior digital successors… and demand is stronger than ever in history! Their products are comparable to a Hermès Birkin bag in price, luxury status and waitlist times… yet they produce over 1m units / year (roughly 10x annual Birkin production). They make the most universally recognized and desired Swiss watches… yet their founder wasn’t Swiss and didn’t start the company in Switzerland! If Rolex were publicly traded, they’d almost certainly be among the top 50 market cap companies in the world… yet they’re 100% owned by a charitable foundation in Geneva that (among other things) literally just gives away money to local people in the city.
Tune in for one of the most fascinating and admirable companies we’ve ever covered on Acquired. We had an absolute blast making the episode, and hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Sponsors:
Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:
Links:
- The Renaissance of the Swiss Watch Industry - Marc Bridge
- HODINKEE - Inside All Four Rolex Manufacturing Facilities
- “If you were…” campaign
- Worldly Partners’ Multi-Decade Rolex Study
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
More Acquired:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
TSMC Founder Morris Chang
We flew to Taiwan to interview TSMC Founder Morris Chang in a rare English interview. In fact, the last long-form video interview we could find was 17 years ago at the Computer History Museum… conducted by the one-and-only Jensen Huang! This episode came about after asking ourselves a version of the Jeff Bezos “regret minimization” question: what conversations would we most regret not having if the chance passed Acquired by? Dr. Chang was number one on our list, and thanks to a little help from Jensen himself, we’re so happy to make it happen.
Dr. Chang shares the stories of a few crucial moments from TSMC’s history which have only been written about in his (currently Chinese-only) memoirs, including how TSMC won Apple’s iPhone and Mac chip business and a 2009 discrepancy with NVIDIA that almost jeopardized their relationship, and the lessons he took from them. We can’t think of a better way to kick off 2025. Please enjoy!
Sponsors:
Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:
Links:
Carve Outs:
More Acquired:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!
Notes:
This episode contains a paid endorsement for Fundrise. All investments can lead to loss.
Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
TSMC (Remastered)
We dive into the unbelievable and unlikely history behind the quietest technology giant of them all: the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Founded in 1987 by the then-56 year old Morris Chang, already a legend in the semiconductor industry by virtue of his meteoric rise and fall at Texas Instruments, TSMC today manufactures nearly all the leading-edge chips for Nvidia, Apple, Broadcom, Qualcomm, AMD, and yes — even Intel. Tune in for an incredible story of innovation, perseverance and lasers. Lots and lots of lasers!
Note: this is a remastered version of our original 2021 episode. We don’t often re-release old episodes, but in this case we have a very timely reason for doing so. Stay tuned! :)
Sponsors:
Many thanks to our fantastic partners:
Links:
Carve Outs:
More Acquired:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Mars Inc. (the chocolate story)
M&M’s, Snickers, Milky Way, Double Mint, Ben’s Rice, Pedigree, Whiskas, VCA, Banfield… all the brands you know, owned by the company you know nothing about: Mars, Incorporated. And Mars itself is 100% owned and deeply intertwined with the Mars family, who are currently the second wealthiest (and perhaps first most secretive!) family in the United States. Tune in for one of the 20th century’s most incredible entrepreneurial stories across candy and pet care, and one that’s all the more incredible because it’s so little-known!
Sponsors:
Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners:
Links:
- Hershey’s M&M response: Hershey-ets
- Our past episodes on Berkshire Hathaway, LVMH, and Novo Nordisk
- Worldly Partners Multi-Decade Mars Study
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Dandelion Chocolate and the Dandelion Advent Calendar
- Tesla Model Y + repair service
- Silo
- Home Alone
More Acquired:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
IKEA
IKEA may be the most singular company we’ve ever studied on Acquired. They’re a globally scaled, $50B annual revenue company with no direct competitors — yet have only ~5% market share. They’re one of the largest retailers in the world — yet sell only their own products. They generate a few billion in free cash flow every year — yet have no shareholders. And oh yeah, they also sell hot dogs cheaper than Costco! (Sort of.)
Tune in for an episode flat-packed with counterintuitive lessons about how this folksy mail order business from the Swedish countryside came into your living rooms (and bedrooms and dining rooms and kitchens and bathrooms and patios and garages and backyards) all over the globe!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
Links:
- Please take our 2024 Acquired Survey if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us!
- The Testament of a Furniture Dealer
- Our past episodes on Costco, Walmart, Amazon, LVMH and Hermès
- Worldly Partners Multi-Decade IKEA Study
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Meta
Meta is a company everyone knows (literally, everyone). But, somehow, it’s also a company that few people feel they actually understand. Their products are used by more humans than any other’s in history — almost half of the entire world’s population daily. But… what is Meta? Why do they do what they do? How do they do what they do? Ask ten people and you’ll likely get ten very different sets of answers.
Today, we dive deeper than we’ve ever gone trying to find Acquired’s answers to those questions. And after months of research and 6+ hours of incredible stories about how they (and really “they” being Mark himself) bet it all and win time and time again in the face of overwhelming odds, we arrive at our answers. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, AI, Oculus, Orion, it’s all here. Tune in for one of the greatest corporate stories of all time: Meta, a Mark Zuckerberg Production.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
Links:
- Please take our 2024 Acquired Survey if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us! https://acquired.fm/survey
- Our past episodes on Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Snapchat, the Snap IPO, TikTok, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and the Mark Zuckerberg Interview
- Worldly Partners: Meta multi-decade study
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Acquired LIVE from Chase Center (with Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg)
Here it is: the complete video of the most unbelievable night of Acquired’s nine-year life… our sold out live show at the Chase Center in San Francisco. We joked during the months (months!) of preparation leading up to this event that it was like planning a wedding for 6,000 Acquired fans, and the guest list included Jamie Dimon, Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg… no pressure! But thanks to our amazing partnership with J.P. Morgan Payments, together we were able to make something incredible. Tune in and enjoy the celebration!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
Links:
- Mike Taylor, the truly incomparable performer of Who Got the Truth?
- Mike Amiri (who designed Mark’s shirt)
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Photo Credit: Mark Zuckerberg by Jeff Sainlar / Meta
© Copyright 2024 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
The Mark Zuckerberg Interview
Mark is the iconic founder CEO of our time. At Chase Center on September 10, 2024, he did an unprecedented thing: a live conversation in front of 6,000 people on Meta’s company strategy, sharing stories from early Facebook history, and his thoughts on the future of AI, VR, and AR. Mark was remarkably candid in our discussion, and gave us a window into his real and intense daily demeanor leading Meta. (And his other life endeavors!)
We can't wait to release the complete video of the whole night, including our surprise conversations with Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, and cameo appearances from Jensen Huang and Mike Taylor (the incredible singer of “Who Got the Truth?”). That’s coming in a couple weeks, but for now: enjoy this conversation with Mark Zuckerberg.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
Links:
- Mike Amiri (who designed Mark’s shirt!)
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Photo Credit: Mark Zuckerberg by Jeff Sainlar / Meta
© Copyright 2024 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Chase Center + Summer Update
Summer greetings from Acquired! Two items for this “mini-episode”:
- Tickets are now available for our live show at Chase Center in San Francisco, with special guests including Mark Zuckerberg (!). The show is Tuesday, September 10th, with doors opening at 5 PM for an hour of mingling with other listeners before the show starts at 6 PM. Huge thank you to the J.P. Morgan Payments team for being our incredible partner in making this happen. Tickets are almost gone so make sure you grab one ASAP — you don’t want to miss this night! https://acquired.fm/sf
- We also figured this is a good excuse to update you all on the state of Acquired — after an incredible first half of the year (including WSJ’s profile of the show) we are taking the rest of the summer off to recharge, parent our young children, and prepare for the big night in September. We hope you’re having a great summer, and we’ll see you live in the fall!
Carve Outs:
More Acquired:
© Copyright 2024 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Microsoft Volume II
In 1999, Microsoft became the most valuable company in the world. And in 2019, Microsoft became the most valuable company in the world, again. But… what happened in the twenty years in between? The answer, as we discovered in our research, is probably not what you think.
In this episode we explore and analyze the browser wars and the DOJ case, Windows XP through 8, Surface, Xbox, search, Yahoo!, Bing, the iPhone, Nokia, mobile, social, Facebook… and oh yeah, a little thing called Azure and the enterprise — which ended up becoming so big that no failures mattered. Tune in for Microsoft, Volume II.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
Links:
Carve Outs:
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Starbucks (with Howard Schultz)
Starbucks. You’d be hard pressed to name any brand that’s more ubiquitous in the world today. With nearly half a billion global customer purchases per week across its stores and 3rd party retail channels, a significant portion of the human population gets their daily fix in the green and white paper cup. (Including our own Ben Gilbert who famously enjoys his daily spinach feta wrap. :)
But it wasn’t always this way. Long before the frappuccinos and the PSLs and the cake pops, Starbucks was just a small-time Seattle roaster that only sold beans — and was started not by Howard Schultz but rather the guys who later ran Peet’s (!). Starting from six tiny stores when Howard took over in 1987, this quirky coffee company named after a character from Moby Dick has scaled to nearly 40,000 locations worldwide.
Today, in a first for Acquired, the protagonist himself joins us as a third cohost to tell the whole story of Starbucks. And Howard is in the perfect moment to do this — after three separate stints as CEO he’s now retired, off the board of directors, and in his own words “not coming back.” So place a mobile order (or not! as you’ll hear Howard speak about), sit back with your own favorite Starbucks items, and enjoy.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
The Biggest Thing We’ve Ever Done:
- San Francisco. September 10, 2024. Mark your calendars.
Links:
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
© Copyright 2024 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Microsoft Volume I
Microsoft. After nearly a decade of Acquired episodes, we are finally ready to tackle the most valuable company ever created. The company that put a computer on every desk and in every home. The company that invented the software business model. The company that so thoroughly and completely dominated every conceivable competitor that the United States government intervened and kneecapped it… yet it’s STILL the most valuable company in the world today.
This episode tells the story of Microsoft in its heyday, the PC Era. We cover its rise from a teenage dream to the most powerful business and technology force in history — the 20-year period from 1975 to 1995 that took Bill and Paul from the Lakeside high school computer room to launching Windows 95 alongside Jay Leno and the Rolling Stones. From BASIC to DOS, Windows, Office, Intel, IBM, Xerox PARC, Apple, Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer… it’s all here, and it’s all amazing. Tune in and enjoy… Microsoft.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
Links:
- Congress changing copyright law in 1980 to include “computer programs”
- Acquired “classic” on Microsoft’s 1987 acquisition of Forethought / PowerPoint
- Quartr's charts on Microsoft's revenues, market cap, IBM comparison, and more
- All episode sources
Carve Outs:
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Renaissance Technologies
Renaissance Technologies is the best performing investment firm of all time. And yet no one at RenTec would consider themselves an “investor”, at least in any traditional sense of the word. It’d rather be more accurate to call them scientists — scientists who’ve discovered a system of math, computers and artificial intelligence that has evolved into the greatest money making machine the world has ever seen. And boy does it work: RenTec’s alchemic colossus has posted annual returns in the firm’s flagship Medallion Fund of 68% gross and 40% net over the past 34 years, while never once losing money. (For those keeping track at home, $1,000 invested in Medallion in 1988 would have compounded to $46.5B today… if you’d been allowed to keep it in.) Tune in for an incredible story of the small group of rebel mathematicians who didn’t just beat the market, but in the words of author Greg Zuckerman “solved it.”
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
Links:
- The Man Who Solved the Market
- The Quants
- Bloomberg’s 2016 RenTec profile
- Quartr's visualization of RenTec's returns
- All episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Modern Treasury’s Transfer Conference Registration
- The New Look
- Cole Haan x Acquired!
- Class of Palm Beach (and the Mini Kelly inside the Birkin!!)
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Hermès
In luxury, there’s Hermès… and there’s everyone else. Stewarded by one French family over six generations, Hermès sells the absolute pinnacle of the French luxury dream. Loyal clients will wait years simply for the opportunity to buy one of the company’s flagship Birkin or Kelly bags. Unlike every other luxury brand, Hermès:
- Doesn’t increase supply to meet demand (hence the waitlists)
- Doesn’t loudly brand their products (IYKYK)
- Doesn’t do celebrity endorsements (stars buy their bags just like everyone else)
- Doesn’t even have a marketing department! (they barely advertise at all)
And yet everyone knows who they are and what they represent. But, despite all their iconoclasm, this is not a company that’s stood still for six generations. Unbeknownst to most, Hermès has completely reinvented itself at least three times in its 187-year history. Including most recently (and most dramatically) by the family’s current leaders, who responded to LVMH and Bernard Arnault’s 2010 takeover attempt by pursuing a radical strategy — scaling hand craftsmanship. And in the process they turned the company from a sleepy, ~$10B family enterprise into a $200B market cap European giant. Tune in for one incredible story!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- See our episode page for visuals!
- The saddle stitch (video)
- Inside the Saddlery at the Faubourg
- Hermès 2022 Annual Report
- Axel Dumas Interview
- All episode sources
Carve Outs:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Novo Nordisk (Ozempic)
Last year Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company behind Ozempic and Wegovy, overtook LVMH to become Europe’s most valuable company. And the pull for Acquired to finally tackle healthcare (18% of US GDP!) became too strong for us to resist. While we didn’t know much about Novo Nordisk before diving in, our first thought was, “wow, seems like these new diabetes and obesity drugs mean serious trouble for big insulin companies.”
And then… we realized that Novo Nordisk IS the big insulin company. And in a story befitting of Steve Jobs and Apple, they’d just disrupted themselves with the drug equivalent of an iPhone moment. Once we dug further, we quickly realized this company has it all: an incredible 100+ year history filled with Nobel Prizes, bitter personal rivalries, board room dramas, a generation-defining silicon valley innovation, lone voices persevering against all odds — and oh yeah, the world’s largest charitable foundation at its helm. Tune in for one incredible story!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Chart: US Healthcare Spend by Category
- Chart: US Distribution and Reimbursement System (for pharmaceutical drugs)
- Chart: Insulin Supply Chain
- YouTube Talk: What People Get Wrong about the Finances of the Drug Industry
- Alex Telford: The pharma industry from Paul Janssen to today: why drugs got harder to develop and what we can do about it
- Out-of-Pocket Health: Obesity Drugs
- Out-of-Pocket Health: US Healthcare System Problems
- All episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Noxgear Tracer 2 running vest
- Drops of God
- Wool by Hugh Howey
- Mere Mortals at San Francisco Ballet
- Blackberry
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Holiday Special 2023
Ben has some big news. Actually, double big news! On what has become a holiday tradition here at Acquired, we cozy up to the fire to do our annual review of the show “in public”. We reflect on what can only be described as an absolutely mind-blowing 2023 (LVMH! Jensen! Costco! Charlie! Half a million plus listeners!) and look ahead to some big things cooking for 2024. Plus as always, we wrap with extended carve outs (joined this year by some surprise guests) for anyone still shopping for those holiday perfect gifts.
Huge thank you to everyone for making 2023 an amazing year again here in Acquired-land, and cheers to even greater things to come in 2023!
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Links / Extended Carve Outs!
- The Psychology of Money
- The Artist’s Way
- Transitions
- Thinking, Fast and Slow
- Zojirushi hot water heater
- Nike Pegasus Trail 4 GORE-TEX
- Mill
- June Oven
- Silo
- Alias
- Warby Parker Amari glasses
- Hoka Ora recovery shoes
- Adobe Light Room
- The Eureka Theory of Everything is Wrong by Derek Thompson
- The Luxury Strategy
- Candide
- The QB School
- MNF ManningCast
- The Eras Tour
- Uppababy Vista
- The Joolz Aer Plus
- Coco
- At Present
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Visa
To paraphrase Visa founder Dee Hock, how many of you know Visa? Great, all of you. Now, how many of you know how it started? Or, for that matter, who started it? Who runs and governs it? Where is it headquartered? What’s its business model?
For the 11th largest market cap company in the world, Visa’s history and strategy is almost shockingly unknown. A huge portion of the world’s population uses their products on a daily basis (you might say Visa is… everywhere people want to be), but very few know the amazing story behind how that came to be. Or why Visa continues to be one of the most incredible and incredibly durable business franchises of all-time. (50%+ net income margins!! On $30B of revenue!) Today we do our part to change that. Tune in for one heck of a journey.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Burger King rolling out credit cards in 1993
- Get your BankAmericard MasterCard today! (!?)
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Charlie Munger
We sit down with the legendary Charlie Munger in the only dedicated longform podcast interview that he has done in his 99 years on Earth. We’ve gotten to have some special conversations on Acquired over the years, but this one truly takes the cake. Over dinner at his Los Angeles home, Charlie reflected with us on his own career and his nearly 50-year partnership at Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett. He offered lessons and advice for investors today, and of course he shared his speech on the virtues of Costco once again (among other favorite investments). We’re so glad that we got the opportunity to record and share this with you all — break out your notebooks, tune in, and enjoy the singular wit and wisdom of Charlie Munger.
A transcript is available here.
Sponsor:
- Special thanks to Tiny for being the exclusive sponsor of this episode. You can get in touch with them here (just tell them Ben & David sent you), and order your very own bronze Charlie bust here.
More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2023 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang
We finally sit down with the man himself: Nvidia Cofounder & CEO Jensen Huang. After three parts and seven+ hours of covering the company, we thought we knew everything but — unsurprisingly — Jensen knows more. A couple teasers: we learned that the company’s initial motivation to enter the datacenter business came from perhaps not where you’d think, and the roots of Nvidia’s platform strategy stretch back beyond CUDA all the way to the origin of the company.
We also got a peek into Jensen’s mindset and calculus behind “betting the company” multiple times, and his surprising feelings about whether he’d go on the founder journey again if he could rewind time. We can’t think of any better way to tie a bow on our Nvidia series (for now). Tune in!
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Nvidia Part III: The Dawn of the AI Era (2022-2023)
It’s a(nother) new era for Nvidia.
We thought we’d closed the Acquired book on Nvidia back in April 2022. The story was all wrapped up: Jensen & crew had set out on an amazing journey to accelerate the world’s computing workloads. Along the way they’d discovered a wondrous opportunity (machine learning powered social media feed recommendations). They forged incredible Power in the CUDA platform, and used it to triumph over seemingly insurmountable adversity — the stock market penalty-box.
But, it turned out that was only the precursor to an even wilder journey. Over the past 18 months Nvidia has weathered one of the steepest stock crashes in history ($500B+ market cap wiped away peak-to-trough!). And, it has of course also experienced an even more fantastical rise — becoming the platform that’s powering the emergence of perhaps a new form of intelligence itself… and in the process becoming a trillion-dollar company.
Today we tell another chapter in the amazing Nvidia saga: the dawn of the AI era. Tune in!
Links:
Carve Outs:
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Costco
Costco is not only Charlie Munger’s favorite company of all time (plus he’s on the board, natch), it’s an absolutely fascinating study in how seemingly opposite characteristics can combine to create incredible company value. For instance: Costco has the cheapest prices of any major retailer in America — and also the wealthiest customer base. They pay their hourly workers 30% above the industry norm (and give them excellent healthcare + 401k benefits) — and are almost 3x more profitable on labor than Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, Costco stocks 40x fewer SKUs than their Bentonville-based rivals — yet sells an average of 15x more volume of each. And oh yeah, practically all of Costco’s C-Suite started their careers as baggers and checkout clerks! Tune in for a mind-bending exploration of one of the world’s most iconic — and iconically unique — companies.
Links:
Carve Outs:
- Tifosi sunglasses
- Dwells “take off everything”
- Jeremy Giffon on Invest Like the Best
- Dogpatch
- David Lidsky’s great piece on Acquired in Fast Company
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Nike
Nike — it’s perhaps the most iconic and most prolific brand of the modern era. On any given day, swooshes adorn the feet of more people on earth than any other footwear company — by a long shot.
If you read Shoe Dog or watched Air, you may think you know its history. But Shoe Dog ends in 1980, and Air… well let’s just say it’s an enjoyable piece of fiction. And it turns out (as always) that the real story is filled with far more drama, twists and business lessons than either of those works.
We’ve been wanting to cover Nike for a long time, and thanks to our LPs who voted to choose this episode it’s finally here. So lace up your Vaporflys, Air Maxes, Dunks or Jordans (or your Monarchs, hey we don’t judge), head out for a long run or walk and enjoy!
Links:
Carve Outs:
- Marc Andreessen on Lex Fridman and on Ben Thompson
- Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Porsche (with Doug DeMuro)
Nobody’s perfect — including Porsche. Despite that phrase appearing in their famous 1983 magazine advertisement, they managed to get damn-close to the perfect luxury business (even Bernard Arnault would be jealous!). Porsche is both quality AND quantity, owning the most prestigious brand in its market, while at the same time churning out almost half a million mass-market soccer mom/dad SUVs per year. And like any good luxury brand, it’s packed with enough juicy family drama and creeping takeovers to fill a Netflix series.
Yet, behind it all lies perhaps the darkest origin story we’ve ever told on Acquired. Not only was Porsche was started by Nazis, Adolf Hitler himself was deeply involved in its early fortunes. And, following WWII, the Allies simply looked past these facts and essentially bestowed a license to generate wealth on Porsche and its owners — setting the stage for them to become one of the top ~15 wealthiest families in the world today.
Joining us to explore it all is perhaps the very most-qualified person in the person in the world: the one & only Doug DeMuro. Not only is Doug the largest independent car reviewer on YouTube with millions of subscribers (we’re HUGE fans), he previously worked at Porsche corporate and owns a legendary Porsche Carrera GT — which served as the recording backdrop for this episode. Make sure you tune in to watch the video version! :)
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Doug’s YouTube channel (which we HIGHLY recommend)
- Cars & Bids
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi dropped by the Acquired studio for an Eats delivery, so we broke out the cameras and asked him to hang out for a wide-ranging conversation. :) We talk about his 20 years working with Barry Diller, starting his career at Allen & Company, how the Uber CEO search process ACTUALLY went down… and oh yeah, the massive transformation that’s happened at Uber over the past few years. When Dara took over the company it was bleeding huge sums of cash, losing share to competitors and embroiled in one of the biggest corporate controversies in recent memory. Fast forward to today and it’s turned cashflow positive while also having tripled revenue to over $30B (on $120B in GMV) and solidified its rideshare dominance in the US. And in perhaps the biggest change, it’s done it all while staying out of the headlines. Tune in!
Links
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Lockheed Martin
Today we bring you two absolutely incredible stories. The first is Lockheed’s legendary Skunk Works division — the elite team of aviation geniuses who produced some of the greatest airplanes in history: the U-2, the Stealth Fighter, and the incomparable SR-71 Blackbird. The second story is arguably even more important, but not widely known! It's the secret and true origins of Silicon Valley — and Lockheed’s primary role in it. We take you from WWII to the Cold War, all the way to today to unpack and analyze the industry dynamics of defense contractors in the modern era. Tune in and prepare to be blown away by what you’ll learn about the history of our industry!
Links:
- Ben Rich’s Skunk Works
- Kelly’s 14 Rules of Skunk Works
- LMSC’s “Seven Tenets”
- Steve Blank’s Secret History of Silicon Valley
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Nier: Automata
- The Blackbird speed check story
- EGO Lawn Tools (just in time for Fathers’ Day!)
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek
We sit down with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek live in Stockholm at Spotify’s amazing HQ studio (check out the video version of this episode — which plays natively on Spotify!). This was an incredibly special and timely conversation: for those who haven’t been paying attention over the past few years, after revolutionizing music Spotify has now ALSO completely transformed our own industry in podcasting. Starting from way behind with ~zero market share in 2018, Spotify has now aggregated the listener market and amazingly surpassed Apple as the world’s largest podcast platform — including close to home with the Acquired audience, where it has 60%+ market share among you all!
We discuss the origins of this “second act” strategy with Daniel, the vision to move from a music company to an audio company, and what’s coming next with Spotify’s entry into Audiobooks. And of course we relive some key moments from the Acquired canon that Daniel was involved in, including his pivotal conversations with Taylor Swift and her team convincing her to come back to streaming following the release of 1984. Tune in!
Links
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Benchmark’s Mitch Lasky and Blake Robbins on The Art of Business in Gaming
We sit down Benchmark’s legendary gaming investors Mitch Lasky and Blake Robbins (now also of the excellent Gamecraft podcast fame) to discuss the history and future of gaming business models. This episode is the perfect bookend to our Nintendo/Sega gaming series this season on Acquired — no one is more qualified than Mitch and Blake to breakdown how the business side of the industry has evolved so radically from the Periscope quarter-drop days to the forever games and platform based publishers of today.
Regardless if you’re a gamer, understanding the incredible innovation that’s taken place over the past two decades in gaming and what it portends for other industries is critical for any founder and investor to understand. Tune in!
Links
- The Gamecraft Podcast
- Mitch and Blake on Twitter
- The Genius of the System
- Mitch’s old “Investing in Content” blog post
- That Game Company and Sky
- Riot and the League of Legends dota-allstars.com growth hack
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Short: The Death of Sega
Sega and the Genesis was THE underdog story of the early 90’s. In a single console generation, Sega went from ~zero to 50% US market share and dethroned Nintendo’s seemingly invincible global monopoly. But — somehow — it all then died. Two console generations later Sega was out of the hardware game entirely, and the company was sold off for pieces to a pachinko manufacturer. How on earth did this happen??
Today we’re launching Acquired Shorts in order to tell this story and others like it: side tales from the “Acquired Cinematic Universe” that are too brief for a full episode, but too good to leave in the vault. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the format (and this episode). Please send us your feedback in Slack, email or Twitter!
Links:
Carve Outs:
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Nintendo: The Console Wars
In the 1980’s Nintendo was on top of the world, with the NES achieving over 90% market share of home video games globally. So how did they fall ALL the way down to ~10% in just a few short console generations? And how did they then build themselves back up (and down and up again) to the top of the world again? Spoiler: it all hinged on one very small, yet very large and durable platform… the Game Boy. Fire up your favorite portable entertainment device and tune in for the epic story of Nintendo’s fall from grace and journey back to the top — capped off by our robust discussion of where they go from here, and whether this 130+ year old company may still (!) be misunderstood and mis-valued.
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Our EA episode with Trip Hawkins
- Matthew Ball on why “Nintendo as Disney” is a flawed analogy
- Crossroads Capital’s investor letters outlining their Nintendo thesis
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Kara Swisher in Vanity Fair (and our old episode with her!)
- Hardcore History (finally!)
- The Tetris movie
- Daryl Morey on Invest Like the Best
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Interview: Hamilton Helmer & Chenyi Shi on How to Build an AWS-Like Second Business
7 Powers author Hamilton Helmer and his Strategy Capital colleague Chenyi Shi join us again to discuss their latest research on a topic that’s highly relevant to the recent Acquired canon: how to build a second business line. This incredibly important “transforming” question faces every great company who has achieved initial product success (as well as their investors). Do we continue solely along the established path, or do we attempt to grow new branches on the tree? Some companies grow new businesses with tremendous success — Amazon and AWS, Nintendo and video games, Nvidia and CUDA — yet many others fail miserably. For the first time Hamilton and Chenyi share their research-based playbook on how companies should approach this decision and choose wisely. Tune in!
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Link to Hamilton's 2-Axis Chart
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Sessions: David Senra (Founders Podcast)
ACQ Sessions returns with David Senra of the Founders Podcast. David is one of our very favorite people in the world — it’s impossible to spend an hour (or 3!) with him and not come away inspired to go take over the world. This conversation is an “extended, IRL version” of monthly calls that we do together where we share stories, swap life and podcast advice, and just genuinely enjoy sharing time with someone who shares our outlook and enthusiasm for the history of entrepreneurship. Pull up a chair, grab a beverage (or energy drink in David’s case) and join us!
Links:
- Go subscribe to Founders! Some of our favorite episodes: Bernard Arnault, Brunello Cucinelli, Edwin Land, Kobe Bryant
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Nintendo's Origins
You may think you know the Nintendo story: a plumber named Mario, a princess named Zelda… and didn’t they buy the Seattle Mariners at some point? We thought we knew it too. And then we started researching and were blown away.
The lovable Disney-like Nintendo that we know today is a 130 year-old a playing card company (i.e. gambling), forged in the shadowy world of the Yakuza and shaped by a four-generation cycle of bitter family betrayal. And its unlikely transformation into a global multi-billion dollar media monopoly was led by an iron-fisted patriarch who — amazingly — never played a video game in his life! Get ready for one of our favorite stories Acquired has ever told — we couldn’t make this one up if we tried!
Links:
- Our Atari episode with Nolan Bushnell
- Video of id Software’s legendary PC “port” of Super Mario Brothers 3
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Michael Lewis on Tim Ferriss and on CSPAN
Sponsors:
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ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
LVMH
We tell the full history of LVMH, and how Bernard Arnault turned a $15m investment in a bankrupt French textile company into the world’s largest individual fortune. It’s a story that’s equal parts Berkshire Hathaway, Steve Jobs and Barbarians at the Gate… and wholly under-appreciated for the genius business model innovations that enabled it. Whatever industry you operate or invest in, there’s so much to be learned from Bernard and LVMH’s complete reshaping of the luxury sector over the past three and a half decades. And oh yeah, it also involves Nazi spies, Italian family murders, Rupert Murdoch, Rihanna becoming a billionaire, Jay-Z’s champagne feuds and Beyoncé wearing a 128 carat diamond. Tune in! :)
Links:
Carve Outs:
- The Gamecraft Podcast
- Doug DeMuro buys a Carrera GT
- The Peloton Tread
- The Eureka Theory of History Is Wrong
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The NFL
The NFL — it’s almost synonymous with America today. And its history is a fascinating lens to explore the nation’s development over the last 100 years, from WWII to TV and suburbs to the Internet and social media. What began as a quasi-illicit league in small midwestern towns is now the single largest media property in the world today by revenue. And whether you watch football or not, this is one incredible business story. Acquired is ready for some football — let’s kick this Season off right!
Links:
Carve Outs:
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Holiday Special 2022
Cozy up to the fire and join Acquired as we do our annual strategic review of the show and our business “in public”. We recap our perspectives on Acquired’s big moments from the past year, a bit of commentary on the current state of the tech ecosystem, and what lies ahead for us in 2023. Plus as always at the holidays, we do an extended carve out session on our favorite things from the past year. Huge thank you to all of you for making 2022 an amazing year here in Acquired-land, and here’s to even bigger and better things to come in 2023!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Carveouts!:
- Jerry Seinfeld on The Tim Ferriss Show
- Project Hail Mary
- The Psychology of Money
- The Power Law
- Made in America
- Made in Japan
- The Godfather (book)
- Masters of Doom
- Stevie Case vs. the World
- How All this Happened
- Resonant Arc
- All-In
- Founders Podcast
- MKBHD’s Waveform Podcast
- The Verge
- Huberman Lab - What Alcohol Does to your Body
- Smartless
- T-Swift’s Midnights
- Olivia Rodrigo
- Andor
- Black Panther
- Top Gun Maverick
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- The White Lotus
- The Vow
- Flighty
- Roborock S7 Max
- Apple Keyboard with TouchID
- Elgato AV gear, especially sound panels and the Cam Link 4K
- Capri
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Stratechery (with Ben Thompson)
Ben Thompson joins Acquired to discuss the business of Stratechery itself and celebrate 10 years (!) of the internet’s best strategy analysis destination. Even beyond Stratechery’s enormous impact itself on business and tech over the years, Ben’s work inspired a whole generation of business content creators — this show very much included — and it was super special for us to give the Acquired treatment to one of our own heroes. We cover the full history of Ben pioneering the subscription internet media business model (indeed SubStack’s seed round pitch was “Stratechery-in-a-box”), and how + why he’s evolved the business since and is now doubling down both on podcasting and a broader vision of the Stratechery Plus bundle… including for the first time content not made by Ben himself! Tune in and enjoy.
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- John Gruber’s Daring Fireball
- Ben’s very first Stratechery post
- Subscribe to Stratechery Plus
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Enron
The FTX fraud has dominated headlines now for weeks, during which we’ve debated if and how Acquired could uniquely add to the conversation. Then we realized there was an angle so perfect that we had to drop everything and enter Acquired research overdrive: Enron. Travel back with us to the granddaddy fraud of them all, 2001’s then-largest bankruptcy in US history and the impetus for the famous Sarbanes-Oxley Act. So much of Enron’s history parallels FTX that the uncanniness is almost unbelievable — right down to the same CEO running the two bankruptcies. Sit back and enjoy this crazy tale of villainy, greed, and the nature of humans and money. Maybe just don’t take notes on this one…
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Carve outs!:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm, or “Quality Communications” — despite being one of the largest technology companies in the world, few people know the absolutely amazing technological and business history behind it. Seriously, this story is on par with Nvidia, TSMC and all the great semiconductor giants. Without this single fabless company based in San Diego, there’s almost no chance you’d be consuming this episode on whatever device you’re currently listening on — a fact that enables them to earn an incredible estimated $20 for every new phone sold in the world. We dive into this story live at the perfect venue: our first-ever European live show at Solana’s Breakpoint conference in beautiful Lisbon, Portugal!
Links:
- The Qualcomm Equation
- Principles of Communications Engineering by Irwin Jacobs and John Wozencraft
- Episode sources
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Benchmark Part II: The Dinner
We sit down with all five current Benchmark GPs for one of their legendary weekly dinners, during which we ask all of the unresolved burning questions from Part 1. How do THEY think about Benchmark v3? What are their day-to-day emotions trying to keep the equal partnership “bending toward greatness? Why is there no growth fund? What does it take to become the next Benchmark GP? Why is there a secret Principal program? We cover all these and much, much more. We also recorded the whole thing on video — which we highly recommend watching even if you normally only listen to the audio feed!
Links:
- Please take our 2022 Acquired Survey if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us!
- Dad hats are live in the Acquired Merch Store!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
ACQ Sessions: Jason Calacanis
We kick off ACQ Sessions with the-behind-the-scenes story of All-in, from the world’s greatest moderator himself Jason Calacanis. ACQ Sessions is our new, occasional “MTV Unplugged” version of Acquired: a great IRL guest, a bottle (or two) of wine, and no script. We talk about everything you’d imagine we would over wine with JCal — All-In, bestie relationships, money & politics in Silicon Valley, who his influences and mentors have been (one surprise — the great Fred Wilson of USV!), what motivates him to keep grinding and why, at age 50+ when he could easily be winding down he’s instead speeding up into the most productive phase of his entire career. Pour a beverage yourself, pull up a comfy seat and join us!
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Benchmark Part I
Benchmark Capital. We tell the tale of the legendary equal partnership that accomplished something no other venture firm can claim: twice it has produced the highest returning fund of its cycle, each time with a 100% different GP lineup. If ever there were a playbook for successful generational transfer of a generational-defining venture firm, this is it. We spend 3.5+ hours digging into how the dotcom “eBay eBoys” transformed into the rockstar Fab Four of the Uber, Instagram and Snap mobile gold rush (spoiler: not by a straight line!), and what the future holds for Benchmark’s next GP generation. If you’re a student of the venture game from any angle — founder, GP, LP, etc — this is a story you need to tune in for!
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More Acquired!:
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- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Benchmark’s website circa 1997
- Benchmark’s website circa 2000
- Benchmark’s website today
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Bill Gurley’s Runnin’ Down a Dream talk
- Smartless Podcast
- Mitch Lasky on Invest like the Best
- Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Amazon Web Services
So, how DID an online book retailer end up building the infrastructure layer that powers the entire internet? (Or at least 39% of it, per latest market share data.) While many myths, legends, and some downright falsehoods exist, the real answer to that question deserves a full Acquired episode of its very own. So here it is: the story of Amazon Web Services. Who’s got the truth? Tune in and find out. :)
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Carve Outs:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Howard Marks & Andrew Marks: Something of Value
We sit down with legendary investor Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital and his son Andrew who, while less-well-known, is also an incredibly accomplished investor in a very different arena: early-stage VC. The purpose of the conversation was to discuss their joint work together on Howard’s all-time most popular memo, “Something of Value”, which made the then-shocking argument that Value and Growth investing are not diametric opposites but rather two sides of the same investing coin. We of course dive deep into that, and also cover plenty of fun Oaktree and investing history, as well as Andrew’s favorite topic: selling (or not selling, as the case may be). This is not one to miss!
Links:
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Amazon.com
Amazon. No company has impacted the internet — and all of modern life — more than this one. We’ve waited seven years to do this episode, and are so, so excited to finally dive into every nook and cranny of this legendary company. And of course because we’re Acquired and this is Amazon, we couldn’t contain it all to just one episode… even a 4+ hour one! So today we focus on Amazon.com the retail business, and we’ll have another full episode on AWS coming soon. And because all great series are trilogies, to fully understand Amazon we highly recommend starting first with our previous episode on Walmart, which truly is the giant’s shoulder that Jeff Bezos stood upon. Let’s go!!
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Jeff’s first public Amazon interview
- Our early-Acquired-days interview with Tom Alberg
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Rick Rubin on the Lex Fridman Podcast
- Ursula Le Guin
- Dissect Season 2 on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
- Elden Ring (again)
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
From NFL to Startup COO to Congressman Regulating Crypto (with Rep. Anthony Gonzalez)
This episode is a first for Acquired: we’re joined by a sitting US Congressman (from Ben’s home state of Ohio!), Republican House Representative Anthony Gonzalez. Anthony serves on the House Financial Services Committee and is deeply involved in crypto and Web3 regulation, as well as on the Climate and Science, Space & Technology Committee where he oversees NASA among many other agencies. His also has an absolutely incredible story — his family immigrated from Cuba to Ohio, he played in the NFL, he was COO of an Investment Group of Santa Barbara backed startup, and he was one of a small number of Republican congresspeople who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the events January 6th.
Links:
- Schoolhouse Rock “I’m Just a Bill”
- Nick Howley and TransDigm on Will Thorndike's new podcast 50x
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Walmart
We kick off Season 11 with the incredible story of the retail “granddaddy of them all” Walmart, and its founder Sam Walton. Once you study Walmart, you realize just how deep its heritage runs through Amazon and so many iconic modern companies we cover on Acquired. This episode was an absolute blast, and we even uncovered a new addendum to the hallowed “focus on what makes your beer taste better” playbook theme!
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Carve Outs:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
The Playbook: Lessons from 200+ Company Stories
When Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Brent Beshore asked us to give a talk at their incredible Capital Camp conference, we knew we had to bring something special. So we spent months combing through the Acquired back catalog and cataloged our 12 favorite lessons from the 200+ stories we’ve told over the past 7 years. From Sequoia through Sony, TSMC, Nvidia, The New York Times, the NBA and Oprah — we revisited all the classics and pulled out the common threads that weave the tapestry of great companies we’ve covered on Acquired. This episode was truly a joy to put together… huge thank you to Patrick and Brent for giving us the perfect stage on which to present it!
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
American Dynamism (with Katherine Boyle)
We sit down with a16z General Partner Katherine Boyle to discuss investing in “American Dynamism”, why it’s so important and why now is the right time to pursue it. Katherine has a fascinating background, beginning her career as a reporter at The Washington Post before entering the VC world first at Founders Fund, then General Catalyst and now a16z. Her perspectives don’t fit neatly in any box — political, economic or otherwise — and we have a great conversation exploring them. Tune in!
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Katherine’s post on Building American Dynamism
- Marc Andreessen’s It’s Time to Build
- Katherine’s Substack
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Capital-Efficient Growth (with Zoom CEO Eric Yuan & Veeva CEO Peter Gassner)
We sit down with the CEO founders of two of the most capital efficient success stories of all time — Zoom and Veeva Systems — to understand how they grew to billions of dollars in revenue (and tens of billions in market cap) on very, very little capital invested. With the fundraising environment changing rapidly, we couldn’t think of a better topic to discuss or better sources of wisdom for founders, operators and investors all to learn from. Very special thanks to Jake Saper and our friends at Emergence Capital for inviting us and putting this conversation together at their 2022 CEO Summit!
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Arena Show Part II: Brooks Running (with CEO Jim Weber)
For the final act of the Arena Show, we’re joined by Brooks CEO Jim Weber to tell the amazing story of how he transformed the company from a 3rd tier, deeply cashflow negative “also-ran” into one of the world’s premiere fitness brands and a crown jewel of the Berkshire Hathaway empire — with compounding revenue and cashflow growth that rivals even the legendary Mrs. See’s Candies!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Jim's book, "Running with Purpose"
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Arena Show Part I: Idea Dinner + YC Continuity
We did an Arena Show!! This evening was so big and so special, we had to split it into two episodes for the podcast feed. First up is the Idea Dinner with our best internet buddies, Packy McCormick and Mario Gabriele (and special guest judge Shu Nyatta), followed by the story of YC Continuity with managing partner Anu Hariharan. Huge, huge thank you to PitchBook for making this night possible. Stay tuned for Part II!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Nvidia Part II: The Machine Learning Company (2006-2022)
By 2012, NVIDIA was on a decade-long road to nowhere. Or so most rational observers of the company thought. CEO Jensen Huang was plowing all the cash from the company’s gaming business into building a highly speculative platform with few clear use cases and no obviously large market opportunity. And then... a miracle happened. A miracle that led not only to Nvidia becoming the 8th largest market cap company in the world, but also nearly every internet and technology innovation that’s happened in the decade since. Machines learned how to learn. And they learned it... on Nvidia.
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Ben Thompson’s great Stratechery interview with Jensen
- Linus Tech Tips tests an Nvidia A100
- Episode sources
Carve Outs:
- The Expanse short story collection, Memory's Legion
- Sony RX100 point-and-shoot camera
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Platforms and Power (with Hamilton Helmer and Chenyi Shi)
We sit down once again with one of the world’s very best strategy thinkers, 7 Powers author Hamilton Helmer — this time joined by his impressive Strategy Capital colleague Chenyi Shi — to discuss platform businesses, and how the Power framework applies to them. If you’re building, investing in, or just curious about the dynamics of platforms, this episode is a must-listen. We owe a huge thanks to Hamilton and Chenyi for sharing their work-in-progress insights on this very special category of companies. Tune in!
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Nvidia Part I: The GPU Company (1993-2006)
He wears signature leather jackets. He can bench press more than you. He makes cars that drive themselves. He’s cheated death — both corporate and personal — too many times to count, and he runs the 8th most valuable company in the world. Nope, he's not Elon Musk, he’s Jensen Huang — the most badass CEO in semiconductor history. Today we tell the first chapter of his and Nvidia’s incredible story. You’ll want to buckle up for this one!
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Shoot to Kill: https://www.forbes.com/global/2008/0107/070.html?sh=261e2068d077
- Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wt5jSpqjsRuYU00pq_ABWTM0iJ68hjMceF9XrreYPko/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- Starting Strength: https://startingstrength.com
- Elden Ring: https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/elden-ring/elden-ring
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Altimeter (with Brad Gerstner)
We hear a lot these days about hedge funds becoming venture firms, and venture firms becoming hedge funds. But a decade before either of those approaches became mainstream, a tiny $3m fund in Boston named Altimeter Capital set out simply to invest in a concentrated portfolio of America’s very best technology companies, regardless if they were public or private. Today that tiny firm has grown to nearly $15B under management and become a premier “capital partner” to founders at all but the very earliest stages — companies like Snowflake, Facebook, Roblox, Plaid, Grab and Acquired fan-favorite Modern Treasury. We sit down with founder & CEO Brad Gerstner to dive into the story behind Altimeter’s meteoric rise.
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Carve Outs:
- Brad’s Twitter thread on Invest America: https://twitter.com/altcap/status/1347454947583950849?s=20&t=gM5zJMcq9p96GcjEHZw56w
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
SONY
Born in the unlikeliest of places — the terrible, wasteland-like aftermath of post WWII Japan — Sony rose to capture the imaginations (and wallets) of consumers and engineers around the world. The company produced hit after hit after hit: portable transistor radios, CDs, the Walkman, the PlayStation, DVDs, life insurance(!!)... and yet ultimately fell behind its greatest American admirer, Steve Jobs and Apple. This is the incredible story of Sony’s human and technological optimism in the face of overwhelming odds — a story that, given recent world events, remains as relevant today as ever.
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
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ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Steve Jobs’ Tribute to Akio Morita: https://youtu.be/Drwkvf76Cls
- Planet Money on Sony and Spider-Man: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1076531156/the-spider-man-problem
- Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LpnPSju5xSPcuaRVd1TYXnL1oGBr4Qs5bRS7owbxoEc/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- How This All Happened by Morgan Housel: https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/how-this-all-happened/
- The Model 3 is AWESOME: https://www.tesla.com/model3
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Super Pumped (with Brian Koppelman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
We sit down with two of the most talented and respected people in Hollywood — Brian Koppelman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt — to talk about the process of adapting Mike Issac’s story of Uber, “Super Pumped”, into their new Showtime series. To say this was a thrill for us is a MASSIVE understatement. Huge thank yous to Brian, Joe and Showtime for making it happen!
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
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ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Super Pumped (the series): https://www.sho.com/super-pumped
- Super Pumped (the book): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PZ2B85Y/
Carve Outs:
- Joe performing Katy Perry in the style of The Cure on Jimmy Fallon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2lGEZOOHwI
- Michael Lewis’s Liar’s Poker companion podcast: https://www.pushkin.fm/show/against-the-rules-with-michael-lewis/
- Stevie Van Zandt’s Unrequited Infatuations: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R56XNMQ/
- Your Undivided Attention: https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/a-problem-well-stated-is-half-solved
- Jakob Dylan on The Moment: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5xNbG6XBjoVLDvpOUbZSIr?si=engSyJ9IQlePpqDOw7rSjw
- Joe’s Don Jon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2229499/
- HitRecord: https://hitrecord.org
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
The Browser (with Brendan Eich, Chief Architect of Netscape + Mozilla and CEO of Brave)
We sit down with perhaps the only person besides Marc Andreessen who’s had a major influence on each of the Web 1, 2 and 3 eras: Brave Browser CEO (and former Netscape + Mozilla Chief Architect) Brendan Eich. In true Acquired fashion we cover both a huge amount of both internet history AND internet future in one awesome conversation. Big thank you to Brendan for making this so special — tune in!
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Brave: https://brave.com
Carve Outs:
- Project Hail Mary: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Hail-Mary-Andy-Weir-ebook/dp/B08FHBV4ZX
- Open: https://www.amazon.com/Open-Andre-Agassi-ebook/dp/B003062GEE/
- San Fransicko: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SMFSL5M/
- Dynamic Economics: ****https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Economics-Burton-H-Klein/dp/0674218663
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Peloton
The Peloton journey has been one seriously wild ride. From can’t raise money to one of Tiger Global’s first venture investments, to pandemic darling to the stock being down 85% in 6 months... there’s never a dull moment in this company’s history. And guess who’s leading the pack for its next chapter: that’s right, THREE-TIME ACQUIRED SUPERHERO, the one and only Barry McCarthy. We had to tell this story.
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Barry’s Hill School interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uwcSbe6YoE
- Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qs4DwVFBTMCyEt7Xxlby6iRCpOs0aRTOWPLjrbFQO8Q/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- Barry’s planning framework from the Hill School interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uwcSbe6YoE
- Switched On Pop on James Bond’s Spycraft Sound: https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/james-bond-spycraft-sound-billie-eilish-hans-zimmer-daniel-craig
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Taylor Swift (Acquired’s Version)
Not only is Taylor Swift the biggest music artist of our generation by nearly every metric (it’s not even close!), with the re-recording of her original albums she’s in the process of reshaping the entire music industry in a way no band or artist ever has before. And oh yeah — she’s still only thirty-two. We dive into the incredible business story behind perhaps the new "last great American dynasty"... the TSwift empire.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Taylor Swift The Brightest Star: https://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Swift-Loves-Global-Sensation/dp/1912587556/
- All You Need to Know About the Music Business: https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1501122185/
- Switched On Pop: https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/deja-vu-olivia-rodrigo-copyright-decoder-good-4-u-paramore
- Joni (Blue) vs. Taylor (Red) Album Art: https://gaylorlyrics.tumblr.com/post/624477640229863424/we-3-some-joni-mitchell-parallels
- Kelly Clarkson’s suggestion to re-record Taylor’s Big Machine albums: https://twitter.com/kellyclarkson/status/1150168164853882880?s=20
- Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YKvfZuBrMB_BawZzt5c6ap8b2KdNg7n5Ko2tqF5AkCE/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- The Beatles: Get Back: https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/the-beatles-get-back/7DcWEeWVqrkE
- Italic: https://italic.com
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
CAA (with Michael Ovitz)
Season 9 ends at the beginning — with the man who changed Hollywood forever and wrote the blueprint for A16Z’s upending of Silicon Valley a generation later, Michael Ovitz and his “Dream Factory”, Creative Artists Agency. From Jurassic Park to Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Goodfellas, Rain Man, ER, and even the Coca-Cola polar bears... almost nothing in 80s and 90s pop culture didn’t have CAA’s stamp on it. Speaking of dreams, this episode was totally one for us, and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did making it!!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Michael’s (truly excellent) book, Who Is Michael Ovitz?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B2HS77M/
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
FTX (with Sam Bankman-Fried & Mario Gabriele)
Note: This episode was published on Dec 14, 2021, approximately a year before FTX’s subsequent meltdown. The apparent negligence, fraud and self-dealing at FTX has given us much to reflect on after we — and many others — gave Sam a platform to share his and FTX’s story with all of you. We’ve decided to leave this episode up in-full as a historical artifact of the industry’s view on FTX at the time. For a broader Acquired discussion on frauds, and specifically the similarities between FTX and Enron, see our November 2022 Enron episode.
We tell the definitive (audio!) story behind FTX's "speed run" — how this upstart crypto exchange became the fastest company in history to reach a $25B valuation, just two years after founding. And to do so we're joined by not one but TWO of the very best people in the world to help: FTX's wunderkind CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, and special guest host Mario Gabriele from The Generalist, who Sam gave extensive access to FTX's internal data, employees, and investors for his canonical 36,000 word trilogy on the company this past summer. We cover it all — from the "$20m/day" trade that started everything, to Tom Brady & Gisele, to Sam testifying last week in front of Congress. Don't blink or you might miss it!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- The Generalist's FTX Trilogy: https://www.readthegeneralist.com/briefing/ftx-1
- FTX: https://ftx.com
- FTX US: https://ftx.us
- Sam's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer
You've heard us talk about him every episode for the past two years... but until now most of you have never actually heard us talk to him! We've remastered our first, canonical interview with Hamilton Helmer, originally released as an limited episode in March 2020. Hamilton’s 7 Powers framework gives a deep, academic investigation to the question, “what creates an enduring company?” This episode is an absolute must-listen for anyone working or investing in tech (and beyond), and we're so excited to finally make it available to everyone.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Not Boring (with Packy McCormick)
When does a creator become a company? Who says that media companies — or venture firms — have to be organizations? How high is the ceiling on one person + the internet? Acquired has the answers and they are... Not Boring. 🙂
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Not Boring: https://www.notboring.co/
- Proto-Not Boring: https://www.packym.com/blog/nyc-debate-club
- Not Boring's first sponsor deck: https://projector.com/story/2cb6296d-e229-4774-839c-efbf86d7f69f?scene=7127c7a0
- Jake Singer's Not Boring Flywheel: https://theflywheel.substack.com/p/not-boring-packy-m
- Proof Ben was famous even before Acquired: https://web.archive.org/web/20150814041757/https://www.seattletimes.com/business/high-octane-leader-drives-microsoftrsquos-innovation-garage/
Carve Outs:
- Velcro swaddles (dad life...): https://www.amazon.com/s?k=velcro+swaddle
- An Engineer's Hype-Free Observations on Web3: https://www.psl.com/feed-posts/web3-engineer-take
- Rabbits: https://www.amazon.com/Rabbits-Novel-Terry-Miles-ebook/dp/B08HY29VM2
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Complexity Investing & Semiconductors (with NZS Capital)
Of our 65+ sources for the TSMC episode, one stood above the rest: a wonderful Knowledge Project episode with Brinton Johns and Jon Bathgate of NZS Capital laying out the state of the semiconductor market. When coincidentally we met Brinton a week later, we knew fate was telling us we had to dig deeper. It turns out NZS has a lot more to teach Acquired than just about semis! Here we dive into their fascinating philosophy of "complexity investing", which was born out of their interactions with the world-famous Santa Fe Institute (of W. Brian Arthur and Increasing Returns fame!)... and of course we also throw in some semiconductor shop-talk for good measure. :)
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- NZS Capital: https://www.nzscapital.com
- The Santa Fe Institute: https://www.santafe.edu
- NZS's white paper on Complexity Investing: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ca38f3216b6405d11e3d4b4/t/60131df6a8d27d63432ea5ff/1611865607574/Complexity_2021update-v9pt2.pdf
- Brinton & Jon on The Knowledge Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6NUO_bymuA
- Twitter:
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Standard Oil Part II
We bring the epic saga of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller to a close (for now) with two of history's greatest second acts: Rockefeller's pioneering of modern philanthropy (and really modern life itself), and perhaps the single greatest shareholder value "unlock" of all-time in the breakup of Standard Oil. And like any great American saga, of course the good guys win in the end. The only question is... just who were the good guys??
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Titan by Ron Chernow: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400077303/
- Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PzIts5VVgKhE70sAeHnLKcmDktTkXRgEVtuHDktfNCw/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- The to-be-announced (as of recording) M1X MacBook Pro...
- Starfish Space: https://www.starfishspace.com/
- Peloton: https://www.onepeloton.com
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Michael Mauboussin Master Class — Moats, Skill, Luck, Decision Making and a Whole Lot More
We sit down with the one & only Michael Mauboussin to dive deep into his incredible body of work: untangling skill and luck, measuring moats, persistence of returns in venture capital, decision making and — particularly timely — expectations investing and how to think about valuations in the current 2021 market environment. (!!) Michael's work is maybe our most frequent carve out on Acquired, so we're pumped to finally have a chance to interview the man himself. Big thank you to Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Brent Beshore for introducing us all at Capital Camp this year!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Michael's wonderful talk at Google: https://youtu.be/1JLfqBsX5Lc
- The new revised edition of Expectations Investing: https://www.amazon.com/Expectations-Investing-Reading-Returns-Heilbrunn/dp/0231203047/
- The Success Equation: https://www.amazon.com/The-Success-Equation-Untangling-Investing/dp/1422184234/
- Measuring the Moat: https://research-doc.credit-suisse.com/docView?language=ENG&format=PDF&sourceid=csplusresearchcp&document_id=1066439791&serialid=4uA2wHojCvFKzqWfwIyDvkSN1pkXRpb43LvyclLcJsk%3D&cspId=null
- Public to Private Equity: https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/insights/articles/articles_publictoprivateequityintheusalongtermlook_us.pdf
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Standard Oil Part I
It's time. We dive into the *original* American capitalist mega winner, Standard Oil, and its legendary founder John D. Rockefeller. This company and man almost defy characterization -- Elon, Bezos, Gates, Buffett... they've got nothing on old John D. Not only was Rockefeller the wealthiest person in modern human history, his company wrote the blueprint for today's corporations and everything we now know about business and capitalism. Pull up a chair and get ready to hear how this hillbilly, nobody kid from the sticks grew up to became the richest person in the world, creating a legend along the way that would become the American Dream...
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X7oskTGkPX_rIKqZFlN49USR20Ii6C9p2SJCGzEXHLU/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- There Will Be Blood: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469494/
- Deadwood: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348914/
- SB Nation's Secret Base Atlanta Falcons series: https://youtu.be/Lx_ORMhpmoU
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
TSMC
It's time. We dive into the unbelievable history behind the quietest technology giant of them all — and as of recording the world's 9th (!) most valuable company — the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. This story checks every box in the Acquired pantheon of greatness: China, America, MIT, Don Valentine, Silicon Valley, "real men" looking silly, and... moats literally built by lasers. We're not kidding. Pull up a seat and settle in for a great one!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Episode Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rQMgQDY5c3Fs5DsjB4cZHVZGdhN4kK-6HapO_r7pjyQ/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- Ted Lasso (Season 1): https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy
- Greek: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976014/
- Who is Michael Ovitz?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B2HS77M/
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Kevin Rose from Web 2.0 to Web3
We sit down with the one and only Kevin Rose to talk about his journey from pioneering Web 2.0 with Digg to leading the charge on Web3 and NFT + DeFi investing as a partner at True Ventures and his new show Modern Finance. We cover it all -- TechTV, Digg's true origin story, Milk, Hodinkee, interviewing Beeple and where MoFi goes from here. This was an episode we’ve been wanting to do forever, and Kevin was truly a blast to hang out with. Tune in and then go check out everything he’s building now over at Modern Finance!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Modern Finance: https://modern.finance
- Especially the Beeple episode: https://modern.finance/episode/beeple-his-story-the-future-of-nfts-his-favorite-digital-artist-and-more/
- Proof: https://www.proof.xyz
- Kevin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinrose
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Andreessen Horowitz Part II
Alright, backstory's out of the way, and Acquired is rolling three hours deep on the venture firm that changed the game for everyone — a16z.
- VC marketing? Check.
- "Founder-friendly?" Check.
- Platform services? Check.
- Huge valuations and massive fund sizes? Check and check.
We dissect it all in glorious detail, right down to the famous office library (located next to the Rosewood on Sand Hill, natch). The story of modern venture capital starts here. Let's Go!!!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Michael Mauboussin on persistence of returns across asset classes: https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/insights/articles/articles_publictoprivateequityintheusalongtermlook_us.pdf
- Tomorrow's Advance Man: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/18/tomorrows-advance-man
- Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12jf9pwTdEuANtdOffUzSzvE0xEJptT0Or-gBSJgk8mg/edit?usp=sharing
Carve Outs:
- Childhood's End: https://www.amazon.com/Childhoods-End-Arthur-C-Clarke/dp/110196703X
- MKBHD's Studio channel and tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkuxIy3kFZM
- The Godfather: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/
- Who Got the Truth on Spotify!! https://open.spotify.com/track/03X7SwpsCjZIofK8RFPwch?si=649d93b2be7743d5
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Andreessen Horowitz Part I
We kick off Season 9 with a classic: Part I of the a16z story. How did this brand new venture firm charge out of the gates in 2009, going from zero to disrupting the entire venture industry overnight? You probably know Marc & Ben's history with Netscape and Loudcloud/Opsware... but what about the Black Panthers, Nintendo 64, Al Gore, Doug Leone, Masayoshi Son, and an epic feud with Benchmark Capital that became Silicon Valley's version of the Hatfields and the McCoys? Buckle up, Acquired's got the truth.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- David Streitfeld's great NYT piece on the Horowitz family: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/22/technology/one-family-many-revolutions-from-black-panthers-to-silicon-valley-to-trump.html
- Marc on the Tim Ferriss Show: https://tim.blog/2018/01/01/the-tim-ferriss-show-transcripts-marc-andreessen/
- 2003 Marc in SF Gate: https://www.sfgate.com/business/ontherecord/article/OPSWARE-INC-On-the-record-Marc-Andreessen-2525822.php#photo-2684736
Carve Outs:
Ben:
- The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life: https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Brain-Hidden-Motives-Everyday/dp/0190495995
David:
- Resonant Arc Podcast / YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFzWAEPDGiY34bGpwM_DWmA
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Special: Solana (with CEO Anatoly Yakovenko)
We sit down with the hottest new protocol layer in crypto today: Solana, and its cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko, who is the CEO of Solana Labs. If you listened to our Ethereum episode or follow crypto even at a cursory level, you've likely heard of Solana and its ability to scale transactions thousands of times higher than Ethereum. And, unlike other so-called "ETH killers", Solana is doing so in production today with large and real applications. We dive into the project's history coming out of the 2017-18 crypto winter, how it works and what's ahead now that they've recently raised $314m (yes that is Pi $million) from a16z and Polychain Capital, with their native SOL tokens currently trading at a market cap around $10B (!).
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered:
- Anatoly's background as a wireless engineer at Qualcomm, and how it led to a fundamental discovery of how to improve crypto system scalability
- Solana's role in the crypto protocol ecosystem and why there's a need for it (and why it can and will exist) alongside Ethereum versus "killing" it
- Starting Solana during the 2017-18 crypto winter, and how it forced them to focus just on building and shipping versus raising and posturing
- Bootstrapping adoption with the mining community (Solana's "true believers") and the early and ardent support they provided
- Where Solana falls on the Vitalik "Scalability - Security - Decentralization" trilemma, and why Solana's superpower of maintaining composability is so attractive
Links:
- Solana: https://solana.com
- Solana on Twitter: https://twitter.com/solana
- Solana Hackathon submissions: https://airtable.com/shriNT26cAZeDJagn/tbl5fZ4E1BBbVAttW
- FTX: https://ftx.us
- Audius: https://audius.co
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Ethereum
We close out Season 8 with the most ambitious organization we've ever covered on Acquired: Ethereum, and it's celebrity wunderkind founder Vitalik Buterin. If you thought Mark Zuckerberg IPO-ing Facebook at $100B by age 27 was something, just wait until you hear the story of this high school junior creating $500B (!!) of market cap by the same age — and oh yeah, maybe seeding the future dethroning of Facebook, Google, Amazon and all of big tech in the process. Regardless whether you're a crypto neophyte, a die-hard bull, or a skeptical bear, this is a story you need to hear, and Ethereum is an innovation you need to understand. Buckle in for a wild ride... and some special surprises from a few Acquired friends. :)
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- The Ethereum Whitepaper: https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/
- Yung Spielburg https://open.spotify.com/artist/273so0X2Yuo93vfeX2nLDI and Mike Taylor https://open.spotify.com/artist/30ejUciK31BCg0IVCbt1dW on Spotify
Carve Outs:
- Arthur C. Clarke: https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-C-Clarke/e/B000APF21M? (especially Rendezvous with Rama and The City & The Stars)
- Disney-Marvel's Loki: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/loki/6pARMvILBGzF
- The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson: https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Age-Illustrated-Primer-Spectra/dp/0553380966
- Nier Automata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier:_Automata
- Magic the Gathering IRL: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/event-types/friday-night-magic
Special: Ho Nam from Altos Ventures — A Different Approach to VC
What do you get when you combine Berkshire Hathaway's approach with early-stage venture capital? Altos Ventures. We're joined by Altos's wonderful Ho Nam to discuss their highly unusual approach to VC, which has resulted in them becoming significant shareholders in great companies like Roblox, Coupang, Woowa Brothers and Krafton (makers of PUBG). This episode is an absolute must-listen for anyone in our industry — Ho is one of the best and most under-the-radar thinkers in Silicon Valley, and has many lessons to offer us all!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered:
- Altos's 13-year+ journey with Roblox, and how they deployed over $400m into the company out of an $86m fund
- Altos's heritage in Jack McDonald's Investments class at Stanford GSB, and the influence of Jack, Phil Fisher and Warren & Charlie
- How Altos successfully "value invests" in venture capital, and reconciling cashflow potential with growth
- "Good fundraisers" vs. "bad fundraisers" and correlation with returns
- Altos's unique fund structure and how they're architected to stay with companies longer than a typical venture capital firm
- Ho's Twitter presence and how (and why) he went from de minimus followers to one of the top FinTwit accounts in a few months
Links:
- Ho's amazing Twitter presence: https://twitter.com/honam
- Ho's "Foxes and Hedgehogs" post: https://altos.vc/blog/foxes-and-hedgehogs
- Ho's "How do you know?" post: https://altos.vc/blog/howdoyouknow
- Ho's "Venture Lotto" post: https://www.altos.vc/blog/venture-lotto
- Sam Walton's Made in America: https://www.amazon.com/Sam-Walton-Made-America/dp/0553562835
Berkshire Hathaway Part III
It's time. We wrap our Berkshire Hathaway trilogy with Warren and Charlie entering a new era: the age of the internet. Can they and Berkshire adapt to this brave new world? We find out. And, after 9+ hours, we render our final judgments on Berkshire and Warren's career. Is "Never bet against America" still the right longterm approach? Or is there another, even bigger Snowball out there that Warren may be missing?
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Berkshire Hathaway Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/berkshire-hathaway-part-iii
Links:
- Bill Gates 1996 Wired interview: https://youtu.be/VFFlO7yBIBM?t=1056
- Jeff Bezos's 2008 AWS == electricity talk at YC Startup School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nKfFHuouzA
- Charlie's 2021 Shareholder Meeting "slip-up": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gyqElEG6Uo
Carve Outs:
- Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits: https://www.amazon.com/Common-Stocks-Uncommon-Profits-Writings/dp/0471445509
- Xbox Game Pass: http://xbox.com/gamepass
- Goodfellas: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/
- The Goodfellas soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0xVpgEngjrg6FOw5vEFHRp
Special: Amazon Unbound (with Brad Stone)
Brad Stone joins us to discuss the making of the modern Amazon, and how it's morphed from the "flywheel company" of The Everything Store into a set of interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses that extended both wider and deeper into the global economy than anyone ever imagined. (except perhaps Jeff Bezos) Is Amazon the Standard Oil of our time, or maybe something much, much bigger? Tune in as we dive in!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered:
- When and why Brad decided The Everything Store needed a sequel
- The process of writing the book and access he got at Amazon, including S-Team executives like Dave Clark
- The evolution of Amazon's core strategy from the flywheel into a set of "interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses", and how Brad landed on that as the key theme for the book
- Amazon's culture and the evolution from "Jeff-bots", and its embodiment in S-team members and company leaders beyond
- Amazon's investments in Video and why Bezos was ahead of the pack in realizing its strategic importance (including the rumored as-of-recording MGM deal)
- Amazon's secretive "Campfire" event and why Amazon does it despite its very un-Amazon price tag
- Brad's take on the future of three major Amazon business lines: Video, International and Marketplace / 3rd Party Sellers
- Amazon and Bezos's intense focus on competitors, despite the "theater" of their mantra to only focus on customers
- The Bezos "lapses of judgment" in 2018-19 and what it was like reporting on all the craziness around it
- Tracking down the "voice of Alexa" Nina Rolle, and Bezos's relationship with Elon!
Links:
- Amazon Unbound (on Amazon, natch): https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Unbound-Invention-Global-Empire/dp/1982132612/
Berkshire Hathaway Part II
In Part II of our Berkshire Hathaway Trilogy (!), we pick up the story with Warren wandering in the woods of Omaha, searching for his life's next chapter after retiring from the professional investing business at the top of his game at age 39. How does he emerge from those woods anew, transforming from Ben Graham's cigar-butt cocoon into the butterfly collector of Berkshire's wonderful businesses? (Spoiler: Charlie Munger.) And how did one rotten-to-the-core business nearly bring it all down — everything he'd ever worked for — in the span of one terrible week? Tune in!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Charlie Munger Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/berkshire-hathaway-part-ii
Links:
- Chuck Rickershauser's corporate flow chart: (left half) (right half)
Carve Outs:
- The Sopranos: https://www.hbo.com/the-sopranos
- Macklemore on Armchair Expert: https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/macklemore
Special: 2021 China Tech Trends (with Tech Buzz China)
We team up with two of the very best English-language analysts covering China tech today, Rui Ma and Ying Lu from the Tech Buzz China podcast, to talk about the big trends happening on the ground in China right now. We've had Rui and Ying's episodes on repeat in our own podcast players for many years as we researched our Meituan, PDD, Tencent and Alibaba episodes, and we're so excited to have them finally join us live. We had a blast and learned much more about what's actually happening in the world's largest market than the relative trickle of news Western audiences normally receive. Tune in!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics and trends covered:
- How Rui and Ying stay on top of trends in China tech remotely from the US
- The rise of “tech company like” CPG and other consumer brands in China and extremely fast product development and iteration: e.g., Genki Forest, Perfect Diary and Shein
- Community group buying and the reinvention of commerce in rural China (along with an eye-opening discussion of what qualifies as “rural” in China... which is very different from the West!)
- Autonomous and electric vehicle design and production in China (which is the world's largest car market), and the government's push for China to become a global leader in both
- The current state of anti-trust in China and why investors and operators on the ground in China are optimistic about recent developments
Links:
- Tech Buzz China: https://www.techbuzzchina.com
- TBC's fantastic Insider community for investors and operators: https://www.techbuzzchina.com/insider
Berkshire Hathaway Part I
It's time. After 150+ episodes on great companies, we tackle the granddaddy of them all — Berkshire Hathaway. One episode alone isn't nearly enough to do Warren and Poor Charlie justice, so today we present Part I: Warren's story. How did a folksy, middle-class kid from Omaha become the single greatest capitalist of all-time? Why, like Jordan, did he retire (twice!) at the top of his game, only to reinvent himself and come back stronger than ever? As always, we dive in. Let's dance.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Warren Buffett Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/berkshire-hathaway-part-i
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Year One of Not Boring: https://www.notboring.co/p/a-not-boring-adventure-one-year-in
- David: Balaji Srinivasan on The Tim Ferriss Show: https://tim.blog/2021/03/24/balaji-srinivasan/
Special: "Why Now" for Digital Health (with Levels founder Josh Clemente)
We dive into the fast-changing world of direct-to-consumer digital health, with perhaps the best person in the world: Levels founder Josh Clemente. (Shoutout to Ben Grynol and Michael Mizrahi from our LP community for introducing us!) Levels is on a mission to make consumers everywhere aware of their metabolic health by enabling anyone to track blood glucose levels with a continuous glucose monitor. Josh has had an incredible career, working as an early engineer at SpaceX and later at Hyperloop One before founding Levels out of a very real personal need. Join our conversation as we cover everything from Josh's time at SpaceX to why the market has changed for consumer digital health, and what the future holds for Levels.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Levels / Digital Health Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-why-now-for-digital-health-with-levels-founder-josh-clemente
Links:
- Levels: https://www.levelshealth.com
Rec Room Part II (with CEO Nick Fajt)
Last Acquired left the plucky Rec Room crew in our 2018 "Part I" episode, they were a seed stage startup making a VR game that users loved but grew slowly and barely monetized. Fast forward to today, and they're now a multi-platform social "place" with millions of active users, 500%+ YoY growth and hosting a robust creator economy that's rivaled only by their oft-compared metaverse cousin Roblox in dynamics and efficiency. And oh yeah, they're now a $1B+ company after a new $100m fundraise from existing investors Sequoia and Index, which they're announcing today. We figured it was high time to revisit Nick & crew for a Part II...
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Rec Room Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/rec-room-part-ii-with-ceo-nick-fajt
Links:
- Our "Part I" episode with Nick on Rec Room's seed round: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/season-2-episode-2raising-a-seed-round-with-against-gravity-ceo-nick-fajt
- Rec Room! https://recroom.com
Carve Outs:
- Invent and Wander: https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Wander-Collected-Writings-Introduction-ebook/dp/B08BCCT6MW/
- Resonant Arc on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFzWAEPDGiY34bGpwM_DWmA
- How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHe0bXAIuk0
Meituan
We dive into the history behind Meituan, the juggernaut Chinese "super-app" which dominates China's services economy, offering consumers everything from food delivery, restaurant reviews, travel booking, bike-sharing, movie ticketing, and countless other entertainment and lifestyle services all at the touch of a button. Already China's 3rd largest tech company by market cap (behind just Tencent and Alibaba), Meituan did $15 billion in net revenue in FY2019 and continues to grow rapidly. What makes it so special, and how were they able to become the market leader in such a competitive space? This story is packed with lessons that apply equally beyond China tech to high-growth company building and investing everywhere.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Meituan Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/meituan
Links:
- Meituan's English language walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wxgQVjDviQ
- The Tech Buzz China podcast: https://www.techbuzzchina.com
- GGV's Evolving for the Next Billion podcast: https://nextbn.ggvc.com/podcasts/
- Bernard Leong's Analyse Asia: https://analyse.asia
Carve Outs:
- Extraterrestrial: https://www.amazon.com/Extraterrestrial-First-Intelligent-Beyond-Earth-ebook/dp/B081TTY4NX/
- John Luttig's newsletter: https://luttig.substack.com
The New York Times Company
For the entire 20th Century, you’d be hard pressed to find a better business than an American newspaper — Warren Buffett famously described them as “franchises” — and no American newspaper stood taller than the New York Times. Controlled by a single family bound by a legal oath “to maintain the editorial independence and integrity of The New York Times and to continue it as an independent newspaper, entirely fearless, free of ulterior influence and unselfishly devoted to the public welfare”, the Times served as the paper of record for generations of Americans and people around the world. But no good thing lasts forever, and the dawn of the 21st Century saw both the Times and this once-mighty industry devastated by the dual disruptive forces of the internet and the 2008 financial crisis. And yet by 2021, The Times, essentially alone of its former peers, has reemerged from the American newspaper wreckage and transformed itself into a thriving digital business with an order of magnitude more subscribers than its print heyday. Curious how it all happened? We dive into 170 years of history to find out!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The New York Times Company Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-new-york-times-company
Links:
- The 2014 NYT Innovation Report: https://archive.org/details/pdfy-59s-4-I2qSvG6MnA/mode/2up
- Mine Safety Disclosures’ NYT presentation: https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/newyorktimes
Carve Outs:
Ben:
- Titan by Ron Chernow: https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr-ebook/dp/B000XUDGHG
- Iteratively: https://iterative.ly
David:
- Sabaa Tahir’s Ember in the Ashes series: https://www.amazon.com/Ember-Ashes-3-Book/dp/B074VDZB17
Special: Sequoia Capital's Investment Playbook (with Alfred Lin)
We cover Sequoia Capital a lot on this show. Not only across our now four(!) dedicated episodes, but across a stunning nearly 50% of recent season companies where Sequoia was a primary or only investor — the most of any venture firm by an enormous margin. Today in this very special episode, we dive into the principles that have led to the firm's 49 years of unparalleled success in venture, and the playbook behind how they identify markets and companies that create outcomes worthy of the firm's namesake tree.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Sequoia Capital Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-sequoia-capitals-investment-playbook-with-alfred-lin
Links:
- Our two-part Sequoia history:
- Don Valentine's talk at Stanford GSB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKN-abRJMEw&t=2555s
- Our conversation about Sequoia's Black Swan Memo with Roelof Botha: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/sequoias-black-swan-memo
Bitcoin
We had to do it. After 12 years and 3,000,000x appreciation, we kick off Season 8 with the best investment of all-time and our biggest episode ever: Bitcoin. From the first bitcoin transaction of 10k for two Papa John's pizzas (worth about $350m today!!) to $40k+ BTC and maybe the moon beyond, we cover the whole crazy, improbable journey of how a single 8-page PDF document changed the world of money — and perhaps the world itself — forever.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Bitcoin Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/bitcoin
Links:
- Satoshi's Whitepaper: https://www.bitcoin.com/bitcoin.pdf
- Matt Huang's "Bitcoin for the Open-Minded Skeptic": https://www.paradigm.xyz/Bitcoin_For_The_Open_Minded_Skeptic.pdf
- Nellie Bowles's "Everyone Is Getting Hilariously Rich and You’re Not": https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/style/bitcoin-millionaires.html
- Square’s $50m investment in BTC: https://images.ctfassets.net/2d5q1td6cyxq/5sXNrlEh2mEnTvvhgtYOm2/737bcfdc15e2a1c3cbd9b9451710ce54/Square_Inc._Bitcoin_Investment_Whitepaper.pdf
Episode Sources:
- Full list of episode sources available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16QCDNm2qzG3Bn5h1j1KXisxL_JGT7egDx7czX9ThHLY/edit?usp=sharing
Special: Acquired x Indie Hackers
As regular listeners know, we typically cover some of the biggest companies who often receive the most media attention (see Airbnb and DoorDash). But today's episode is a little different. In our conversation with Courtland Allen of Indie Hackers, the largest community of startup founders, we dive into the stories of underdogs. What happens when there are millions of people doing small business entrepreneurship? How does anyone having access to the globally addressable market of 3 billion internet users open the door for the niche-est of products? We tell the story of Courtland’s own “Indie Hacker” journey, how he came to found Indie Hackers itself, and the lessons learned along the way.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-acquired-x-indie-hackers
Links:
- Indie Hackers: https://www.indiehackers.com
Airbnb
Over 13 years after its founding, one of the defining startup companies of the past decade finally makes its public debut — and boy was it a big one. But for all the hype (and all the legitimately great things Airbnb has accomplished), this is a company that looks very different today than in the past. Even before COVID, Airbnb's once-exponential bookings growth had declined to linear levels while the company's costs continued to balloon at accelerating rates. What’s going on here? Are public investors smart to bet on a permanent shift in travel behavior coming out of the pandemic? Or is this a case of unrealistic expectations? As always, we dive in.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/airbnb
Carve Outs:
- David — San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker: https://www.sfballet.org/productions/nutcracker-online/
- Ben — Star Wars Lofi HipHop: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5iu1sp3UBb1rjf8KNKETtJ?si=WxPdJcRpSnelHN9qh0xYSw
DoorDash
Live from the scene of its blockbuster IPO, we recount the crazy, roller coaster journey of this "Palo Alto delivery company". From Sand Hill darling during their Series A and B fundraises to all but left-for-dead during the great unicorn massacre of 2015/16, DoorDash has clawed their way back from the brink and emerged as America's dominant meal delivery service, and its only unit-economic positive standalone logistics player. Is this the dawn of the next great Amazon-like story, or is the company simply benefiting from temporary tailwinds due to the pandemic? As always, we dive DEEP to find out.
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/doordash
Carve Outs:
David:
- Hades on the Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/hades-switch/
Ben:
- Watchmen on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/watchmen
- Succession on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/succession
- Palm Springs: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9484998/
Slack + Salesforce Emergency Pod with Packy McCormick of Not Boring
Acquired is live on the scene covering Salesforce's blockbuster $27.7B acquisition of Slack, with the help of the internet's #1 Slack bull (and top internet analyst in his own right), Packy McCormick of Not Boring. We dissect the deal itself, Slack's relatively short life as a public company, the impact of Microsoft and Teams, and most importantly what this means for enterprise SaaS startups broadly. And oh yeah — we have a ton of fun too. :)
Note: you can find our full June 2019 episode on Slack's history and their DPO here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-slack-dpo
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/slack-salesforce-emergency-pod-with-packy-mccormick-of-not-boring
Links:
- Not Boring: https://notboring.substack.com
- Packy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/packyM
- Packy's bull thesis on Slack from November 2020: https://notboring.substack.com/p/slack-the-bulls-are-typing
Virgin Galactic
Live from the 2020 ASCEND Space Conference, Acquired covers the full story behind the most "out there" technology story of the past few years: Virgin Galactic. How did this space tourism company grow out of the winning X Prize team, and catch the eyes and fancy of billionaires like Paul Allen, Sir Richard Branson, and, most recently, company chairman Chamath Palihapitiya who took it public via the first "modern" technology SPAC transaction in history? Tune in to find out!!
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/virgin-galactic
Links:
- Virgin Galactic's "One Small Step" reservation program: https://www.virgingalactic.com/smallstep/
- The November 2020 launch delay: https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-adjusts-test-flight-schedule-in-response-to-new-state-government-covid-19-restrictions/
Special: Superhuman Part II - Designing Software to Feel like a Game (with Rahul Vohra)
Superstar past guest and Superhuman CEO Rahul Vorha joins us for a deep dive on how Superhuman applies concepts from game design to building productivity software. We're not talking points and badges — we mean hardcore, Unreal Engine-style technical innovations and Fortnite-level understanding of fun and mastery. It's a topic where Rahul has serious cred: before Superhuman and Rapportive, he worked as a game designer on RuneScape, the pioneering browser-based MMORPG. This is a topic every founder, engineer, product and even sales person should listen to. Tune in!
You can listen to Part I of our Superhuman story with Rahul here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/superhuman
Sponsors:
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this Episode available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-superhuman-part-ii-designing-software-to-feel-like-a-game-with-rahul-vohra )
Twitter (with Dick Costolo)
A week before the 2020 US Presidential election, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo joins us to tell the story of a company that has impacted all of our lives (political and otherwise) like none other. While it's easy to forget now, a very viable alternate history exists where it's Twitter, not Facebook, who owns Instagram, and Vine, not TikTok, that's the global platform for mobile video. We dive into it all on this episode — and of course while we had Dick, we also had to discuss his controversial recent deleted tweet.
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
New! We're codifying our own Playbook notes and takeaways from each episode, and posting them on our website. You can read them at: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/twitter-with-dick-costolo
Links:
- Ashish Goel at Stanford: https://web.stanford.edu/~ashishg/twitter.html
- Dick and Adam's new firm, 01 Advisors: https://01a.com/
Carve Outs:
- Vote! https://www.vote.org
Special: Invest Like the Best on Acquired
On this special episode of Acquired, we're joined by a master interviewer himself, Patrick O'Shaughnessy from Invest Like the Best. We turn the tables and cover the most fascinating story he's never told on ILTB... his own! What is O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, and how are they bringing "AWS-level" innovation to the sleepy wealth management industry? How did he go from Notre Dame philosophy major to quant researcher to (arguably) technology CEO and now also an early-stage venture investor... all while simultaneously building one of the world's top new business media empires? Acquired is here to explore it all.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Special! Patrick’s Favorite Themes from 5 Years of ILTB:
- Chetan Puttagunta (#1): Go slow to go fast — http://investorfieldguide.com/chetan/
- Chetan Puttagunta (#2): Open source isn’t about saving on R&D, it’s about building differentiated distribution among developers — http://investorfieldguide.com/chetan-puttagunta-and-jeremiah-lowin-open-source-crash-course-invest-like-the-best-ep-188/
- Bill Gurley: Healthy marketplace opportunities have increasing marginal value to demand from incremental supply penetration — http://investorfieldguide.com/gurley/
- Matthew Ball: The key to unlocking the Metaverse isn’t about building Ready Player One, it’s about creating interoperable systems that will move value and information between experiences — http://investorfieldguide.com/matt-ball-the-future-of-media-movies-the-metaverse-and-more-invest-like-the-best-ep-185/
- Charlie Songhurst: The best place to look for talent is in less-competitive markets — http://investorfieldguide.com/songhurst/
- Katrina Lake: The past of e-commerce was about price, convenience and selection; the future is about personalization and curation — http://investorfieldguide.com/katrina-lake-the-next-wave-of-e-commerce-invest-like-the-best-ep-187/
- Daniel Ek: Company scaling as “seeing around corners” — http://investorfieldguide.com/ek/
- Kat Cole: Inversion as a tool to deal with difficult people — http://investorfieldguide.com/kat-cole-how-to-operate-lessons-in-brand-distribution-and-leadership-invest-like-the-best-ep-184/
- Sarah Tavel: Hierarchy as a framework — http://investorfieldguide.com/tavel/
- Josh Wolfe: The “directional arrow of progress” and the simple power of extrapolating trend lines — http://investorfieldguide.com/wolfe2/
Links:
- Invest Like the Best: http://investorfieldguide.com/podcast/
- Founder's Field Guide: http://investorfieldguide.com/founders-field-guide/
- OSAM and Canvas: https://www.osam.com
The NBA
On the eve of the 2020 NBA Finals, we dive DEEP into the history and business model of the league behind the world's 2nd largest and fastest growing major sport. How did the NBA grow from merely an excuse to monetize hockey arena off-nights into a global powerhouse with more reach and influence and reach than any other American sport? Tune in!!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
New! We're codifying our own Playbook notes and takeaways from each episode, and posting them on our website. Check them out at: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-nba
Links:
- Our old LA Clippers episode: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/episode-36-the-la-clippers
- The Last Dance: https://www.netflix.com/title/80203144
- Allen Iverson Players' Tribune piece: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/life-and-times-of-allen-iverson
Carve Outs:
David:
- Phil Libin and Mmhmm on Joe Sweeny's Just Raised podcast: https://overcast.fm/+hJ7uJqHMA
Ben:
- Meow Wolf + documentary https://meowwolf.com/explore/origin-story
Special: Acquired x My First Million
Acquired teams up with the My First Million podcast for a “best of both worlds” crossover episode. First we go deep, “Acquired style”, on the wild story of MFM host Shaan Puri’s bought, sold, and then bought-again OG social networking site Bebo, and then we turn the tables and brainstorm startup ideas and investing themes “MFM style”. This episode was frankly a blast to do. We hope you have as much fun listening as we did recording!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- My First Million‘s website: https://thehustle.co/my-first-million-podcast/
Epic Games
We go deep behind the "epic" story of a plucky game developer from Cary, North Carolina (by way of Potomac, Maryland) which, after bootstrapping for its first 22 years, has quietly morphed into an $18b juggernaut that may become the most important technology company for the next evolution of the internet. And oh yeah, its founder, CEO and controlling shareholder? He cares more about land conservation than he does about money, he's beholden to no one and has the firepower of China's biggest internet giant behind him, and he's willing to stare down Apple, Google and anyone else who doesn't support his vision of an open and equal-opportunity internet future in a fight to the death. You'll want to buckle your seats for this one!!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
New! We're codifying our own Playbook notes and takeaways from each episode and posting them on our website. Check it out: www.acquired.fm/episodes/epic-games
Links:
- MTV Cribs, "Tim Sweeney Edition": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRGUKMKadJ8
Carve Outs:
- Ben's "3 part carve out":
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bErPsq5kPzE - original video demo of Unreal Engine for filmmaking
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUnxzVOs3rk - Feb 2020, video on "The Volume"
- https://ascmag.com/articles/the-mandalorian
- David
- Asimov's Foundation Series: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Asimovs-Foundation-Foundations-Prelude/dp/B01EFDEMS8
Sources: (available on Journal at https://usejournal.com/app/space/journal:space:project/7efa6d43-a601-4784-8e36-1edda2b1b451 )
Eventbrite (with Julia & Kevin Hartz)
We're joined by two very special guests, Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz and her cofounder, spouse and Eventbrite Chairman Kevin Hartz, to tell their story of building Eventbrite together (along with their lives and family) from the PayPal diaspora to bootstrapped business, unicorn status, IPO and now starting all over again in the wake of COVID with both a tragedy and a huge new opportunity in front of them as public company.
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
New! We're codifying our own Playbook notes and takeaways from each episode, and posting them here in the show notes and on our website. You can read them below or at: www.acquired.fm/episodes/eventbrite
Playbook
- Seeing the next technology wave before others do is rare. It provides a roadmap for what to build and invest in if you're willing to bet on that knowledge.
- Kevin worked at Silicon Graphics in the mid 90's. This led him to realize that internet services like PayPal, YouTube, and many others would be possible long before others (similar to Don Valentine realizing computers would penetrate every industry from his time at Fairchild).
- PayPal and its subsequent "mafia" was successful in part because of rapid experimentation. They observed what got used by customers and then doubled down.
- PayPal's "core" use case on eBay started as an experiment. International money transfer (Xoom) and event ticketing (Eventbrite) also initially started as experiments on the PayPal API before the eBay acquisition — and went on to become large companies.
- Julia, Kevin, and their cofounder Renaud had a prototype of Eventbrite running and serving customers even before starting the company — which gave them the confidence to do what seemed crazy on paper, but was actually "de-risked": start a company as an engaged couple, have a remote technical cofounder, bootstrap for 2 years after being turned down by VCs, etc.
- When a company is experiencing explosive growth, they often need to leave other huge opportunities on the table. PayPal knew international remittances could be huge, but didn't build it internally because of the need to focus on eBay merchants.
- The TAM for bringing an offline behavior offline is often WAY bigger than anything you can calculate beforehand. The range and size of what were previously niche or impossible use cases will often expand dramatically with easy-to-use online tools. This is especially true in long-tail use cases that can only be aggregated by self-serve internet-based software.
- One early encouraging sign for Eventbrite was its use to host speed dating events in New York. Before Eventbrite, it was nearly impossible to organize, promote, and charge for something like that. Now, organizers could suddenly become entrepreneurs and make real money hosting events like this. Most VCs ignored or were confused by this data (~"Call us when you attack Ticketmaster."), but they missed that it unlocked a massive new market which previously operated only through word-of-mouth and cash transactions (if at all).
- All three major dislocations of the 21st century — the tech bubble bursting in 2001, the financial crisis in 2008, and now COVID in 2020 — have only accelerated offline behaviors to online. COVID is unlocking a new wave of online event entrepreneurs for Eventbrite in the same way the financial crisis unlocked a wave of in-person event entrepreneurs in 2008-10.
- Starting with just one niche can be incredibly powerful; often your customers will then lead you to more.
- Before the speed-dating in New York (which was fully inbound), Eventbrite was used to organize tech meetups in the then-smaller tech community in SF. It was even used for the first TechCrunch Disrupt!
- Too much capital (and too little accountability) can hurt a company much more than help it. Capital covers up problems, distracts focus from customers, and leads to poor resource allocation.
- Kevin: "The periods where we had raised the most money privately were the hardest and most difficult for me, because we were really fighting this gravity of overspending and creating inefficiency. And it took us away from our roots as a capital-efficient, highly-effective perpetual motion machine [that we'd had as a bootstrapped company]."
- Being a public company not only instills more capital allocation discipline, but can ALSO afford a degree of financial flexibility that just isn't possible as a private company.
- Within weeks of COVID hitting, Eventbrite dramatically shrunk the size and scope of the company AND raised $375m in new capital from new and longterm shareholders. Both actions would have been difficult to impossible as a private company with a static valuation (and associated anti-dilution, ratchet terms, etc) that no longer reflected the reality of the current situation.
Pinduoduo
We kick off Season 7 with a bang: Pinduoduo, the incredible five year-old Chinese mashup of "Costco and Disneyland" (as self-described in their IPO prospectus) which recently became the fastest company ever to pass $100B market capitalization. What makes PDD so special, and how were they able to enter a market that everyone considered "already won" and disrupt massive entrenched competitors Alibaba and JD.com? This story is chock-full of lessons that apply not only to China tech, but to high-growth company building and investing everywhere.
Sponsors:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Photo of 26 year-old Colin at lunch with Warren Buffett: https://thelowdown.momentum.asia/cv-of-pinduoduos-founder/
- PDD users on mini-programs vs other Chinese e-commerce players: https://miro.medium.com/max/1080/0*39fpSP_JqhDaPhQ2.png
Carve Outs
- How to Make a Spaceship https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Spaceship-Renegades-Spaceflight/dp/1594206724
- Creativity, Inc. https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012/
Sources:
- http://investor.pinduoduo.com/static-files/468b2c9f-9112-410d-84b3-2b22e07c7ee0
- http://investor.pinduoduo.com/static-files/5539839d-0a1c-4d40-9bb7-bdb490e2370c
- https://analyse.asia/2018/08/09/episode-260-pinduoduo-their-upcoming-ipo-in-china-with-matthew-brennan/
- https://analyse.asia/2020/06/28/pinduoduo-on-social-ecommerce-agriculture-with-xinyi-lim/
- https://blog.ycombinator.com/pinduoduo-and-the-rise-of-social-e-commerce
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinduoduo#cite_note-8
- https://hans.vc/pinduoduo/
- https://medium.com/@clarkboyd/pinduoduo-everything-you-need-to-know-about-pdd-chinas-third-biggest-ecommerce-site-38ac42086e47
- https://overcast.fm/+HWy7CWz34
- https://overcast.fm/+I8dmHF4NU
- https://overcast.fm/+PLdRNCiCg
- https://overcast.fm/+TmYdC1VPQ
- https://overcast.fm/+TmYfSO3sc
- https://targetchina.com.au/article/how-pinduoduo-successfully-gained-market-share-through-social-commerce/
- https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/26/the-incredible-rise-of-pinduoduo/
- https://technode.com/2020/05/12/pinduoduo-growth-story-needs-a-new-chapter/
- https://trendslates.substack.com/p/amazons-335bn-in-gmv-amazon-testing
- https://twitter.com/bgurley/status/1255172025053663232
- https://www.businessinsider.com/fabulous-life-colin-huang-pinduoduo-2020-7
- https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/22/what-is-pinduoduo-chinese-ecommerce-rival-to-alibaba.html
- https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/02/why-pinduoduo-stock-popped-today.aspx
- https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/07/4-tough-tasks-for-pinduoduos-new-ceo.aspx
- https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#721870433d78
- https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/3081078/pinduoduo-doubles-down-rural-china-five-year-us71-billion-e
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1737806/000104746918005204/a2236308z424b4.htm
- https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1737806/000110465920051022/pdd-20191231x20f.htm
- https://www.techbuzzchina.com/episodes/ep-17-pinduoduo-from-zero-to-23b-in-three-years
- https://www.theinformation.com/articles/chinas-pinduoduo-is-nipping-at-alibabas-heels
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BidaQ22vWvM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqxtfOMMVFg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjLhCK8sUcw
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbskb0KMBUU&t=4s
Oprah (Harpo Studios)
We close out Season 6 with the story of perhaps the single most successful media entrepreneur of all-time: Oprah Winfrey, and her juggernaut conglomerate Harpo Studios. Born to a poor single mother in the segregated 1950's deep south, Oprah's rise from terrible adversity to wealthiest Black woman in the world ranks among the very greatest American success stories. And oh yeah — along the way she single-handedly created the entire influencer economy, rewrote the blueprint of a modern power broker, and set the world record for most cars given away at one time (276). Sit back, listen and get ready to live your best life.
Sponsors:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Survey link!: http://acquired.fm/survey
Carveouts:
- David: The Dark Tower series by Stephen King https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07959YG1R?
- Ben: Reply All "Long Distance" https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nh3wk
Sources:
- http://blackeconomics.co.uk/wp/oprahs-empire/
- http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/the-oprah-winfrey-show-by-the-numbers-oprah-show-statistics/all
- http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Oprah-Shows-Most-Shocking-Moments_1
- https://diverseeducation.com/article/1205/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey_Network
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WW_International
- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-oprah-regrets-famous-wagon-233648610.html
- https://freakonomics.com/2008/08/06/so-much-for-one-person-one-vote/
- https://hbr.org/podcast/2018/01/black-business-leaders-series-oprahs-path-to-authentic-leadership
- https://stmuhistorymedia.org/from-rags-to-riches-the-story-of-oprah-winfrey/
- https://www.amazon.com/Oprah-Biography-Kitty-Kelley/dp/0307394875
- https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Lifetime-Lessons-Learned-Company/dp/0399592091
- https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-09-25-9809260006-story.html
- https://www.cnn.com/ampstories/entertainment/how-oprah-winfrey-built-her-business-empire
- https://www.forbes.com/profile/oprah-winfrey/#c52ce3e5745f
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifereum/2014/09/29/how-oprah-went-from-talk-show-host-to-first-african-american-woman-billionaire/#7f21cfb76163
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/oprah-gives-away-nearly-300-new-cars
- https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/you-get-a-car-oprah-winfrey-giveaway-studio-audience-gift-tax-members-guests-pay-show-a8208051.html
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/an-anxious-america-gets-set-for-life-after-oprah-2285528.html
- https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-21-ca-27886-story.html
- https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500692140/making-beyonc
- https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/12/news/jackson-interview-high-in-ratings.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/business/media/23carr.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/business/media/end-of-oprahs-show-tightens-races-for-tv-ratings.html
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/the-oprah-phenomenon-by-the-numbers
- https://www.robertfeder.com/2016/06/15/legendary-tv-exec-dennis-swanson-retires/
- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/05/13/oprah-winfrey-untold-story/
- https://www.thebalancesmb.com/oprah-winfrey-entrepreneur-1200951
- https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jan/12/oprah-winfrey-unlikely-to-run-for-us-president-but-could-win-if-she-did
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/oprahs-last-show-averaged-8957-million-fewer-viewers-than-mash-finale/2011/06/08/AGD5AUMH_story.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cooRceBiE8E
SpaceX
On the eve of SpaceX's historic scheduled launch of its first human spaceflight mission — both the first ever by a private company, and the first to take place on American soil in nearly a decade — we tell the incredible story of its rise from ragtag rocket jocks to the most disruptive and advanced force in aerospace today. While much of the Musk spotlight has shone on Tesla in recent years, is SpaceX actually the company that will have the greatest impact on our world's future, and perhaps even other worlds beyond? All of a sudden that idea seems a little less crazy...
Sponsors:
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Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntress
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- The Tesla episode: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/season-3-episode-1tesla
- The Ascend Conference: https://www.ascend.events
Carveouts:
- David: The Last Dance: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28973557/the-last-dance-updates-untold-story-michael-jordan-chicago-bulls
- Ben: Michael Mauboussin on the Success Equation: https://youtu.be/1JLfqBsX5Lc
Sources:
- Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance: https://www.amazon.com/Elon-Musk-SpaceX-Fantastic-Future/dp/006230125X
- https://timelines.issarice.com/wiki/Timeline_of_SpaceX
- https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/03/spacex-historic-falcon-9-re-flight-ses-10/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/economics
- https://www.space.com/40547-spacex-rocket-evolution.html
- https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/08/how-and-why-spacex-will-colonize-mars.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Griffin
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Cantrell
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Mueller
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Orbital_Transportation_Services
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Act_Agreement
- https://www.spacex.com/mission/
- https://venturebeat.com/2008/08/06/private-rocket-company-spacex-gets-20m-from-the-founders-fund/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches
- https://www.space.com/40547-spacex-rocket-evolution.html
- https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-spacecraft-pictures-elon-musk-2018-2
- https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/inside-the-eight-desperate-weeks-that-saved-spacex-from-ruin/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/science/spacex-nasa-launch.html
- https://graphics.reuters.com/SPACE-EXPLORATION-SPACEX/010091Q82NF/index.html
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/31/elon-musk-spacex-is-now-worth-more-than-tesla.html
- https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-wins-launch-contract-egyptian-telecom-company/
- https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-booster-overboard/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYocHwhfFDc
- https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-18-016.pdf
- https://everydayastronaut.com/will-the-falcon-9-actually-be-reusable-or-just-refurbish-able-like-the-space-shuttle/
Adapting Episode 3: Intel
When you think of Intel today, you probably think of the microprocessor company. Maybe you also think about about 'Intel Inside' and their famous jingle. You might even think "big, stable, boring public company". But for the first two decades of Intel's life, absolutely none of those things were true. Today we tell the incredible story of how the company that started it all in Silicon Valley clawed back from a crisis that brought them to the brink of death, and of one man who rose as the ultimate survivor to become their leader and a legend even in his own time: the late, great Andy Grove.
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Note: This episode originally aired as part of Podapalooza, a podcast festival organized by our friends at Glow to benefit COVID relief. Find out more and support the cause at https://www.plza.org
Sources:
- Only the Paranoid Survive: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challenge-ebook/dp/B0036S4B2G
- Swimming Across: https://www.amazon.com/Swimming-Across-Andrew-S-Grove-ebook/dp/B07CJRM4DX/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Grove
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Moore
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Noyce
- https://www.businessinsider.com/alan-patricof-greycroft-ipo-market-2011-1
- https://anthonysmoak.com/2016/03/27/andy-grove-and-intels-move-from-memory-to-microprocessors/
- http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Intel_386_Business_Strategy/102701962.05.01.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80386
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shockley
- https://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/remembering-andy-grove-intel.html
Special Episode: Jason Calacanis
We're joined by the one and only Jason Calacanis for this very special episode, wherein we chronicle Jason's journey from a kid porter in the barrooms of Brooklyn to building the largest independent media business in tech, becoming the "3rd or 4th greatest seed investor of all-time" (and the original Sequoia Scout), launching one of the top accelerators in the world, and constructing a one-man empire that may just disrupt the entire capital stack in our industry. We dive into how it all ties together, and where the money and power is shifting in the ever changing sands of Silicon Valley...
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Podapalooza Announcement: Intel
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Missing Acquired? We are too. But the world's not done adapting just yet, and neither are we. So get ready for (in the immortal words of Sammy Hagar) the best of both worlds: an Acquired + Adapting crossover lollapalooza... at Podapalooza 2020! We'll be covering the mother of all adaptations, Intel's abandonment of the memory business in favor of microprocessors in the mid-1980's.
What is Podapalooza? It's a charity podcast festival that our friends over at Glow are putting on next weekend, April 25-26, and we're really excited to be part of it. Dozens of the best podcasters on the internet (e.g., Patrick at Invest Like the Best, Levar Burton, Cory Doctorow, J.D. Vance, etc.) are creating exclusive content for the festival, with all proceeds going to COVID-19 relief. As Glow puts it, Podapalooza is the 2020 version of Live-Aid: podcast hosts instead of rockers, pajamas at home instead of big hair on stage, but still the same purpose of supporting relief for the most important cause of this moment. We think it's a really great idea -- we've already bought our tickets and hope you do too. You can sign up at: https://www.podapalooza.org
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Adapting Episode 2: Sequoia’s Black Swan Memo (with Roelof Botha)
On March 5th 2020, Sequoia Capital published a Medium post entitled ‘Coronavirus: The Black Swan of 2020’. The memo minces no words, admonishing founders & CEOs to “question every assumption about your business”, and portends that “as Darwin surmised, those who [will] survive ‘are not the strongest or the most intelligent, but the most adaptable to change.’” We’re joined by longtime Sequoia partner and head of the firm’s US business Roelof Botha to discuss on what Sequoia saw leading up to the memo and why they decided to publish it, how they and their portfolio companies are adapting to the new world it warned of, and what lasting changes might come to Sequoia itself from this moment. For anyone facing hard decisions and/or looking for ways to think about opportunity, this is not one to miss.
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Links:
- The Black Swan Memo: https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/coronavirus-the-black-swan-of-2020-7c72bdeb9753
- The COVID-19 Decision Matrix: https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/the-matrix-for-covid-19-c25bd5195f46
Adapting Episode 1: Canlis
The world has changed. Acquired is changing too: we’re taking a pause from our normal episodes. The world doesn’t need stories of M&A and IPOs right now. But it does still need stories of great companies and great leaders. So we’re taking everything that we’ve put into Acquired - our format, our infrastructure, and the way we can reach all of you - and launching Adapting. Adapting is a series all about doing just that -- changing to fit what the world needs right now, not what it needed last week.
Our first episode starts on the front lines of change: the local restaurant industry. Mark Canlis joins us to discuss how the world-renowned Canlis restaurant in Seattle is adapting by simultaneously closing their 70 year old dining room service, and launching three brand new, no-contact concept restaurants in just one week to keep their staff employed and the city fed:
"Pretty quickly we realized that it would be just as risky to do nothing as it would to do something really radical. And if we were gonna live into our values, every once and awhile that’s really going to cost you something."
This conversation is an incredible inspiration to us all, and a reminder of the vast power of the human spirit during challenging times.
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The Top 10 Acquisitions of All-Time
5 years and 100+ episodes into Acquired, there’s been one question we get asked more than any other: what are the best acquisitions of all-time, and what can we learn from them? We thought it was time to formalize our answers. So here it is, the Acquired Greatest Hits album. :)
We also put together an accompanying blog post, which goes into greater detail on the numbers and methodology behind out rankings. You can find it here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/acquired-top-ten-the-best-acquisitions-of-all-time
Feel free to share with your friends or on social media!
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Sequoia Capital Part II (with Doug Leone)
The wait is over. Acquired returns with a very special Part II of the Sequoia Capital story, joined by the very best person in the world to help us tell it - Doug Leone. Since 1996, Doug has served as Sequoia’s Global Managing Partner, in charge of overseeing the firm’s incredible expansion from a single, $150m early-stage fund focused on Northern California to the multi-billion dollar global powerhouse it is today. Doug is incredibly candid and insightful about all that has gone into building the modern Sequoia: from winning Google and missing Facebook, to the enormous (and enormously successful) bet on decentralized expansion in China and India, to the firm’s “proudest moment” at the depth of the dot com bust. This episode is an absolute must-listen for anyone in the tech, startup and venture ecosystems today. Thank you to Doug and all of the Sequoia team for joining us to make it happen!
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Note:
- You can listen to Part I of our Sequoia story, which dives deep into the history and background of the firm, here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/sequoia-capital-part-1
Sources:
- https://www.brunswickgroup.com/sequoia-capital-doug-leone-silicon-valley-i11786/
- https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/doug-leone/
- https://www.sequoiacap.com/newsletter/2018-06-20-doug-leone
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Er4QcNdjVU
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-leone-a2714/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cl8X02Xd1I
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrJgwKiEpaI
We kick off Season 6 with a long-awaited Acquired Classic: Facebook’s $22B purchase of WhatsApp in 2014, which still ranks as the largest acquisition of a private VC-backed startup in history. Yet despite that enormous pricetag and all its associated fanfare, as we sit here 5+ years later WhatsApp actually generates LESS revenue than the meager ~$20m it was bringing in at the time of acquisition. Was this this worst acquisition of all-time, or a brilliant strategic chess move by Mark Zuckerberg & co? Tune in as we render Acquired’s judgement!
Note: Unfortunately David’s audio quality in this episode was impacted by a technical glitch which we didn’t discover until after recording. Our editors worked super hard to fix in post-production, but it’s still not totally perfect. We hope you’ll give it a listen regardless, and we’re working on getting a transcript made ASAP, which we’ll post to the website when it’s ready. Thanks for bearing with us,
-Ben & David
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Carve Outs:
- Ben: Computer glasses: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=computer+glasses
- David: Reebok Floatrides: https://www.amazon.com/Reebok-Forever-Floatride-Energy-Black/dp/B07NYBRQ96/
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/02/19/exclusive-inside-story-how-jan-koum-built-whatsapp-into-facebooks-new-19-billion-baby/#64c1c94b2fa1
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/03/04/inside-the-facebook-whatsapp-megadeal-the-courtship-the-secret-meetings-the-19-billion-poker-game/#63d8b5c4350f
- https://www.wired.com/2015/09/whatsapp-serves-900-million-users-50-engineers/
- https://youtu.be/v6PbymjXsto
- https://youtu.be/X4YsJt4rIOI
- https://overcast.fm/+WorS9-a74
- https://youtu.be/-2CAWS7M_0w
- https://youtu.be/X4YsJt4rIOI
- https://www.wired.co.uk/article/whats-app-owner-founder-jan-koum-facebook
- https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/whatsapp-brian-acton-delete-facebook-stanford-lecture
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2018/09/26/exclusive-whatsapp-cofounder-brian-acton-gives-the-inside-story-on-deletefacebook-and-why-he-left-850-million-behind/#7475a0213f20
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-06-28/tencent-rules-china-the-problem-is-the-rest-of-the-world
- https://techcrunch.com/2013/07/16/whatsapp-free/
- http://allthingsd.com/tag/jan-koum/
- http://allthingsd.com/20130510/whatsapp-ceo-jan-koum-hates-advertising-and-the-tech-rumor-mill-full-dive-video/
- https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/31/whatsapp-hits-1-5-billion-monthly-users-19b-not-so-bad/
- https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000633/Building-for-People-and-Now-Businesses
- https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/05/whatsapp-business-app/
- https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/21/whatsapp/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/whatsapp-founder-plans-to-leave-after-broad-clashes-with-parent-facebook/2018/04/30/49448dd2-4ca9-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/whatsapp-backs-off-controversial-plan-to-sell-ads-11579207682
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-messy-expensive-split-between-facebook-and-whatsapps-founders-1528208641?mod=article_inline
- https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/05/whatsapp-co-founder-stresses-independence-from-facebook/?mod=article_inline
- https://bgr.com/2020/01/17/whatsapp-ads-2020-facebook-canceled-plans-to-bring-ads-to-status-bar/
- https://www.vox.com/2018/5/8/17329524/whatsapp-new-ceo-facebook-cofounder-jan-koum-departs
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chdaniels/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkoum/
The Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (with Eric Ries)
Season 5, Episode 10: The Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (with Eric Ries)
Acquired closes out Season 5 and 2019 with a radical look into both the past and future decades of startup company building, investing and - yes, exiting - in conversation with legendary Lean Startup author Eric Ries. Nine years on from pioneering the now-canonical concepts of product-market fit, minimum viable products, and pivots during the aftermath of the financial crisis, Eric’s new venture at the Long-Term Stock Exchange represents an equally ambitious attempt to rewrite the orthodoxy of how companies and their investors manage liquidity, governance and alignment around longterm value creation. Like Lean Startup a decade before it, can LTSE help address some of the endemic problems in this generation’s startup ecosystem — excessive capital raising, stay-private-longer, dual-class founder hegemony, extreme illiquidity and quarterly earnings myopia? Tune in to find out!
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Convoy (with CEO Dan Lewis)
Coming to you live from the University of Washington, Ben and David are joined by hundreds of awesome Seattle listeners (and a few non-Seattle listeners!) to cover the meteoric rise of trucking industry disruptor and hometown hero Convoy. How did Dan and Convoy go from nervously conducting market research at truck stops on I-5 to one of the largest logistics companies and fastest-growing startups in the world in just four short years, raising over $650m (not a typo) along the way? Tune in to find out!
Special thank you to the Paul Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington and to Pioneer Square Labs for generously sponsoring the show venue.
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Carveouts:
- Mystery: https://mystery.sh
TikTok
We take Acquired to the Old Town Road to cover the amazing story behind the biggest global sensation of 2019 — and the highest valued private startup in the world — TikTok. How did a mid-30 year old UX architect at enterprise software giant SAP wind up creating Gen Z’s favorite social app that’s now rivaling Instagram in global MAU? Why is a 2017 merger of two Chinese companies being branded a US national security threat and retroactively placed under review by CFIUS? And perhaps most importantly, why is TikTok such an important product & technology innovation that all of us should be learning from? Tune in for all the answers!
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Carve Outs:
- Ben: Track 34 on Ghosts IV by Nine Inch Nails: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF_ceFugJjQ
- David: Nintendo Switch Lite https://www.nintendo.com/switch/lite/ and Knives Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGqiHJTsRkQ
Sources:
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/technology/tiktok-alex-zhu-interview.html
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bytedance-tiktok-exclusive/exclusive-chinas-bytedance-moves-to-ringfence-its-tiktok-app-amid-u-s-probe-sources-idUSKBN1Y10OH
- https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/10/arts/TIK-TOK.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/19/style/high-school-tiktok-clubs.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/technology/tiktok-facebook-youtube.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/business/china-toutiao-censorship.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/business/media/a-social-network-frequented-by-children-tests-the-limits-of-online-regulation.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTyg2E44pBA
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/keepsilence/
- https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/12/10/18129126/tiktok-app-musically-meme-cringe
- https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/1/26/16937712/karma-is-a-bitch-riverdale-kreayshawn-meme
- https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/2/17644260/musically-rebrand-tiktok-bytedance-douyin
- https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/tiktok-video-app-growth-867587/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical.ly
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok
- https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-musically-2016-5
- https://supchina.com/2017/09/13/can-pop-music-connect-teens-china-world-musical-ly-co-founder-louis-yang-wants-find/
- https://supchina.com/podcast/ep-28-the-worlds-most-valuable-startup-bytedance-maker-of-tiktok-toutiao/
- https://supchina.com/podcast/ep-55-kuaishou-the-anti-douyin-tiktok/
- https://supchina.com/podcast/ep-56-not-just-tiktok-a-short-history-of-chinese-short-video-abroad/
- https://supchina.com/2019/09/25/the-difference-between-tiktok-and-douyin/
- https://pandaily.com/toutiaos-buy-1b-purchase-musical-ly/
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-internet-livestreaming-idUSKBN17E0EV
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTyg2E44pBA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey15v81pwII
- https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3038639/alex-zhus-journey-failed-startup-tiktok-chief
- https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/zuckerberg-musically-tiktok-china-facebook
- https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/12/instagram-reels/
- https://www.techinasia.com/douyin-rise-in-china
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptKqFafZgCk
- https://technode.com/2017/05/17/kwai-kuaishou-chinas-biggest-social-video-sharing-app/
- https://technode.com/20...
Disney, Plus
The Flywheel is strong with this one. We dive deep into the origins of one of the boldest business strategy decisions of our time: Disney CEO Bob Iger’s attempt to buck the Innovator’s Dilemma - and forego billions of dollars in cashflow from Netflix and pay TV providers - in order to establish a direct distribution relationship with its customers for the first time in the company’s history. Is this the force awakening within the house that Walt built, or a phantom menace that will drag Disney to the dark side of unprofitability? Tune in to find out!
Sponsors:
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Links:
- https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2018-Annual-Report.pdf
- https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/wp-content/uploads/q4-fy17-earnings-transcript.pdf
- https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/q4-fy19-earnings.pdf
- The Disney flywheel: https://kottke.org/15/06/walt-disneys-corporate-strategy-chart
Sources:
- The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger: https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Lifetime-Lessons-Learned-Company-ebook/dp/B07PF6XTD8
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/22/style/disney-bob-iger-book.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Iger
- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/bob-iger-bets-company-hollywood-s-future-streaming-1247663
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-kevin-mayer-deliver-the-future-of-disney-11573272027
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-11-07/inside-disney-bob-iger-on-star-wars-pixar-and-more
- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bob-iger-the-ride-of-a-lifetime/id1264843400?i=1000451721143
Carveouts:
- David: The Ride of a Lifetime
- Ben: The Imagineering Story on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/the-imagineering-story/6ryoXv1e1rWW
The WeWork “Acquisition” (with Dan Primack)
It’s an IPO, it’s a bailout, it’s an... acquisition? We’re joined by the one and only Dan Primack from Axios to recount the epic saga of the We Company in all its tragic glory. How did this business somehow go from chopping up commercial real estate to elevating global consciousness to rewarding its ousted CEO with a $1.7B “platinum parachute”, all while the company can’t afford severance for thousands of soon-to-be laid-off employees? Where did it all go wrong? And most importantly, who gets the Gulfstream G650??
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Season 5, Episode 5: Atari (with Nolan Bushnell)
We’re joined by the legendary Nolan Bushnell, founder not only of Atari, but also the only person ever to hire Steve Jobs, the recipient of Sequoia Capital’s first-ever investment, and the creator of Chuck E. Cheese, the canonical GPS navigation arrow, and a little project that would go on to become Pixar. We cover it all in this special episode!
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Links:
- Spacewar!, the first video game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!
- The meaning of Atari: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atari
- Nolan’s current project, St. Noire: https://www.amazon.com/St-Noire-Hosted-Cinematic-Exclusive/dp/B07P693BG1
Sequoia Capital (Part 1)
Acquired dives into the history behind storied venture firm Sequoia Capital and its legendary founder, Don Valentine. Part 1 tells Don’s story, starting from humble beginnings born to uneducated parents in Yonkers, NY, through shaping the fabric of Silicon Valley first as head of Sales & Marketing at both Fairchild and National Semiconductor, and then for generations to come via his pioneering concept of “company building” at Sequoia Capital. No matter where you sit in the ecosystem today, Don and the companies he helped build laid the foundation for nearly everything technology has become over the past 60 years.
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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Links:
- Silicon Valley’s “Traitorous Eight”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitorous_eight
- Don Valentine’s lecture at Stanford GSB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKN-abRJMEw&t=2555s
- Berkeley’s oral history with Don: http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/valentine_donald.pdf
Carve Outs:
- Ben: The Business Roundtable on The Daily: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/podcasts/the-daily/business-roundtable-corporate-responsibility.html
- David: Amazon Music on 25 years of “Ready to Die”: https://youtu.be/Dsna1nIZzB4
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitorous_eight
- https://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Silicon-Valley-Shockley-racist-semiconductor-lab-13164228.php
- https://signallake.com/innovation/Valentine101409.pdf
- http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/valentine_donald.pdf
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/0875849385/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_ZB8IDb7NNAFAH
- https://www.amazon.com/Troublemakers-Silicon-Valleys-Coming-Age-ebook/dp/B06ZZ1YDTX/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
- https://www.scaruffi.com/svhistory/arun3.html
- http://www.ianhathaway.org/blog/2019/7/31/vc-an-american-history
- https://www.axios.com/sequoia-capital-shakes-up-leadership-1513300220-7d255e34-f4bf-4178-af62-ec68023726e3.html
- https://www.slideshare.net/lebret/a-history-of-venture-capital-lebret-vers-11
- https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=47240
- https://www.inc.com/magazine/19850501/7289_pagen_5.html
- https://www.amazon.com/VC-American-History-Tom-Nicholas-ebook/dp/B07QV2YM3X/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKN-abRJMEw&t=2555s
Google Maps
Ben and David cover the series of three 2004 Google acquisitions that formed the core of Google Maps as we know and love it today: Where 2 Technologies, Keyhole and ZipDash. From nearly zero adoption between the three companies at the time of acquisition to well over 1 billion users today, does Google Maps merit admission to the hallowed Acquired A+ pantheon? Tune in to find out!
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Links:
- Bret Taylor on “Satellite Mode”: https://twitter.com/btaylor/status/1099370126678253569?lang=en
- Justin O’Beirne’s great pieces on Apple vs Google maps: https://www.justinobeirne.com
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Marc Andreessen on The Moment with Brian Koppelman: https://overcast.fm/+BgXAjz54o
- David: The Expanse books: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077L6GJWW/
The Shopify IPO
Ben and David head north of the border to Ottawa, Canada to cover perhaps one of the greatest IPO success stories of the past 5 years, Shopify. From humble beginnings as a “lifestyle business” hawking hipster snowboard gear online to now routinely mentioned in the same breath as Amazon, the tale of Shopify and its incredible CEO Tobi Lütke’s ascent is not one to miss!
Editor's note: Shopify actually powered $41b of sales, not $14b, in 2018, as discussed toward the end of the episode. $14b was the fourth-quarter number. While this changes the analysis of value captured at the end of the episode (Shopify only captures 2.5% of merchant sales as their own revenue, not 7%, which is admittedly very different), it doesn’t change overall sentiment on the company discussed in the episode.
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Links:
- https://www.snowdevil.ca
- https://www.jadedpixel.com
- Citron’s “research” report: https://citronresearch.com/citron-exposes-the-dark-side-of-shopify/
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Moment smartphone camera lenses: https://www.shopmoment.com
- David: Quoteapro engineering and head of product roles, Bill Gurley on Invest like the Best: http://investorfieldguide.com/gurley/
More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Huawei
For our first episode of Season 5, Acquired returns to Shenzhen to cover another Chinese technology giant, this one slightly... different from our past subjects: Huawei. From a backwater importer of PBX switches to the world’s second largest handset manufacturer and near-undisputed leader in 5G infrastructure technology, Huawei’s ascent over the past 30 years has been nothing short of spectacular, equaled only by the spectacular fireworks of recent events surrounding the company. What’s the story behind this global telecom giant, and what does its future portend for global tech and US - China relations? We dive in.
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Links
- Ren Zhengfei on Bloomberg TV: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-26/billionaire-huawei-founder-defiant-in-face-of-existential-threat
- Who owns Huawei? https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3372669
Carve Outs
- Ben: Billions: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4270492/
- David: Dune by Frank Herbert: https://www.amazon.com/Dune-Frank-Herbert-ebook/dp/B00B7NPRY8/ref=nodl
Superhuman (with CEO Rahul Vohra)
We wrap up Season 4 with a very special (and accidental!) episode, a conversation with the CEO of Superhuman, the red hot email productivity app which just announced their $33m Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz. While originally intended as a limited release episode, we felt Superhuman would provide the perfect bookend to our “modern enterprise productivity trilogy” following our Zoom and Slack episodes. We hope you enjoy the conversation with Rahul as much as we did, and we’ll see you later this summer for Season 5!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links
- New York Times article announcing the fundraise: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/technology/superhuman-email.html
- Rahul’s Medium post on acquisitions: https://medium.com/swlh/rip-mailbox-or-founders-how-to-stop-worrying-and-love-being-acquired-261da4f6d566
- Rahul on finding product-market fit on First Round Review: https://firstround.com/review/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/
The Slack DPO
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s an... enterprise software company? We give the full Acquired treatment to newly-public Slack, one of the most extreme and successful pivots of all-time. From a log cabin in Canada to a never-ending game and back again, Slack’s journey has more twists and turns than a Hobbit’s tale. Tune in for one APLUSS story you don’t want to miss!
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Links
- Kara Swisher’s Flipcam interview with Glitch: https://www.wsj.com/video/tiny-speck-stewart-butterfield-speaks/C51EAD27-FE8E-46AE-B785-6ECF1A9798B0.html
- Marc Andreessen on “all will still end well...” https://twitter.com/patphelan/status/1142733251691405312
- The Glitch public domain archive: https://www.glitchthegame.com
- Naming Slack: https://twitter.com/stewart/status/780906639301812225?s=21
Carve Outs
- Ben: The Expanse on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/The-Expanse-Season-1/dp/B018BZ3SCM
- David: Give to any non-profit on Alma: https://alma.app/blog/1-4-million-reasons-to-love-alma-search
The Zoom IPO (with Santi Subotovsky)
Zoom board member (and general partner at Emergence Capital) Santi Subotovsky joins us to tell the true underdog story behind the hottest IPO of 2019. Together we trace founder Eric Yuan’s incredible journey from immigrant software developer, who didn’t speak any English upon arriving in Silicon Valley in 1997, to Glassdoor’s #1 rated CEO in America in 2018. In an age where border walls have replaced open doors in Washington, and burn rates and privacy scandals have sidelined Silicon Valley’s pretense of making the world a better place, there is no better reminder than Zoom of everything that can be great about our country and our industry.
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Links
- Walt Mossberg’s review of Zoom in 2012: http://allthingsd.com/20120821/a-chance-to-call-15-friends-to-video-chat-in-high-def/
Carve Outs
- Ben: General Magic https://www.generalmagicthemovie.com
- David: Dissect Season 4 https://dissectpodcast.com/subscribe-to-the-podcast/
The Electronic Arts IPO (with Trip Hawkins)
Acquired looks back at a monumental IPO from a *much* different era: Electronic Arts. We’re joined by EA’s founder Trip Hawkins to tell the incredible story of how he built the company that made video games mainstream. Starting from his high school years as both a geek and a jock, to then working for Steve Jobs as one of Apple Computer’s first employees and later completely changing the world of sports with John Madden Football, Trip always had a clear vision for what EA could become and what magic could happen at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
The Uber IPO
Welcome to the big one. On the day of its IPO, we tell the story of Uber. It’s a story whose roots stretch back 130 years, but whose impact reverberates perhaps more powerfully on our current world than any other. A story that, in all of its greatness and in all of its ugliness, may just be the story of our time.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Austin Geidt’s incredible journey: https://youtu.be/-NjaqDMYNVs
- Travis’s self-introduction as “the Wolf from Pulp Fiction”: https://youtu.be/VMvdvP02f-Y
- Travis interview on TWiST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=550X5OZVk7Y
The Pinterest IPO
In the second episode of our APLUSS(Z!) IPO saga, we dive into the history behind the planet’s largest non-social social network, Pinterest. From The Pirates of Silicon Valley to the bloggers of Salt Lake City, the creation story behind this “productivity tool for planning your dreams” is far from your typical unicorn journey. Once labelled as the “next Facebook” by investors and press, ten years later both Pinterest-the-product and Pinterest-the-company are in fact anything but. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing… tune in to find out!
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- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links
- Pinterest’s S-1: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1506293/000119312519083544/d674330ds1.htm
- Fun photos of the Pinterest early days from Leslie Kincaid: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/azy9xtxtq5l6r3y/AAC68OhprmVbauZreHPyLbn5a?dl=0
- Pinterest financial summary on Seeking Alpha: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4255230-know-pinterest-ipo
Carve Outs
- Ben: Eugene Wei on the Invest Like The Best Podcast: http://investorfieldguide.com/wei/
- David: A-Rod interviews George Springer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOqgxmG4yc8
The Lyft IPO
Call it the playoffs. Call it the Olympics. Call it March Madness. No matter which sports analogy you borrow, it falls short of capturing what Lyft's IPO yesterday kicked off in the tech world. A generational changing of the guard from the FAANG to the APLUSS (Airbnb, Pinterest, Lyft, Uber, Slack, Stripe). A breaking of the liquidity dam that's kept capital, technology and talent locked up in a small number of Silicon Valley winners for longer than ever in history. And most importantly, a public market avenue for investing in the largest single market created since the advent of the internet. Acquired is live on the scene recounting and analyzing the history of Lyft (and ridesharing broadly) in every exquisite detail!
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Lyft’s S-1: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1759509/000119312519059849/d633517ds1.htm
- Donate to Homobiles: http://bit.ly/2TM40nAÂ
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Bill Gurley on "Runnin' Down a Dream" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmYekD6-PZ8
- David: "Cricket Fever" on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80222770
Season 4, Episode 3: Instagram Revisited (with Emily White)
We enter the wayback machine and revisit the subject of Acquired’s second ever episode, Facebook’s bombshell 2012 acquisition of Instagram — this time with the help of then-Facebook executive Emily White, who moved over post-acquisition to become Instagram’s first business head. Together with Kevin and Mike, Emily helped build Instagram's business model, which today accounts for nearly 1/4 of all of Facebook’s revenue. Is this still Acquired’s canonical A+ with an extra 3.5 years of hindsight? Spoiler alert: yes.
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Sam Harris on the Joe Rogan Experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ5_hAEsLkU
- David: Boom Town by Sam Anderson: https://www.amazon.com/Boom-Town-Fantastical-Basketball-World-class-ebook/dp/B077RHYC4G
Spotify + Gimlet/Anchor Quick Take + Worldwide Meetup Details!
Spotify + Gimlet/Anchor Quick Take!
We continue to experiment on Acquired, this time with a quick-take on Spotify’s bombshell dual-acquisition of Anchor and Gimlet Media. While we may give these deals the full Acquired treatment in the future, we wanted to share our quick thoughts with you all sooner rather than later while the Acquired research department (aka Ben & David’s free time) works through the current episode backlog. Let us know if you like this format and we’ll do more in the future!
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Season 4, Episode 2: ARM & SoftBank
We dive into the crazy, little-known story of how this small, former PC-maker in Cambridge, England dethroned Intel, saved Apple from bankruptcy, became the blueprint for the largest investment fund in history, and of course now powers just about every device you use today. From Issac Newton to the Apple Newton, the Vision Fund and beyond, ARM has had an impact on the technology industry that cannot be overstated!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- The Nokia 6110: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_6110
- Fast Company on SoftBank and how the ARM acquisition happened: https://www.fastcompany.com/90285552/the-most-powerful-person-in-silicon-valley
Season 4, Episode 1: ESPN
Booyah! Acquired, the worldwide leader in acquisitions and IPOs, kicks off Season 4 with a classic: ESPN. How did a failed former TV weatherman end up building the world’s most valuable media company on top of a dump (quite literally) in Bristol, Connecticut? We follow the incredible entrepreneurial journey from Getty Oil diversification strategy to Berkshire Hathaway home run to Disney crown jewel. This Is Awesome, Baby!!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- ESPN’s first moments on air: https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2018/12/espn-remembers-lee-leonard/
- The Outsiders Book: https://www.amazon.com/Outsiders-Unconventional-Radically-Rational-Blueprint-ebook/dp/B009G1T74O/
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Numbers Geek with Steve Ballmer: The Basketball Box Score Mystery https://www.geekwire.com/2019/numbers-geek-steve-ballmer-basketball-box-score-mystery/
- David: Fast Company on Masa, “The most powerful person in Silicon Valley” https://www.fastcompany.com/90285552/the-most-powerful-person-in-silicon-valley
Season 3, Episode 10: Tencent
We close out Season 3 and our China mini-series with a monster episode on Tencent, the Shenzhen-based social networking and entertainment powerhouse. We dive deep into the story of Pony Ma and his cofounders’ incredible journey from making software for pagers(!) to QQ, WeChat, League of Legends, Fortnite, Snapchat and even Tesla. This is one finale you don’t want to miss!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Carve Outs:
- Ben: President Obama’s OG podcast! https://bit.ly/2BqXxHJ
- David: Kara Swisher’s interview with the Google Walkout organizers: https://bit.ly/2RwuskZ
- David (bonus!): Allen Iverson on the Players’ Tribune: https://bit.ly/2EkrRHQ
Season 3, Episode 9: Netflix (Part 2)
We complete our two-part Netflix special with the company’s bold transition to streaming, including of course the most (in)famous spin-out in business history. Rising from the ashes of Qwikster, we chronicle Netflix’s rebirth as a media company and long journey back to the top of the FAANG mountaintop!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Netflix’s Qwikster apology video: https://youtu.be/c8Tn8n5CIPk
- SNL parody of the apology video: https://bit.ly/2PWEyyZ
- Evolution of Netflix home page: https://read.bi/2KvHdte
- The Chaos Monkey: https://bit.ly/1qkqDxZ
- Benedict Evans’ chart of FAANG stocks: https://bit.ly/2r3D72A
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Kevin Rose interviews Matthew Walker on sleep: https://bit.ly/2LpIl5v
- David: Justin O’Beirne on Apple’s new Maps: https://bit.ly/2zrQ76Z
Season 3, Episode 8: Netflix (Part 1)
In a world ravaged by late fees and lack of rewinding, one man two men from a sleepy California beach town make a stand against tyranny, daringly dethrone an evil empire and… oh who are we kidding, they just copied Amazon’s business plan for books and applied it to movie rentals. But as always there is much more to the story than that! We dive into the fascinating, true, and oft-untold history of Netflix in our first two-part special on Acquired. Part 1 covers Netflix’s original DVD rental business from founding to 2009, and next time on Part 2 we’ll cover the (rocky) transition to streaming from 2010 to present. Buckle up for a wild ride!
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More Acquired!:
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- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Carve Outs:
- Ben: The Good Place on… Netflix!
- David: The Broken Earth Series by N. K. Jemisin
Acquired Season 3 Episode 7: Venmo (live with Andrew Kortina)
Ben & David are joined by special guest and Venmo cofounder Andrew Kortina for our first-ever SF live show! In front of a packed house we chronicle the journey of how two freshman-year roommates from Penn turned a healthy obsession with Craigslist and a fake podcast into an app that facilitated $17B of payments last quarter alone, producing not one but two landmark acquisitions along the way!
Note: the audio quality is a little rough due to some A/V issues at the live show. We apologize!
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Carve Outs:
- Kortina: The Myth Of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
- David: Startup by Jerry Kaplan
- Ben: Halide on the new iPhone XS camera and computational photography
Season 3, Episode 6: Behance (with Scott Belsky)
Ben and David are joined by Adobe’s Chief Product Officer, Behance founder, Benchmark partner, author, and product luminary, Scott Belsky, to tell the story of Adobe Systems’ 2012 acquisition of Behance. We dive into the role it played in of one of the greatest (and least well-known) pivots of all time: Adobe’s transition from packaged software to services, which over the past 6 years has generated an astounding $100B+ in market cap and nearly 10x growth in Adobe’s share price!
Sponsors:
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More Acquired!:
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- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Scott’s great new book, The Messy Middle, out today!
Season 3, Episode 5: Alibaba
We continue our China Tech series with perhaps the most incredible entrepreneurial journey in history: Alibaba and its indefatigable founder, Jack Ma. How did an unknown 30 year-old English teacher from a second tier Chinese city build the world’s 7th largest company by market cap (and the largest in China) in just 20 short years? This is one story you don’t want to miss.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
- Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built
- Jack Ma’s famous speech in the Hangzhou apartment
- Jack Ma on not competing with Amazon
Carve Outs:
Season 3, Episode 4: Recode (with Kara Swisher)
In this special episode Ben & David head to Recode’s SF office and sit down in the red chair with the one & only Kara Swisher! Kara tells the story of Recode, from the beginnings of her partnership with Walt Mossberg in the late 90’s at WSJ to the launch of the D Conference and the All Things D blog, to starting Recode and ultimately being acquired by Vox Media in 2015. Kara is someone we’ve long looked up to at Acquired, and it was really special to have her join us on the show. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Season 3, Episode 3: The Sonos IPO
Ben and David are (almost) live on the scene covering the plucky Southern California “camera company”… uh wait, wrong episode… we mean *speaker* company’s IPO! Continuing the long Acquired tradition of analyzing companies at the intersection of music, tech and business, we discuss the past, present and future of Sonos in world where speakers actually now… speak!
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Links:
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Andy Rachleff on the Invest like the Best podcast
- David: Brotopia by Emily Chang
Season 3, Episode 2: The Xiaomi IPO
Acquired kicks off our China tech mini-series by teaming up with the best in the business: Hans and Zara from GGV’s 996 Podcast! Together we cover the largest technology IPO in the world since fellow China tech giant Alibaba in 2014: Xiaomi, where Hans has been an investor and board member from the very beginning. This episode is chock full of history and insight on both Xiaomi and what’s happening in China tech more broadly, and why we all should be paying attention. No matter where you live, this is definitely not one to miss!
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More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Season 3, Episode 1: Tesla
Acquired kicks off Season 3 with a gangbuster two-hour extravaganza on America’s most successful automotive startup since The Ford Motor Company: Tesla. We cover everything, from founding to its 2010 IPO to all that’s happened since, including the question on the minds of superhero fans everywhere: who came first, Elon Musk or Tony Stark? (Spoiler: Elon)
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More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Carve Outs:
Season 2, Episode 10: The Rover-DogVacay Merger (with Rover CEO Aaron Easterly)
Acquired wraps up Season 2 with our first “elusive” private-private merger: Rover.com and its 2017 combination with rival pet care marketplace DogVacay. We’re joined by Rover CEO Aaron Easterly to dive into the full history of how the crazy idea of “Airbnb for dogs” not only became a billion-dollar company, but also brought our heroes together for the first time and led to the founding of Acquired!
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Links:
Season 2, Episode 9: GitHub
We’re live on the scene the day following the biggest announcement in the open source software world since well, open source software: Microsoft acquiring GitHub for $7.5B in stock. How did we get here? What does it mean for software developers going forward? And most importantly, why is there a creepy half-cat / half-octopus plastered all over everything? As always, Acquired has the answers.
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Carve Outs:
- Ben: The Idea Maze by Chris Dixon
- David: Invisible Asymptotes by Eugene Wei
Season 2, Episode 8: T-Mobile / Sprint
If you thought the telecom business was boring, think again! Acquired brings you an episode packed with more drama than an entire season of Game of Thrones. Starting with a death in the family, we follow a tale of fortunes lost and rebuilt, bitter battles between rivals who once worked for each other, and at the center of it all, a lesson in the power of stable cashflow businesses. This is one call you don’t want to drop!
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Links:
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Andrew Chen on the Intercom podcast
- David: The 996 Podcast from Zara & Hans at GGV Capital
Season 2, Episode 7: PowerPoint
Acquired returns with a classic, delving into Microsoft’s first acquisition ever: Forethought Inc, the makers of PowerPoint. Hate it or love it, you can’t deny the combined companies’ impact: by the early 90’s PowerPoint had transformed the way businesses, educators and governments communicate, ensuring job security for pointy-haired Dilbert bosses everywhere.
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Links:
- Robert Gaskins’ definitive history of building PowerPoint: Sweating Bullets
- Absolute Powerpoint by Ian Parker
Carve Outs:
Season 2, Episode 6: Spotify’s Direct Listing
Acquired wraps up a big few weeks of coverage with not an IPO or an M&A or a fundraising round, but what’s still the largest tech exit in recent memory: Spotify’s $30B direct public listing. We dive into what it all means and how we got here: from Napster to iTunes to Facebook (and even some Justin Timberlake thrown in for good measure). Acquired FM is on the scene and spinning all the hits from this new wave music industry titan!
Note: We incorrectly described Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s ownership stake in Spotify as 25%+; that is actually his voting control. His economic ownership is 9.3%, and cofounder Martin Lorentzon’s is 12.4%. We apologize for the error!
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Carve Outs:
Season 2, Episode 5: The Dropbox IPO
Acquired is live on the scene following Dropbox’s public market debut. From playing a central role in the early days of Y Combinator, to having Steve Jobs famously label the company a “feature not a product”, to pivoting from consumers to enterprise to developers and back again, the silicon valley history runs deep with this one. What twists and turns lie ahead for Dropbox as a public company? We speculate!
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Carve Outs:
- Ben: Raytracing comes to DirectX
- David: Lazy Game Reviews
Season 2, Episode 4: SoftBank, Fortress and the Vision Fund
Acquired dives into the topic on the minds and lips of just about every VC and founder these days: SoftBank’s $93B+ Vision Fund, and its seemingly-overnight rewriting of the rules of venture capital and startup fundraising. Where did this new 800lbs gorilla come from, what are its goals, and what does it mean for the future of silicon valley and the global tech ecosystem? The answer, it turns out, starts with an acquisition, and unfolds into a story no one has yet told and few yet understand. Luckily our heroes are on the case!
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Links:
Carve Outs:
- Ben: eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work
- David: Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (starting with The Three-Body Problem)
- Bonus: shout out to Brian McCullough’s new podcast the Ride Home, in partnership with TechMeme!
Season 2, Episode 3: Nest
Acquired brings it all back home—to the smart home that is—with Google’s 2014 acquisition of Nest for $3.2B. From Nest cofounder Tony Fadell’s first job at General Magic (alongside future Android founder Andy Rubin) to his days as “father of the iPod” under Steve Jobs at Apple, the Silicon Valley history runs deep with this one. But did that make the acquisition a good move for Google in the coming battle with Amazon’s “Lady A” for control over consumers’ homes? We dive in!
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Carve Outs:
- Ben: Do by Friday podcast
- David: A Kingdom from Dust By Mark Arax in The California Sunday Magazine
Season 2, Episode 2: Raising a Seed Round with Against Gravity CEO Nick Fajt
We launch mini-series on Acquired with a subject near & dear to our heroes’ hearts: startup fundraising! This has been one of our most-requested new topics, and we’re excited to kick things off with makers of the popular Rec Room social VR app, Against Gravity, which raised one of Seattle’s hottest venture rounds in recent history: a $4m seed led by Sequoia Capital in 2016. CEO Nick Fajt joins to tell the story from company inception to building and shipping the initial product, fundraising as a first-time CEO, what they’ve been able to accomplish with the capital and their vision for the future. We had a blast touching on many classic Acquired themes for the first time “in-action” with a young, growing company, and hope you all enjoy the discussion as much as we did. Let us know what you think in the Slack!
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Carve Outs:
- Ben: Ready Player One
- David: Seveneves
- Nick: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Season 2, Episode 1: Zappos (with Alfred Lin)
Former Zappos Chairman & COO (and current Partner at Sequoia Capital) Alfred Lin joins our heroes to kick off Season 2 with a classic: Amazon’s 2009 acquisition of the internet’s quirkiest online retailer for $1.2B in stock. How did three Harvard undergrads go from delivering pizza to their dorm to delivering happiness to the world — and become in the process one of the few companies ever to compete successfully head-to-head against Amazon in commerce? Tune in to find out!
Note: Unfortunately the quality of David and Alfred’s audio tracks in this episode were significantly impacted by a processor issue on David’s computer, which we didn’t discover until after recording. We’ve worked hard to fix in post-production, but it’s still far from perfect. Still, the content from Alfred is so good, we felt we had to put this episode out there even though the audio quality isn’t up to par. We hope you’ll give it a listen regardless, and we’re working on getting a transcript made ASAP as well.
-Ben & David
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Carve Outs:
- Ben: Andrew Mason on Recode Decode
- David: Justin O’Beirne on Google Maps’ Moat
- Alfred: Walter Isaacson’s biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin
Episode 51: 2017 Holiday Special
Acquired cozies up to the fire and looks back on the year in tech. How wildly off were we on last year’s predictions? What does the next year have in store? Most importantly, what price will Bitcoin be trading at in December 2018??? Pour yourself a glass of your favorite holiday beverage and kick back with us.
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Links
- Josh Elman on shared experiences
- Patrick McKenzie on distribution
2017 Carve Outs of the Year:
- Books
- His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden and Steve Jamison
- Articles
- “The Great AI Awakening” New York Times Magazine
- “Founder Friendly” AVC blog
- Podcasts
- “The Ezra Klein Show” featuring Yuval Noah Harari
- “The Bill Simmons Show” featuring Jimmy Iovine
- Music
- Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band live at the Hammersmith Odeon London in 1975
- A Moment Apart by Odesza
- Movies
- Apps
Episode 50: Apple - Beats
Acquired crosses the half-century mark with an instant classic: Apple’s 2014 purchase of Beats, its largest acquisition ever. If you knew Beats as just another headphone company, think again—the history on this one will keep your heads ringin’.
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Carve Outs: * Ben: HQ * David: Wooden on Leadership
Episode 49: The Stitch Fix IPO
Ben and David dive into the most talked-about tech IPO of 4Q 2017: Stitch Fix. After downsizing the offering and pricing below the range, does this signal a warning that public markets won’t value high-flying silicon valley “disruptors” as high as VCs hope? Or is this a textbook example of a great return for a disciplined management team and well-run company? Most importantly, what happens next? Tune in for our heroes’ take.
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Carve Outs:
Episode 48: Qualcomm - Broadcom
Ben & David cover the proposed largest tech M&A deal of all time, and in the process dive into the evolving dynamics of the industry that started everything in Silicon Valley—silicon. Just when VCs thought innovation was dead in semiconductors, a new wave of startups and large companies are redrawing the lines of competition in an industry dominated for a half-century by the “Wintel” duopoly of Intel and Microsoft.
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Topics Covered Include:
- Innovation and disruption in the semiconductor industry over the past two years
- Intel’s acquisition of Nervana
- Graphcore and other ML-focused semiconductor startups
- CDMA and the telephone network effect
- Qualcomm’s early cell phone handsets
- Vertical integration + commoditization in smartphone chipsets
The Carve Out:
- Ben: The de-watering of Niagara Falls
- David: Big Daddy’s Antiques
- Bonus: The Mystery Show
Episode 47: The Atlassian IPO
Ben & David venture to the land down under (and reunite in-person!) to tell the story of the granddaddy of all bootstrapped tech success stories, collaboration software company Atlassian. How did two plucky college grads from Sydney, Australia go from just trying to escape working for the man to becoming two of the top 10 wealthiest people in the entire country, all without raising a dollar of venture capital? We dive in.
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Topics Covered Include:
- How Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar met in college at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and their decision to bootstrap a startup as an alternative to finding a “real job” after graduation
- Atlassian’s “no sales” model, and the resultant efficiency of their sales & marketing spend relative to other SAAS companies
- Organic product growth and acquisitions over the years, starting with Jira and later adding Confluence, BitBucket, HipChat / Stride, Jira Service Desk and Trello
- Rapid revenue growth and the decision to continue as a bootstrapped company, only raising secondary capital prior to going public
- The IPO in November 2015 and subsequent stock performance (spoiler: it’s been good)
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog
- David: Bruce Springsteen memoir, Born to Run
Episode 46: Blue Bottle Coffee
Today our heroes cover a deal that might have more impact on life in Silicon Valley than AI, wearables and AR/VR combined… Nestle’s acquisition of Blue Bottle Coffee. Will hipster entrepreneurs and the VCs who love/need them continue to line up around the block for their minimalist coffee experience of choice, now that it’s owned by the Nesquik Bunny? Is this the beginning of Blue Bottle pod machines filling the empty counter space left by Juicero’s demise in VC offices throughout South Park? We investigate.
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Topics Covered Include:
- The rise of “Third Wave” coffee
- Blue Bottle founder James Freeman’s “classical” (music) influences
- Venture capital and the coffee business
- Achieving liquidity when companies and founders’ don’t want to go public, and don’t want to sell their stakes
- Nestle’s position in single-serve coffee market and potential brand impact of Blue Bottle
The Carve Out:
Episode 45: HTC, Google and the Future of Mobile
Acquired is back and live on the scene! After months of speculation, Google announces today their acquisition (err, "Cooperation Agreement”) of a large portion of HTC’s hardware division. What does this mean for the future of mobile? Can Google transform itself into a vertically integrated device company and compete directly with Apple? Most importantly, when will we see more Beats Android handsets??? (We hope never)
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Topics Covered Include:
- The origins of HTC as a Taiwanese OEM, dating back to the Compaq iPAQ and Palm Treo 650!
- HTC’s long history with Google, starting as the manufacturer of the first Android phone, the HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1
- HTC’s ownership of Beats, for a hot minute
- Google’s own winding history in hardware, with its Motorola acquisition in 2011 and divestiture in 2014
- Google & HTC’s joint work on the Pixel smartphones in 2016
- And much analysis and speculation on what this means for Google, Apple, Samsung, vertical vs horizontal business models and more!
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Odesza’s new album A Moment Apart
- David: Bruce Springsteen on Fresh Air
Episode 44: AOL - Time Warner (with the Internet History Podcast)
On this extra-long episode of Acquired, Brian McCullough from the Internet History Podcast returns to discuss perhaps the most (in)famous merger of all time: AOL - Time Warner. Who doesn’t remember the soothing sounds of 56k modems and the timeless phrase, “You’ve Got Mail”? Join us all as we unpack how one of the biggest ISP’s of the 90’s tried to take over the world… and fell far short.
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Topics Covered Include:
- AOL’s status in the 90’s / early 00’s
- Explaining just what it is that AOL did at the height of their popularity
- How AOL pioneered a number of internet paradigms
- AOL’s persistent money troubles and bailouts from other companies
- Steve Case foreseeing the coming era of broadband, inspiring AOL to pursue working with a cable company
- Ebay vs. Time Warner in a down-to-the-wire war for a merger with AOL
- Why the money dried up for AOL after their merger with Time Warner
- AOL and its value in the post-Time-Warner era
- Speculating about what would have happened had AOL and others stayed independent businesses
- And much discussion on how to grade this one…
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Give and Take by Adam Grant
- David: Season of the Witch by David Talbot
- Brian: A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Rob Goodman
Episode 43: The Square IPO
Unicorns and ratchets and lawsuits, oh my! Our heroes dive into the history of Jack Dorsey’s famous “other” company, Square. Was the Square IPO a canary in the coal mine signaling doom & gloom for the so-called unicorn companies of the early 2010’s, or a mispriced and misunderstood diamond in the rough? Acquired weighs in.
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Topics Covered Include:
- Square’s deep origins in the early 90’s in St. Louis, MO with the initial meeting of its co-founders, Jack Dorsey & Jim McKelvey
- McKelvey’s side glass blowing business and the “inspiration” for Square that came much later in the late 2000’s
- The complicated involvement of Washington University (in St. Louis) professor Robert Morley, who had worked for years developing payment card reading technology
- The company’s early meeting with Scott Forstall at Apple, and its “significant” impact on the its name and design
- The real disruptive innovation of Square and its business model (hint: not just building a mobile card reader)
- Square’s massive payments deal with Starbucks in 2012 and its impact on the company
- The evolution of Square’s business from a simple card reader to cloud-based Point of Sale (PoS) system and entire suite of merchant tools & business management services
- The drama leading up to Square’s IPO (including at Jack Dorsey’s “other” company, Twitter), dynamics and narratives affecting its pricing, the effect of IPO “ratchets”, and the company’s performance over the ~2 years since
The Carve Out:
- David: Bob Iger on Nick Bilton’s Inside the Hive podcast
- Ben: The World After Capital on GitBooks
Episode 42: Opsware (with special guest Michel Feaster)
Acquired dives into the legendary acquisition of Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen’s “second act” software company Opsware, from a perspective never before heard—HP’s side of the story! Our heroes are joined by Michel Feaster, who led both the acquisition for HP and then the Opsware product as part of the integrated company afterward under Ben Horowitz. Today the tables have turned: Michel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Seattle-based startup Usermind, and Ben Horowitz sits on her board on behalf of A16Z. This episode is not one to miss!
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Topics covered include:
- Opsware’s early history and origins as Loudcloud, the “second act” of internet wunderkind Marc Andreessen and Netscape product manager Ben Horowitz
- Ben’s first person telling of the Loudcloud/Opsware history in The Hard Thing about Hard Things, as well as the great Wired "period piece” covering Loudcloud’s launch in August 2000
- The importance of timing, and Loudcloud’s too-early vision of—essentially—AWS before AWS (including eerie parallels between the metaphor Andreessen used to describe Loudcloud during the company’s first press briefing, and Jeff Bezos’s description of AWS at YC nearly a decade later)
- Creation of the “Opsware” tool inside of Loudcloud to automate deploying and configuring servers within Loudcloud’s data centers
- Loudcloud's meteoric rise, crash following the burst of the internet bubble, and hard pivot as a public company into Opsware—now an enterprise software company selling datacenter tools
- Michel’s role in HP’s evaluation of the company as an acquisition target, and process leading to its $1.6B acquisition in July 2007
- Integration of the company into HP’s culture and sales channel
- The creation of Ben & Marc’s “third act”, the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and what it’s like for Michel now having Ben as an investor on her board at Usermind
The Carve Out:
Episode 41: Booking.com with Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson
Acquired trains its lens on the “second or third best acquisition of all-time”, Priceline’s 2005 purchase of Booking.com. Our heroes are joined by friend-of-the-show and former Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson to help understand how this little-known startup from The Netherlands grew into the largest travel company in the world, with nearly $8B in annual revenue. Was this deal even better than Instagram??? We debate, hotly.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered include:
- The biggest startup you’ve never heard of (in the US), Booking.com, and its parent company Priceline (yes, the William Shatner Priceline)
- Booking’s founding in Amsterdam in late 1996: by recent college graduate Geert-Jan Bruinsma
- Skift.com’s Definitive Oral History of Online Travel
- The travel industry's GDS's (“Global Distribution Systems”) and the development of Sabre
- How Bruinsma raised the initial money for Booking: by emailing anyone he know who had an email address
- OTAs ("Online Travel Agencies”) and how they operate; the "merchant model" versus the “agency model"
- The role of search in online travel
- Bill Gurley on Conversion: The Most Important Internet Metric of All
- Expedia’s early flirtation with Booking, and decision not to acquire the company
- Priceline head of M&A Glenn Fogel’s vision for how powerful the agency model for OTAs could become in Europe
- Priceline and Glenn's 2004 acquisition of Active Hotels in the UK, followed by the 2005 acquisition of Booking for $133M and the combination of the two businesses into Booking.com
- Booking’s incredible growth in the decade since the acquisition, from less than 20M room-nights to over 500M, and $7.8B in revenue in 2016
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Scott Forstall talking about the original iPhone at the Computer History Museum
- David: The Big Sick
- Drew: Bloomberg’s Money Stuff by Matt Levine
Episode 40: Activision Blizzard
Ben & David cover the creation of the gaming world’s equivalent of the 70’s rock supergroup: the 2008 merger of Blizzard and Activision. We tell the story from the Blizzard perspective, tracing the history of one of the most innovative companies in the business from humble beginnings at the hands of UCLA undergrads, to surviving multiple acquisition rollups (including at one point being owned by the French national water company), to joining ultimately with Activision to form the largest gaming company in the world, all while inventing multiple game genres that define the industry as we know it today.
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Topics covered include:
- Blizzard’s founding in 1991 as "Silicon & Synapse” by recent UCLA grads Allen Adham, Frank Pearce, and Mike Morhaime
- The team’s first projects making ports for other games, including Battle Chess on the Commodore 64
- Early success on the Super Nintendo with Rock & Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings
- Origin of the Real-Time Strategy game genre (“RTS”) and Blizzard’s fist mega-hit, Warcraft
- Blizzard’s crazy corporate ownership changes over the years
- Development of further legendary game franchises like Diablo and Starcraft, along with sequels to Warcraft and the rise of the rise of player modding
- Emergence of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre (“MOBA”) from the Warcraft III modding community, and its growth into one of the biggest sectors in the games and esports industries today
- Blizzard’s role in developing the concept of online gaming, from early hacks to play against friends to World of Warcraft and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (“MMORPG’s”)
- The 2008 merger with storied gaming company Activision
- Growth and success since the merger, including the launch of new game franchises Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch
The Carve Out:
Acquired Episode 39: Whole Foods Market
Ben and David are once again live on the scene, this time covering the biggest disruption in grocery since… well, sliced bread: Amazon’s $13.7B purchase of Whole Foods Market. We place this deal in context by diving deep into the long, intertwining history of grocery, tech and Amazon, from the infamous dotcom flameout Webvan (domain name now owned by Amazon) to its much more successful progeny Kiva Systems (acquired by Amazon in 2012) to current Silicon Valley unicorn Instacart (founded by former Amazon logistics engineer Apoorva Mehta). One thing is clear: for Amazon and Jeff Bezos, realizing the longterm vision of the Everything Store truly means building the everything store.
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Topics covered include:
- The origins of Whole Foods Market as “Saferway” in the late 70’s Austin, TX hippie scene, founded by CEO John Mackey (“the Steve Jobs of grocery stores”) and his then-girlfriend Renee Lawson Hardy
- Whole Foods’ expansion through acquisition throughout the 80’s and 90’s
- The company’s recent struggles with competition, leading to sales declines and attracting activist shareholder interest from Jana Partners
- Amazon’s acquisition of the company on June 16, 2017 for $13.7 billion, a 27 percent premium to the stock's previous day closing price
- In depth history and analysis of the four keys to understanding this deal: Webvan, Kiva Systems, AmazonFresh and Instacart
Followups:
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Mark Zuckerberg’s 2005 CS50 guest lecture
- David: Exponent on Podcasting and Centralization
"About Acquired" on the Anchor Podcast of the Day
Ben and David are guests on Anchor's Podcast of the Day, discussing Acquired's origin story, show structure, and how the show gets made. If you're new to the show and looking for a primer, this is a great place to jump in!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Acquired Episode 38: SoundJam (iTunes)
Ben & David revisit the birth of the digital music revolution and Steve Jobs' "digital hub" strategy, with Apple's 2000 acquisition of the Mac music player SoundJam MP, which would go on to become iTunes. We relive the 90's with brushed metal interfaces, music visualizers and of course, software sold in (physical) boxes.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Episode 37: BAMTech, Disney and "the Biggest Media Company You've Never Heard Of”
Ben and David continue Acquired’s “tech and sports” mini-series with Disney’s 2016 acquisition of a minority stake (with the right to purchase a majority stake at a later date) in BAMTech, the internet streaming company originally founded as part of Major League Baseball in the early 2000’s. However the importance of this story goes deeper than just sports, with major ramifications for nearly every major technology company from Amazon to YouTube. Even if you’re not not sure if baseball’s played on a diamond or a gridiron, tune in as we swing for the fences in predicting the future of TV!
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Topics covered include:
- What is BAMTech, and why is it, according to The Verge, "the future of television”?
- BAMTech’s origins as part of Major League Baseball's Advanced Media division ("MLBAM)”)
- MLBAM’s founding CEO Bob Bowman’s decidedly “non-tech” background, and growth into one of the most important tech leaders of the past 15 years
- Initial technology struggles and learnings from early streaming efforts (including a botched audio package of Ichiro Suzuki’s games with the Mariners for fans in Japan)
- Landing on a streaming model that works with the launch of MLB.tv in 2002/2003—three years before YouTube is founded!
- Improvement of the MLB.tv service and MLBAM’s streaming expertise over the next ten years through the rise of mobile, and simultaneous growth of MLBAM’s revenues to over $1B annually
- MLBAM’s initial deals to expand its streaming services beyond baseball, starting with ESPN in 2010, then WWE, the PGA, HBO and the NHL
- The importance of media rights, and MLBAM’s transition from a simple tech/infrastructure provider to a full-fledged media company
- The decision to initiate a spin-off process for BAMTech from MLB in August 2015, and Disney’s $1B investment into the newly created spin-out company in August 2016
- Disney’s subsequent announcement that they’ll be working with BAMTech to create a direct-to-consumer ESPN streaming service
- BAMTech’s $300M deal with Riot Games in December 2016 for the media rights to League of Legends eSports content
- Bob Bowman’s announcement in February 2017 that he’ll be stepping back to from a day to day role, and hiring of former Amazon VP of Video Michael Paull as BAMTech’s new CEO
Followups & Hot Takes:
- Facebook’s struggles with Instant Articles
- Microsoft killing Wunderlist (David is VERY sad)
- Instagram continues its torrid growth, passes 700M MAU
- Amazon’s new Look
- The Cloudera IPO
- Confirmation the ride sharing wars are far from over: Didi raises $5.5B in the largest private funding round ever
The Carve Out:
Episode 36: The LA Clippers
In honor of start of NBA playoffs, Ben & David venture off the beaten path to explore one of Steve Ballmer’s most famous acquisitions, his 2014 purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise. Was this landmark purchase a steal or a turnover for the former Microsoft CEO? We speculate wildly!
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Topics covered include:
- The Clippers’ founding in 1970 as the NBA expansion team the Buffalo Braves
- Early ownership changes and the move west to San Diego in 1981
- Acquisition in 1981 by LA lawyer and real estate developer Donald Sterling for $12.5M
- Sterling's relocation of the Clippers to LA in 1984 against NBA rules
- Struggles over the next 25 years as the "worst franchise in professional sports” according to ESPN
- Turnaround beginning in early 2010s led by Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris Paul
- The bombshell in April 2014, reported by TMZ, of a taped conversation between Sterling and his mistress where Sterling makes hugely offensive and racist comments, directed in particular toward former Lakers point guard Magic Johnson
- Fallout from the comments, resulting in a lifetime ban from NBA for Sterling, and a forced sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer for $2B
- Impact of the landmark sale price on NBA and other sports franchise valuations
- Clippers performance post-sale, and prospects for the future
- The opportunity for technology and business model innovation in the NBA, and professional sports in general
Followups:
- Instagram Stories passes 200 million users per day (including correction on the definition of DAU)
- The Last Jedi trailer!
- Clarifying Starbucks’ same store sales performance post-IPO
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Bill Gurley on This Week in Startups
- David: Pop, Race & the '60s podcast and Just Around Midnight by Jack Hamilton
Episode 35: Oculus
Ben & David transcend the barriers of “real” reality, and dive into Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s geek-eutpoia vision of the future of gaming, social, and maybe even the entire internet: strapping goofy-looking goggles to your face. Is VR for real this time or are we living through another Virtual Boy moment? Tune in to find out!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered include:
- Oculus’s origins in 2010 as a twinkle in the eye of the then-17 year old VR wunderkind, Palmer Luckey, who started by prototyping VR headsets in his parents’ garage in Southern California
- Palmer’s time interning at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, and chronicling of his own VR efforts in the Meant to be Seen 3D internet forums
- Legendary game developer John Carmack’s own interest in virtual reality, his intersection with Palmer on the MTBS3D forums, and how he acquired and popularized one of Palmer's first early prototypes of the Oculus Rift (which was literally held together with duct tape!) by demonstrating it onstage at E3 2012
- How former Scaleform cofounders Brendan Iribe and Michael Antonov teamed up with Palmer after E3 to create the company Oculus VR
- The newly-formed Oculus’s wildly successful August 2012 Kickstarter campaign, including video endorsements from both Carmack and Valve founder Gabe Newell
- Oculus’s subsequent venture capital fundraisings, and catching the attention of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg
- Facebook’s acquisition of the company in March 2014 for $2.3B
- The Zenimax lawsuit filed against Oculus and Facebook following the acquisition
- Valve (home of the most incredible company handbook of all-time) and Gabe Newell’s subsequent pivot from supporting Oculus to launching their own competing VR efforts with the Vive
- Team changes at Oculus post-acquisition
Followups:
- SNAP: still a public company
Hot Takes:
- Intel’s $15B acquisition of Mobileye (with reference to Ben Thompson’s analysis of the deal and Smiling Curves)
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Kara Swisher interviews the Pod Save America team at SXSW
- David: Adam Gopnik asks Are Liberals on the Wrong Side of History?
Episode 34: The Starbucks IPO with Dan Levitan
Ben & David "pour over" the 1992 IPO of the legendary Seattle coffee company with the help of Dan Levitan, who served as lead investment banker on the IPO and who would later co-found the venture capital firm Maveron with Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz.
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered include:
- The original Starbucks’ founding as a coffee bean roaster, started by three disciples of the legendary coffee roaster Alfred Peet
- Howard Schultz’s introduction to Starbucks, his joining the team as director of marketing, and inspiration behind his “third place” coffee shop vision
- Howard’s departure from the original Starbucks, founding of Il Giornale, and subsequent of acquisition the Seattle Starbucks stores
- Starbucks’ incredible growth following the acquisition and expansion beyond Seattle
- The state of raising private capital in the 1980’s/90’s, and the decision to go public (link to the S-1)
- Howard’s ambitious goals for the roadshow and investor participation, and subsequent stock performance after the IPO
- The narrative and evolution of Starbucks as a technology company, or a consumer company that leverages technology very effectively
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Dan Primack’s new daily newsletter, Pro Rata
- David: The Wizard and the Bruiser podcast
- Dan: The Man in the Glass
Episode 33: Overture (with the Internet History Podcast!)
Episode 33: Overture (with the Internet History Podcast!) Ben & David dive deep into the early days of internet search, with the help of the best in the internet history business: Brian McCullough from the Internet History Podcast! We are huge fans of IHP at Acquired, so this was a real treat to collaborate with Brian and the great work he does over there. In this episode we cover the story of how a small incubator in Southern California spawned perhaps the greatest tech business model of all-time, Yahoo!’s fumbling of that golden opportunity, and Google’s recovery of that fumble to cross into the end zone of tech history behind the biggest moat ever constructed on the internet.
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Topics covered include:
- Overture’s origins as part of the Idealab incubator run by famed early internet entrepreneur Bill Gross
- Invention of the paid search business model… initially by returning ADS ONLY in response to search queries
- The eventual marrying of Overture’s paid search (ads) with organic search results via syndication on other properties like Yahoo!
- Revenue from Overture’s ad partnership saving Yahoo!’s business after the internet bubble burst
- Yahoo!’s eventual acquisition of Overture for $1.4B in 2003
- But… the really interesting story here: Overture’s 'inspiration' of Google’s business model and the creation of "the greatest advertising machine in the history of the world"
- The original (pre-Overture) Google business model: selling a box!
- Google’s differentiation vs Overture: focusing on the long tail, ad quality scores, and an advertiser-friendly auction structure
- Google’s first major search syndication victory over Overture: AOL
- Yahoo!’s failed attempt to buy Google for $3B in 2002, leading it to settle for acquiring Overture instead the following year
- “Project Panama” at Yahoo!, and its impact on the tech and internet history
- Overture's (and later Yahoo!’s) lawsuit against Google for stealing the paid search business model— "the O.G. version of Snapchat and Instagram”
- Paul Graham’s take on "What Happened to Yahoo?”
- Perhaps the most important technology to come out of this whole episode: Hadoop
- The power of incentive alignment in marketplaces— and creating the widest and deepest moats on the internet
The Carve Out:
- Ben: The famous University of Washington's “Love Lab” Dr. John Gottman: “The Secret to Love is Just Kindness”
- David: Berlin
- Brian: The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s
Episode 32: The Snap Inc. IPO
Snap! Acquired is live on the scene reporting from the "Super Bowl" of 2017 tech events: Snap Inc's hugely anticipated (and just plain huge) IPO. What does the future hold for this plucky “camera company”? Will Snap's IPO endure as tech's most important picture-frame since the 2012 debut of Facebook, or is it destined to fade as just another snapshot? We debate!
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Topics covered include:
- Reference to our previous Acquired episode on Snap covering Facebook’s failed attempt to acquire the company in 2013, which goes deep on Snap’s origins and early history
- Snap’s busy years since: launching Discover, Lenses, Geofilters, new Chat, Memories, an ads API, acquiring Bitmoji, and, of course, debuting Spectacles
- The incredible document that is Snap's S-1 filing (read starting from the “BUSINESS” section on p.93)
- Snap Inc’s “unique” voting structure
- Evan Spiegel’s “CEO Award” bonus for successfully completing an IPO: an extra 3.0% of the company worth more than $600M
- Snap’s IPO pricing, first day of trading “pop”, and momentum carried into day two
- Introducing a new show section (for IPOs): Narratives!
- Snap is a “camera company"
- Snap's opportunity is winning television ad dollars
- Snap is a cult of the “product genius”
- Snap has a growth problem… and its name is Instagram (Stories)
- Snap has a cost problem: the (first?) gross margin negative IPO
- Wall Street to Evan: “we trust you… for now"
- Chris Sacca’s biggest email fail of 2012
- …And of course all the classics from the Acquired canon: waves, moats, flywheels, network effects, starting small and more!
The Carve Out:
- Ben: The Bill Simmons Podcast with Ben Thompson
- David: The Art of War, also Evan Spiegel’s Carve Out for 2013 :)
Episode 31: The Uber - Didi Chuxing Merger with Brad Stone, author of The Upstarts & The Everything Store
Topics covered include:
- The global surge in 2012 of entrepreneurs starting ridesharing companies, nowhere moreso than China
- Didi CEO Cheng Wei and investor Wang Gang’s backgrounds at Alibaba, first entrepreneurial effort in Momo, and Momo’s pivot to Didi Dache
- The culling of the ridesharing herd in China down to Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache through brutal competition and involvement of the “big three” Chinese internet companies
- Rise of the Chinese messaging apps and associated mobile payments, and their impact on ridesharing
- The 2015 merger between Didi and Kuaidi, brokered in part by Russian VC Yuri Milner
- Uber’s decision to enter the Chinese market, and early success with investment and support from Baidu
- The first meeting between Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Cheng Wei in 2015—which does not go well
- Subsequent “scorched earth” competition between Didi and Uber throughout 2015-16
- Negotiating an armistice: Uber’s agreement to sell its Chinese operations to Didi in late 2016
- End of the war, or just the beginning? January 2017: Didi invests $100M in Brazilian Uber competitor 99
- Sustainable growth, and building moats versus scorching earth
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Followups:
- Stay tuned for real-time coverage of the Snap IPO coming here on Acquired!
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Taming the Mammoth on Wait But Why
- David: Conversations with Tyler Podcast by Tyler Cowen, co-author of the Marginal Revolution blog
- Brad: Yuval Noah Harari (author of Sapiens)’s new book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Episode 30: P.A. Semi + AuthenTec
Topics covered include:
- P.A. Semi’s original moniker ("Palo Alto Semiconductor”) and its celebrity founder (in the semiconductor world) Dan Dobberpuhl
- History of the back and forth tradeoffs between Intel’s powerful x86 chips and low power alternatives like ARM processors
- Dobberpuhl’s technology breakthroughs throughout his career that enabled true low-power + high-performance chips
- The initial target markets for P.A. Semi’s chips (surprise: NOT mobile phones)
- P.A. Semi’s first foray into a potential deal with Apple, dashed by Cupertino’s surprise switch to Intel processors in 2005
- The rise of mobile finally creating the huge market need for low-power / high-performance, Apple’s acquisition of P.A., and launch of the first Apple-designed chip, the “A4”, with the original iPad in 2010
- Geekbench: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors (A10 Fusion) has basically caught up with Intel’s laptop CPUs
- AuthenTec’s beginnings in the late 90’s as a spinoff from the defense contractor Harris Corporation (named by Wired Magazine as the #2 threat to internet privacy in the US), based in Melbourne, Florida
- Early versions of the technology that became TouchID, the sensors for which were many times larger than today’s iPhones themselves!
- AuthenTec “not very Apple-like” website on Archive.org (and screenshot)
- AuthenTec’s deal that almost was to put their technology and sensors into Samsung’s flagship phones
- Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec for $356 million in July 2012, and the rapid introduction of TouchID in the iPhone 5S one year later in September 2013
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Followups:
- Merging of Alaska & Virgin America loyalty programs (woo!)
- Walmart announces major reorg following the Jet acquisition
- Snap Inc. IPO drama is mounting! (we can’t wait to cover this one)
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Rands in Repose: The Situation
- David: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
More Acquired!:
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Episode 29: Special—2016 Review and 2017 Predictions
Ben & David wrap up 2016 with a review of the top tech themes we discussed on the show this year, and look forward to which themes we think will be relevant in the coming year. Can our hosts predict the future? Tune-in in 2018 to find out! Note: we apologize for the less-than-amazing audio quality on this one. We’re still working on tuning our remote recording setup!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered include:
- Our top tech themes of 2016, including the first annual Acquired "Theme of the Year”: Aggregation Theory (surprise, surprise)
- Themes we think will be most relevant as we head into 2017
- Extended Carve Outs!
The Carve Out(s):
- Books:
- Ben: On Writing Well
- David: The Creative Habit and the Asimov Robot/Empire/Foundation series
- Article:
- Ben: Wait But Why: Religion for the Nonreligious
- David: The New York Times: The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.
- Podcasts:
- Both: The Ezra Klein Show
- Music:
- Ben: Justin Bieber
- David: Stevie Nicks
- TV/Movies:
- Apps:
- Ben: ReachNow
- David: Amazon Music
Episode 28: The Amazon IPO with original Amazon Board Member Tom Alberg
Ben & David welcome very special guest Tom Alberg, board member and first lead investor in Amazon.com, to cover the IPO of "earth’s most customer-centric company". From longterm thinking to flywheels to riding big waves, this episode is chock full of lessons and stories from the journey of building one of tech’s most iconic franchises. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we did recording it!
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Topics covered include:
- Tom’s “prolific” bio from the Amazon S-1
- Jeff Bezos’s journey from a Vice President at the New York hedge fund D. E. Shaw to founding Amazon in a Bellevue, WA garage in the summer of 1994
- Jeff’s longterm thinking as evident in the early days of Amazon, and his approach that "failure is ok, but not trying things is not ok”
- Raising the seed money for Amazon before product launch, how Tom met Jeff and decided to invest despite the “high” valuation
- Tom's (and Jeff’s) focus on the power of targeting large and growing markets
- Amazon’s actual overnight success after launching the website: according to Tom at the time, "By the second or third week… It was clear there was a trend here.”
- How Amazon’s venture round, led by John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, came together in the spring of 1996
- Amazon’s torrid growth through 1996, Jeff’s mantra of “get big fast” to win the land grab of online book selling, and the board’s decision to prepare for a public offering in the spring of 1997
- How Frank Quattrone and Bill Gurley, then of Deutsche Bank, won the lead position for the Amazon IPO, beating out more storied firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
- Development of the flywheel concept within Amazon, as an outgrowth of maniacal focus on creating superior customer experience
- Amazon's public offering on May 15, 1997 at $18 per share (effectively $1.50 relative to today’s stock price after splits), raising $54M at a market capitalization of $438M — and subsequently trading down during the first few months following the IPO
- Amazon and Jeff’s management of investor perceptions of the company, and ability to sell the longterm vision over short term profits — “you get the investors you ask for”
- The creation of the first annual letter to Amazon shareholders included in the company’s 1997 annual report (and republished every year since), and then-CFO Joy Covey’s role and contributions to it
- Raising convertible debt just before the peak of the dotcom bubble and subsequent ability to survive the burst, and the impact of the downturn on Amazon culture
The Carve Out:
- Ben: the band The Album Leaf
- David: Cormac McCarthy (author of All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, etc)’s contribution to W. Brian Arthur’s landmark paper about the economics of the internet, “Increasing Returns and the New World of Business”
- Tom: Michael Lewis’s latest book The Undoing Project, chronicling the Nobel Prize winning partnership between Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky in developing the field of behavioral economics
Episode 27: Special—A Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz
Topics covered include:
- Brian’s history working across “both sides of the aisle” as both a startup founder and corporate development leader at a big company, how perspective from each informs the other, and the importance of learning “customer empathy”
- How Microsoft approaches M&A from an organizational perspective, and the importance of fit with the company’s product roadmap
- How Brian approaches strategic investments at Microsoft, and the evolution over time of the Microsoft (and large technology companies as a whole) perspective on investing in other companies
- Balancing the tension between partnering and investing, and what criteria Brian thinks about when evaluating companies
- Microsoft’s investment in Facebook in 2007 (at a then-crazy-seeming $15B valuation), and more recently Foursquare, Mesosphere, CloudFlare and others
- The current state of the tech M&A landscape, and the emergence of private equity as tech company acquirers
- Potentially changing corporate and foreign tax structures and how they impact acquirers’ thinking around deals (or not!)
- How Microsoft tracks and evaluates success of acquisitions over time, and lessons learned from successes and failures
- The increasing number of operating companies (technology and otherwise) looking to invest in startups, and how that landscape has evolved over time
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Followups:
- Snap Inc.’s rumored IPO filing — and bonus discussion of how VC’s and other investors think about “exiting” their investments in companies that have gone public
Hot Takes:
The Carve Out:
- Ben: OK Go - The One Moment
- David: UC Berkeley Oral History with Sequoia Capital founder Don Valentine
- Brian: Om Malik’s recent piece in the New Yorker: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Episode 26: Marvel
Topics covered include:
- Marvel’s corporate origins as "Timely Publications”, created in 1939 by pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman in NYC, with the publication of Marvel Comics #1
- Creation of enduring characters such as Captain America, the Fantastic 4, Spider Man, The X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk and more
- Adoption in 1961 of the "Marvel Comics” brand, and writer-editor Stan Lee’s transition of the company towards focusing on edgier characters and stories targeted at older audiences
- Marvel’s first sale in 1968 to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation (later Cadence Industries)
- The company’s “turbulent” corporate history through the 1980’s and associated mergers, acquisitions and lawsuits
- Marvel’s reinvention as a film-focused media company in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s with the launch of Marvel Studios
- Disney’s ultimate acquisition of the company for $4.2 billion in August 2009, during the depth of the great recession
- Marvel's—and in particular Marvel Studios’—performance since the acquisition
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Followups:
Hot Takes:
- Shoutout to Hightower & VTS merging
The Carve Out:
More Acquired!:
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Episode 25: The Facebook IPO
Hey Acquired listeners. A note about this show: we recorded this episode the night before the 2016 Election Day in the US. At the time, the biggest change we saw coming was adding a new type of content to Acquired in analyzing IPO’s, which we introduce in this episode. Two days later, we woke up to a very different world than the one we were expecting. Reflecting on what’s happened, and the past few months of our show, we wanted to say two things:
First, we want to apologize for our cavalier attitude toward this election cycle, and our glossing over the clearly very real problems and deep divide in America that it represented. In the Skype episode, David pretty glibly compared the AT&T - Time Warner merger to "Make America Great Again", arguing that any reactionary force is “on the wrong side of history” and cannot be relevant in a changing world. That was wrong, the sentiment behind it was wrong, and it was insensitive to the very real pain a lot of people are feeling out there on both sides.
Second, looking back on this particular episode about the Facebook IPO, we think it actually might present a relevant parable for our country right now and--we hope--some important lessons for the technology industry going forward. For all the wonderful aspects of the tech industry that we celebrate on this show, there is no doubt that it also bears a great deal of responsibility for the current divide in America, and especially in its contribution to wealth inequality. Likewise, for all the wonderful aspects to the Facebook IPO story, as told in this episode, there is a very dark side as well: Facebook shareholders, investment banks and institutional investors raked in billions of dollars at the expense of individual retail investors who lost their shirts.
At the same time, Facebook’s perseverance through their “broken IPO", and their determination in overcoming with incredible speed the massive, existential challenge to their business model posed by mobile, is something we think *can be* an inspiration to us all on how to move forward even when that seems hard. We hope you’ll listen to this episode with that in mind and think about how you, we, and the technology industry as a whole can do better in serving everyone in this country and in the world.
Thanks for being on this journey with us. We’re sorry for our shortcomings, and we’re going to keep working hard to do better.
-Ben & David
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Topics covered include:
- Introducing a new content vertical for Acquired: analyzing IPO’s!
- Facebook turning down early acquisition offers, including including the famous $1B overture from Yahoo in 2006
- The Wikipedia entry on the Facebook IPO referencing it as a “cultural touchstone”
- Trading of pre-IPO Facebook stock on SecondMarket and SharesPost
- The infamous 2011 Facebook - Goldman Sachs deal attempting to circumvent then-active SEC regulations on number of permissible shareholders in a private company, and Goldman’s eventual loss of “lead left” status to Morgan Stanley for the ultimate Facebook IPO
- Facebook’s S-1 filing on February 1, 2012
- The company’s "small problem" at the time (read: gaping chest wound) with mobile
- Acquiring Instagram for $1B while on file to go public in April 2012
- Facebook’s $16B IPO finally taking place on Friday May 18, 2012, priced at $38 per share giving FB an initial market cap of $104B
- NASDAQ’s “technical glitch” (read: egregious f*&# up) preventing the stock from trading when it supposed to and resulting in $500M of investor losses
- Facebook’s stock tanking following a flat first day of trading, losing 25% of its value during the first month and over 50% 4 months later, leading some to label it “The Biggest IPO Flop Ever"
- Later revelations that Facebook had unprecedentedly lowered revenue guidance during its IPO roadshow due to continuing challenges with mobile, resulting in an information asymmetry between its underwriting investment banks and their institutional investor clients versus the investing public at large
- How, from the ashes of its “broken IPO”, Facebook amazingly rose to fix its mobile problem at lighting speed, going from mobile comprising zero percent of ad revenue to 23% in one quarter, and over 50% one year later
- Zuckerberg's belief that the difficult IPO process and "terrible first year” as a public company "made our company a lot stronger”… and silicon valley’s bizarre, antithetical and counter-productive take away to “stay private longer”
Followups:
- The scoop on Microsoft’s use of foreign cash to buy Skype, thanks to longtime listener and friend Nick Seguin
Hot Takes:
- Twitter shutting down (or selling?) Vine
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Amazon employee #1 Shel Kaphan on the great Internet History Podcast
- David: Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization by Parag Khanna
Episode 24: Skype
An acquisition so wild and crazy, they had to do it again. And again. Ben & David cover tech’s perhaps most-traded asset, Skype (which also happens to be a fantastic business). How do we even know which deal to grade? Tune in to find out…
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Topics covered include:
- Community spotlight: Slack community member Swyx’s financial data research startup Sentieo!
- Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis’s meeting in the 1990’s at Swedish telecom company Tele2
- Zennström & Friis’s introduction to talented Estonian developers Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla, and Priit Kasesalu as part of Tele2’s efforts to jump into the dot com “portal mania”
- Skype’s origins in the technology powering Zennström, Friis and the Estonians’ first startup endeavor together: the peer-to-peer file sharing platform Kazaa
- The “complicated” legal, technological and ownership situation for Kazaa and Skype
- Skype’s “unique” corporate culture, including a swimming pool in the board room and shots for initiating new employees
- The first Skype acquisition: eBay’s 2005 deal to acquire the company for $2.6B, just two years after launch
- Culture clash between eBay and Skype management, and further legal drama regarding Skype technology ownership post-acquisition
- The second Skype acquisition: eBay’s 2009 decision to spin the company out to a private investor consortium including Silver Lake and the newly-formed Andreessen Horowitz
- The third (and final?) Skype acquisition: Microsoft’s $8.5B purchase of the company in 2011
- Skype as a “crossover” product with viable market opportunities both in consumer and enterprise
- Bill Gurley’s “Keys to the 10X Revenue Club” and the power of Skype’s organic customer acquisition model
Followups:
Hot Takes:
- AT&T’s $85B mega-acquisition of Time Warner… making America great again, or rebuilding the T-1000?
- The New York Times acquiring The Wirecutter
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny
- David: SOMA the Musical starring our very own Acquired listener, the brilliant and talented Jake Saper!
Episode 23: NeXT (Live show at the GeekWire Summit)
Ben & David broadcast live from the 2016 GeekWire Summit covering one of the all-time greats, Apple’s 1996 acquisition of NeXT. This episode has it all: the Steve Jobs hero story, Apple, I.M. Pei, Ross Perot, Aaron Sorkin, Nobel Laureates and… Gil Amelio? Does NeXT rank atop the best acquisitions ever? Our own heroes cast their votes.
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Topics covered include:
- 1980’s era Apple, entering the age of the “workstation”, with John Sculley as CEO and Steve Jobs leading the newly formed SuperMicro division working on building the “BigMac"
- Jobs’ exile to "Siberia”, and chance meeting with Nobel Laureate Paul Berg that sowed the seeds of NeXT
- Jobs’ resignation from Apple on September 13, 1985 to start NeXT, taking with him SuperMicro division employees Joanna Hoffman, Bud Tribble, George Crow, Rich Page, Susan Barnes, Susan Kare, and Dan'l Lewin
- Apple’s subsequent lawsuit against Jobs and, Steve’s classic quote in response: "It is hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300-plus people couldn't compete with six people in blue jeans."
- NeXT’s “anti lean startup” approach, spending $100k on brand identity and moving into I.M. Pei designed offices
- Ross Perot’s $20M investment in NeXT
- The first NeXT computer (fun unboxing video) product launch, dubbed "The NeXT Introduction” on October 12, 1988 (one of the three scenes in the Aaron Sorkin Steve Jobs movie)
- The NeXTSTEP operating system as the first “modern” OS (including Object-oriented programming), and like the Mac equally descended from Xerox PARC
- Major technologies developed on NeXT computers, including the first web browser and Doom
- NeXT’s exit from the hardware business and transition to a software-only model with OPENSTEP
- Apple’s failed internal projects to develop a modern OS, culminating in the acquisition of NeXT in December 1996
- Steve Jobs’ return to Apple, public lack of faith in the then-current board and management, and maneuvering to return to the CEO role
- The transformation of NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP into OS X, and ultimately iOS, watchOS, tvOS, etc.
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Stewart Butterfield (Cofounder/CEO of Slack) on the The Ezra Klein Show
- David: DJI and the Rise of the Robomasters
Episode 22: Zillow + Trulia (with Zillow Group CFO Kathleen Philips)
CFO of Zillow Group Kathleen Philips joins Ben and David to cover the show’s first true “merger” versus “acquisition" (only took 22 episodes!), Zillow’s 2015 combination with Trulia to form Zillow Group. Note: our audio glitches unfortunately continued on this episode, and quality is rough. We recommend listening on speakers vs headphones if you’re able. We apologize and will be back to normal quality next time!
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Topics covered include:
- Zillow and Trulia’s beginnings during the “Web 2.0” era in the mid-2000’s
- Zillow, Trulia and other online players’ place within the massive US real estate market
- The lengthy “dance" between Zillow and Trulia and earlier aborted merger talks between the two
- The difficulty of "true mergers” among private companies and why the path is easier for public companies
- Public company shareholders’ influence and role in M&A transactions
- Details of the blazingly fast negotiations (27 days start to finish!) per disclosures in the SEC filings (scroll down to "Background of the Mergers”)
- Structuring the deal and incentivizing Trulia and Zillow mangers to stay and continue growing as separate brands
- Trulia cofounder Sami Inkinen’s whereabouts during the merger negotiations
- The experience going through a lengthy FTC review of the merger, and defining what the relevant “market” is the FTC should be considering
- Introducing our new acquisition category: a “timeline acquisition” ;) (h/t Kathleen)
- Zillow Group’s overall approach to acquisitions, folding into its broader HR strategy
- Zillow founder Rich Barton’s startup thesis of searching for "What piece of marketplace information do people crave and don’t have?"
Followups:
Hot Takes:
- Twitter-Disney rumors, according to “people familiar with matter”!
- AppLovin’s journey from bootstrapped startup to $1.4B exit
The Carve Out:
- Ben: The Marvel Symphonic Universe
- David: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- Kathleen: The Struts
Episode 21: Inside the M&A Press with Bloomberg's Alex Sherman
Ben and David go inside the M&A press with Bloomberg’s technology M&A reporter and host of the Deal of the Week Podcast, Alex Sherman. If you’ve ever wondered how stories about big deals get broken or what “according to people familiar with the matter” really means, tune in for the behind-the-scenes scoop! Note: A technical glitch with our recording setup created occasional short silences between Alex’s comments and Ben & David’s. It shouldn’t impact listenability, but we apologize for the awkward pauses!
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Topics covered include:
- Bloomberg’s own fascinating “history & facts” and origins following the acquisition of storied Wall Street firm Salomon Brothers
- Bloomberg’s core as a highly profitable technology business (selling terminals to Wall Street firms), with a large media empire built on top of it
- The tradable value of breaking M&A news & information to Bloomberg’s terminal customers, and competing on speed
- How “sources" work — and industry standard that sources be directly within the companies involved in a deal
- The coded language of M&A reporting and gleaning where information is coming from based on a story’s structure and phrasing
- The lifecycle of a story—steps from sourcing to writing to release, and reasons (or lack thereof) for why stories run when they do
- Internal & external PR resources companies use for M&A
- How Alex prioritizes his time researching and creating stories, and who he’s meeting with to hear about what deals are in the works
- The difference between ‘news' and ‘analysis', and why news dominates the majority of stories versus deeper analysis
- Media and social media business models, their evolution in the messenger world, and speculation on Twitter’s future
- How entrepreneurs can think about interacting with the press and building relationships with the right reporters for their stage and space
- Apple’s ‘unique’ approach to press relations
Followups:
- Instagram announces 500k+ active advertisers, up from 200k in February 2016
- Amazon stock price surpasses $800/share
Hot Takes:
- Ford acquires Chariot
- The Yahoo! data breach and potential impact on their acquisition by Verizon
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Phil of Drones’ Burning Man 2016 recap video
- David: Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths
- Alex: Clinton’s Samantha Bee Problem, by Ross Douthat in the NYT Opinion Pages
Episode 20: Android
Ben & David examine Google’s 2005 purchase of Android for a rumored $50M, undeniably one of the best technology acquisitions of all time. But will it top the list of these tough graders? Tune in to find out.
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Topics covered include:
- Welcome new listeners! We quickly review the show format for newbies.
- Community spotlight: Patagonia on a Budget from community member Matt Morgante (@mattm on Slack)
- Andy Rubin’s career trajectory and what made him “born to start Android"
- The undeniable “cool factor” of the Danger Sidekick in the early/mid-2000’s, including fans such as Larry Page, Sergey Brin and… Turtle from Entourage
- Android’s original ambition to build an operating system for… digital cameras
- WebTV founder Steve Perlman is pretty much the best friend ever
- Google’s own perspective on Android as their “best deal ever"
- The Android team’s reaction to Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone in January 2007, and redesigning the initial launch hardware
- Announcing Android and—equally importantly—the Open Handset Alliance (“OHA”)
- The much-talked-about "mobile holy wars", between Android’s “open” platform and Apple’s “closed” platform
- The less-talked-about US carrier wars with the iPhone + AT&T in one camp, and everyone else in the Google / OHA camp (including “Droid Does”)
- A quirk of history: HTC at one point acquires a majority share in Beats, resulting a short-lived period of Beats-branded Android phones (still available on Amazon!)
- The real battleground for Google in the mobile platform wars: the economics of “default search” (briefly known thanks to the Oracle/Java lawsuit against Google)
- Google’s detour into smartphone hardware with the acquisition (and subsequent divestiture) of Motorola
- The “fork-ability” of Android via the Android Open Source Project (versus “Google Android”), and the rise of Xiaomi, Cyanogen, Kindle Fire and other platforms
- The ecosystem economics of the Android business for Google
- “Defensive” versus “offensive” acquisitions, and protecting Google’s core search business
- Could (or would) Google have built an Android-like platform without acquiring Android the company (or having Andy Rubin)?
- Framing the technology world’s shift to mobile within (surprise) Ben Thompson’s Aggregation Theory
- The current “moving up the stack” of the competitive playing field as the mobile landscape matures
- Grading: Android versus Instagram?
Followups:
- Waze launches Carpool in the Bay Area. Much consternation ensues on the Uber board.
Hot Takes:
- The iPhone 7 (and AirPods) announcement
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Business Adventures by John Brooks, Bill Gates’ favorite business book
- David: Ezra Edelman's fantastic 5-part ESPN documentary on O.J. Simpson, O.J.: Made in America
- None this week… coverage of Instagram Stories to come next time!
Episode 19: Jet
Ben & David break down Jet.com’s meteoric rise, culminating in Walmart’s blockbuster $3B+ acquisition of the company just two years after its founding. Will we look back on this deal as an ‘Instagram-like’ bargain or a ‘Pets.com'-sized blunder? And most importantly, can *anyone* compete with Amazon going forward? We speculate wildly.
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Topics covered include:
- Community spotlight: Nowdue, a super fast invoicing platform for teams on Slack. Invoice like it’s the future! This looks very cool.
- Jet’s deep origins in Founder & CEO Marc Lore’s first two companies, The Pit and Quidsi (aka, diapers.com)
- Lore’s chance run-in with Jeff Bezos at a school picnic in Seattle in the early 2000’s
- Amazon's dramatic acquisition of Quidsi in 2010, including Bezos’ admonition to Amazon corp dev to keep Quidsi from being bought by Walmart under any circumstances (covered well in The Everything Store)
- Lore’s less-than-favorable opinion of Amazon's culture
- Lore's vision of Jet as an ‘online Costco’ that can directly with Amazon on price by selling goods to a “huge middle-class of people" at effectively zero margin, and make profit on membership fees
- Jet’s huge, pre-launch fundraising rounds, and subsequent massively promoted public launch in July 2015
- Jet’s pivot in October 2015 to drop the membership model (their only profit engine), and subsequent massive growth (but also accompanying massive losses)
- 'Admitting defeat” to Amazon in July 2016? Immediately followed by the blockbuster $3B+ Walmart acquisition announcement
- Is e-commerce really a winner-take-all business and will Amazon just take over the world? Featuring liberal citations (again) of Ben Thompson's Aggregation Theory and the importance of customer experience.
- Is there any path for Walmart & Jet to compete effectively with Amazon? Is Marc Lore Walmart’s only hope?
- Fantastic interview with Tim Cook discussing (among other things) the massive amount of growth still left in the internet
Followups:
- Lucasfilm: Star Wars Rouge One trailer drops! Featuring a strong female protagonist!
New section: Hot Takes! (thank you @cteitzel on Slack for the idea)
- Verizon/AOL acquires Yahoo!
- Lyft reportedly turns down acquisition offer from GM
- Microsoft acquires Beam
- Randstad acquires Monster.com
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Michael Mauboussin’s Talk at Google and Reflections on the Ten Attributes of Great Investors after thirty years of honing his craft
- David: Strava, the fantastic social fitness-tracking app
- None this week… coverage of Instagram Stories to come next time!
Episode 18: Special—An Acquirer’s View into M&A with Taylor Barada, head of Corp Dev at Adobe
Ben & David are joined by special guest Taylor Barada, VP and Head of Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships at Adobe, to discuss how large tech acquirers approach buying companies. This episode is full of great insights for startups & entrepreneurs who might find themselves navigating the M&A process, as well as anyone curious about the craft of dealmaking and the strategic approach of large acquirers.
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Topics covered include:
- How conversations begin between startups and acquirers
- The importance of building a relationship with acquirers over time and "investing in lines, not dots” (just like raising VC)
- The often under-appreciated role of culture fit between acquirers and acquisition targets
- How entrepreneurs should evaluate acquirers throughout the M&A process
- Two examples of successful acquisitions Taylor completed at Yahoo in Citizen Sports and IntoNow
- The M&A process at large technology acquirers, from initial conversations to LOI, due diligence and the definitive merger agreement
- The relative roles of Corp Dev, business/product owners and executive sponsors in the M&A process
- Common mistakes startups (and VC’s) often make in the M&A process
- Different “categories” of M&A that acquirers think about, and the relative risks & opportunities of “core" acquisitions vs transformative new businesses
- What percentage of deals Adobe looks at actually happen, and the importance of being willing to say no
- M&A as a tool for strategy, and the different M&A cultures & approaches at different companies
- Tech themes Taylor and Adobe think about as part of their M&A strategy
- Evaluating the longterm success of deals and the importance of the M&A integration function
Followups:
- Ben & David’s quick take on Instagram Stories!
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Why the Concorde failed by Vox
- David: Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time
- Taylor: Mindset by Carol Dweck, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
- None this week… coverage of Instagram Stories to come next time!
Acquired Episode 17: Waze
Topics covered include:
- Community Showcase: the Nexcast podcasting platform from listener Brian Sanders, along with their podcast chronicling the team’s journey building the company
- Waze’s origin in cofounder & CTO Ehud Shabtai’s desire to hack his portable GPS navigation unit
- Waze CEO Noam Bardin’s retrospective blog post on the Waze journey
- Waze’s Palo Alto office and the bizarre Silicon Valley phenomenon of tech companies being located in retail storefronts
- Apple’s ill-fated launch of Apple Maps as part of iOS 6 at WWDC 2012, Apple’s subsequent apology letter, and Scott Forstall’s ultimate ouster from the company
- The climax of the mobile platform wars… which it turns out Apple and Google both won
- Apple, Facebook, and Google all vying to acquire Waze throughout 2013
- Google’s renewed design ethos under Larry Page
- Ben and David spontaneously agree (surprise) to create on a new category of acquisition for the show
- The increasing strategic value of data and data assets as technology enters the age of machine learning
- The coming mega trend of autonomous vehicles, and the role Israeli startups are playing in it (including the globalization of startups & innovation)
- The disruptive power of network and data-based business models
- Emergence of native as *the* definitive advertising medium on mobile, including ability to close the advertising loop via location-based products and services
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The Carve Out:
- Ben: Weezer’s “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori” on Song Exploder
- David: Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” TED Talk
Followups:
- None this week… coverage of Instagram Stories to come next time!
Acquired Episode 16: Midroll + Stitcher (acquired by Scripps)
The meta show: Ben and David turn their gaze inward and examine the podcasting industry through E. W. Scripps’ recent acquisitions of the Midroll podcast advertising network and Stitcher podcast client. Featuring discussion of our own product process and metrics at Acquired.
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Announcements:
- We’re pivoting! (not really) Our new show description: A Podcast About Technology Acquisitions That Actually Went Well
- But we are launching a new feature! Since so many of you, our listeners, are also tech and startup folks and/or other builders, we wanted to create a space to feature cool products, companies and side projects you’re working on. Thus we’re adding a "Community Showcase” section to the show. If you’d like to be included just send us a Slack message or email, and we’ll choose one submission to feature on each show. This episode we’re highlighting BESTR, from community member David Resnick (aka @the_rezonator in Slack), which is an online platform to share lists of great things. Check it out and let David know what you think.
Topics covered include:
- Top Google search results for “acquired podcast"
- Midroll’s origins in the comedy podcast Comedy Bang Bang (now an tv show on IFC) and exit last year to Scripps
- The structural challenges inherent to podcasting as a medium and the gap between audience size/engagement and industry revenues
- Opportunities for independent podcasters and our own audience and business metrics at Acquired
- Stitcher’s long corporate history as a venture backed company, first acquisition by French music company Deezer, and now second acquisition from Deezer by Scripps
- Problems with Stitcher as a product and industry reaction to the acquisition including John Gruber's response, Ben Thompson’s article on Stratechery, and Ben & James Allworth's discussion on their excellent podcast Exponent
- Handicapping Stitcher+Midroll’s chances for success within Scripps, and opportunities for new startups & innovation in the podcasting space
- Pioneer Square Labs’ own past efforts in the podcasting space and their process for evaluating potential new company ideas
- Shoutout to Pocket Casts and our listeners down under
Followups:
- Twitch: bringing tipping onto the platform with the launch of Cheering + Bits (H/t Slack community member jamesk)
- Facebook Instant Articles: pour one out for Facebook Paper (developed by the Push Pop Press team)
- LinkedIn: the hotly anticipated SEC filing detailing all the negotiation drama is now live (scroll down to "Background of the Merger” on p.31)
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Mark Titus, AKA @ClubTrillion is joining the Ringer
- David: OKR’s and regular goal setting, including great “how to" from GV partner Rick Klau
Acquired Episode 15: ExactTarget (acquired by Salesforce) with Scott Dorsey
Ben and David return to make their first foray into enterprise software, covering Salesforce’s $2.5B acquisition of ExactTarget in 2013 with the help of special guest and ExactTarget cofounder & CEO, Scott Dorsey. Technical note: due to an issue we didn’t catch during recording, audio quality is significantly lower than usual for this episode (especially David’s voice). We apologize but hope you’ll give it a chance anyway— Scott offers great wisdom & insights, and the ExactTarget success story is a inspiring one underdog entrepreneurs, especially (but not limited to!) anyone located in the Midwest or elsewhere outside of traditional "Silicon Valley-style” tech hubs. Sponsors: Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
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Topics covered include:
- The decision to start ExactTarget post-internet bubble and in Indianapolis, with zero software experience between Scott and cofounders Chris Baggott & Peter McCormick
- Raising initial money from friends & family, followed by early investment and mentoring from Indianapolis venture pioneer Bob Compton
- Building and scaling a great sales organization within a technology company
- The importance of focusing early on a clearly defined target market (SMBs in the case of ExactTarget), and then “stair-stepping” up as the product and business scale grow over time
- ExactTarget’s unsuccessful first IPO filing during the financial crisis
- Building a "capital-efficient” early stage company, and the value of raising growth capital at the right time to step on the accelerator
- The value of “secondary” investments allowing founders, employees & early investors to “stay hungry” by achieving some liquidity along the way
- When and how to expand internationally and the importance of strategic resellers
- ExactTarget’s second successful IPO filing and life as a public company with quarterly financial reporting to Wall Street
- How the acquisition process played out with Salesforce and other bidders (including reference to ExactTarget’s incredible SEC filing detailing the entire negotiation—scroll down to "Background and Reasons for the ExactTarget Board’s Recommendation”, starting at the bottom of page 13)
- Approaching the difficult task of integrating a major acquisition involving thousands of people
- The fun story of ExactTarget’s winning Microsoft as a large customer—including actual sledgehammers
- Scott’s new Indianapolis-based venture studio, High Alpha
- Plus as always the "hard hitting" analysis across acquisition category, what would have happened otherwise, tech themes—and final grading
The Carve Out
- Ben: The Talk Show live at WWDC 2016 with Phil Schiller & Craig Federighi
- David: The Score Takes Care of Itself by legendary 49ers coach Bill Walsh, originally recommended by Jack Dorsey [no relation to Scott :) ] at YC Startup School '13
- Scott: 2016 Scipps National Spelling Bee, including one of the finalists’ favorite words: indefatigable
Followups:
- Instagram’s incredible user numbers announcement: 500M monthly active users / 300M daily active users
Episode 14: LinkedIn
Ben and David cover the 3-day-old acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft for $26.2 billion. They cover LinkedIn’s founding story by Reid Hoffman, break down their core businesses, analyze recent stock behavior, and speculate on the future of the company inside Microsoft. The big question - were they worth the price tag?
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Items Mentioned On The Show:
- Adweek: Snapchat Launches a Colossal Expansion of Its Advertising, Ushering in a New Era for the App
- The Facebook Effect - David Kirkpatrick
- LinkedIn’s Series B pitch deck
- LinkedIn’s S-1
- Microsoft and Apple Double Down - Stratechery
- NYT Dealbook on stock based compensation at LinkedIn
- Josh Elman - When people get confused about “BS metrics”
- Fred Wilson: The Dentist Office Software Story
The Carve Out:
Episode 13: Push Pop Press (Facebook Instant Articles) with Todd Bishop
Ben and David are joined by Todd Bishop, technology reporter and co-founder of GeekWire, to discuss Facebook's 2011 acquisition of Push Pop Press.
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Highlights Include:
- The founding story of Push Pop Press by Kimon Tsinteris and Mike Matas.
- The evolution of Facebook Creative Labs, Facebook Paper, and eventually, Facebook Instant Articles.
- Facebook's role in the changing media landscape today.
- GeekWire's experiments with Facebook Instant Articles, Google Accelerated Mobile Pages, and live video.
The Carve Out:
Episode 12: Snapchat
Ben and David tackle their first failed acquisition: Facebook's 2013 offer to buy Snapchat. They cover the fascinating story of Snapchat's creation and growth, their blossoming business model, how it would be different inside of Facebook, and what the future holds.
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Items mentioned in the show:
Episode 11: PayPal
Ben and David return to technology acquisitions by examining a classic: eBay's 2002 purchase of PayPal.
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Items mentioned in the show:
- How the 'PayPal Mafia' redefined success in Silicon Valley - Tech Republic
- Instagram Will Be a $3 Billion Business This Year: Analyst
- President Obama and Bill Simmons: The GQ Interview
"The Carve Out":
Acquired Episode 10: Virgin America
Ben and David deviate entirely from the stated purpose of the show, tackling this non-technology acquisition that is so recent, we have no idea if it went well yet. But, the April 2016 acquisition of Virgin America by Alaska Airlines was so fascinating, we had to do it!
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Items mentioned in the show:
- Louis C.K. - Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy
- Alaska Acquires Virgin America Investor Deck
- “Measuring The Moat” Paper - Michael J. Mauboussin
- Business Adventures - Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street
Carve Out:
Episode 9: Writely (Google Docs)
Ben and David continue the cloud productivity saga with Google Docs. They examine the suite of acquisitions made by Google with a focus on Writely in 2006. They tackle:
- The nuts and bolts of the Upstartle (company behind Writely) acquisition, founded by Sam Schillace, Steve Newman and Claudia Carpenter.
- SaaS offerings in cloud productivity today.
- Was this a good idea for Google?
- Google's future bets.
- A new section: The Carve Out!
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Episode 8: Acompli, Sunrise, and Wunderlist (w/ Kurt DelBene)
Ben and David have special guest Kurt DelBene on to discuss Microsoft's acquisition of Acompli, Sunrise, and Wunderlist. Kurt is the EVP of Corporate Strategy and Planning at Microsoft, and joins to discuss Microsoft’s cloud-first, mobile-first strategy, and the importance of being cross-platform in the modern era. They cover:
- How the app of Outlook Mobile on iPhone and Android came to be.
- How to decide whether to build vs. buy, and how it plays into the strategy for Office.
- How to preserve a culture and a team, and how Javier Soltero came to run all of Outlook at Microsoft.
- The origin of Outlook on the PC, originally led by Brian MacDonald as “Ren”.
- How to balance a business with competing priorities, and a decision-making framework for acquisitions in a large company.
- How to measure the success of an acquisition, and how sometimes, it’s not by measuring revenue at all.
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Episode 7: YouTube
Ben and David test the widely-held belief that YouTube was one of the most successful tech acquisitions of all time. In today's world of next-generation video platforms, mobile video, streaming, and chord-cutting, was it actually a great purchase by Google?
As discussed in the show, here is Sequoia's original YouTube investment memo - a rarely-shared gold mine for anyone interested in startup investing.
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Episode 6: Lucasfilm
Riding closely on the tails of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Ben and David cover Disney's 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm. In the episode, they mention Walt Disney's original flywheel diagram, seen below.
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Episode 5: Siri
In the last episode of 2015, Ben and David discuss Apple's acquisition of Siri. Notable topics include:
- The founding of Siri by Dag Kittlau, Adam Cheyer, and Chris Brigham.
- Scott Forstall on the Apple side, and the end of his time at the company.
- The other Apple acquisitions around Siri, including Topsy, Novauris Technologies, OttoCat.
- Cue, Spotsetter, VocalIQ, and Perceptio.
- The team Apple built around Siri post-acquisition, including Alex Acero from Microsoft Research.
- Speculation on the future of voice and its role in everyday computing.
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Episode 4: Bungie (with Xbox Co-Founder Ed Fries)
Ben and David are joined by Former Microsoft VP and Co-Founder of Xbox, Ed Fries, to discuss the Bungie acquisition and the development of Halo. Highlights include:
- Ed’s call with Steve Jobs after the acquisition, and sharing the stage with Steve and Bungie Co-Founder Alex Seropian at the Macworld Keynote.
- Bungie today, and the unlikely path to get there led by Harold Ryan.
- How to find something that all parties want to get a deal done, the creation Peter Tamte’s spin-out Mac gaming studio, and orchestrating the division of current Bungie projects and assets with Take-Two, led by Ryan Brandt.
- Saving a project that’s off schedule and missing the mark, and how Jason Jones led the effort to make Halo 2 a hit at launch.
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Episode 3: Twitch
Ben and David discuss Amazon's acquisition of Twitch in 2014. Unlike previous episodes, this recent acquisition still has a lot of open questions, and Amazon hasn't publicly reported growth of Twitch since the purchase. Ben and David talk about Justin Kan's original product with Justin.tv, and the transformation into the Twitch that Emmett Shear is running today.
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Episode 2: Instagram
Ben and David discuss Facebook's acquisition of Instagram in 2012. Was it a success? If so, what are the criteria that made it work? What lessons can be learned for other acquisitions in the future?
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Episode 1: Pixar
Ben and David discuss Disney's acquisition of Pixar in 2006. Was it a success? If so, what are the criteria that made it work? What lessons can be learned for other acquisitions in the future?
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Podcasten Acquired är skapad av Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal. Podcastens innehåll och bilderna på den här sidan hämtas med hjälp av det offentliga podcastflödet (RSS).
En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.