Acquired · Library
The full archive.
Every episode in the catalogue, filterable by strategy pattern, industry, format, and year. The narrower views are over in the compendium.
Ferrari
S19·E2 · Apr 2026
Ferrari is the pinnacle of luxury scarcity — across its entire 79-year history, the company has sold just 330,000 cars at an average price today of $500,000. For context, Hermès sells that many…
0ch · 147srcTranscriptFormula 1
S19·E1 · Mar 2026
Formula 1 is three competitions in one: a 200mph battle of the world's best race car drivers, the world cup of engineering where thousand-person teams spend hundreds of millions designing cars from…
0ch · 142srcTranscriptThe NFL
S19 · Jan 2026
The NFL is nearly synonymous with America today. Practically nothing is more quintessentially and universally American than tuning in every Sunday (and Monday, and Thursday… and sometimes Saturdays…
0ch · 188srcTranscriptRolex
S16·E2 · Jan 2026
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…
2ch · 144srcTranscriptCostco
S13·E2 · Jan 2026
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…
2ch · 83srcTranscript10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)
S18·E4 · Dec 2025
Why has Acquired — seemingly against all odds — “worked”? It's a puzzling question: episodes are four hours long, they come out infrequently, and they usually don’t have guests or video. Hardly the…
3ch · 15srcTranscriptCoca-Cola
S18·E3 · Nov 2025
Coca-Cola is… sugar water. And somehow it’s also America, Christmas, summertime, friendship and happiness. Today we tell the story of how The Coca-Cola Company amazingly transmogrified a beverage…
2ch · 118srcTranscriptTrader Joe’s
S18·E2 · Oct 2025
Trader Joe's breaks every rule of modern retail. They don't do e-commerce. They don't do delivery. No sales, coupons, or loyalty programs. They only stock 4,000 SKUs versus 50,000+ at normal…
2ch · 90srcTranscriptGoogle Part III: The AI Company
S18·E1 · Oct 2025
Google faces the greatest innovator's dilemma in history. They invented the Transformer — the breakthrough technology powering every modern AI system from ChatGPT to Claude (and, of course, Gemini).…
4ch · 121srcTranscriptAcquired Live at Radio City Music Hall (Presented by J.P. Morgan)
S18 · Oct 2025
It’s finally here! Today we are releasing Acquired’s first “concert film” — the full video recording of our Radio City live show from this summer with Jamie Dimon, Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times…
2ch · 16srcTranscriptGoogle Part II: Alphabet
S17·E4 · Aug 2025
In its first six years from 1998 to 2004, Google built one of the greatest products of all time (and certainly the greatest business of all time) with Search. Then in its next six years from 2005 to…
3ch · 138srcTranscriptThe Jamie Dimon Interview
S17·E3 · Jul 2025
We sit down with Jamie Dimon for a live conversation at Radio City Music Hall, covering the incredible journey from his 1998 firing at Citgroup (where he was widely expected to become CEO) to…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptGoogle Part I: Origins of Search
S17·E2 · Jun 2025
We tell the story of the single greatest business ever created: Google search. From its origins as a Stanford research project called BackRub, Google became the front door to the internet. Today it’s…
2ch · 122srcTranscriptThe Steve Ballmer Interview
S17·E1 · Jun 2025
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…
3ch · 14srcTranscriptEpic Systems (MyChart)
S16·E4 · Apr 2025
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…
2ch · 116srcTranscriptIndian Premier League Cricket
S16·E3 · Mar 2025
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…
3ch · 88srcTranscriptTSMC Founder Morris Chang
S16·E1 · Jan 2025
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……
2ch · 16srcTranscriptMars Inc. (the chocolate story)
S15·E4 · Dec 2024
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…
2ch · 99srcTranscriptIKEA
S15·E3 · Nov 2024
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…
3ch · 88srcTranscriptMeta
S15·E2 · Oct 2024
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…
3ch · 190srcTranscriptAcquired LIVE from Chase Center (with Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg)
S15·E1 · Sep 2024
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptThe Mark Zuckerberg Interview
S15 · Sep 2024
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptChase Center + Summer Update
S14 · Aug 2024
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…
0ch · 0srcMicrosoft Volume II
S14·E6 · Jul 2024
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…
2ch · 155srcTranscriptStarbucks (with Howard Schultz)
S14·E5 · Jun 2024
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptMicrosoft Volume I
S14·E4 · Apr 2024
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…
2ch · 201srcTranscriptRenaissance Technologies
S14·E3 · Mar 2024
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…
2ch · 89srcTranscriptHermès
S14·E2 · Feb 2024
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…
12ch · 161srcTranscriptNovo Nordisk (Ozempic)
S14·E1 · Jan 2024
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…
3ch · 154srcTranscriptHoliday Special 2023
S13·E5 · Dec 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…
3ch · 36srcTranscriptVisa
S13·E4 · Nov 2023
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…
2ch · 63srcTranscriptCharlie Munger
S13 · Oct 2023
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…
2ch · 14srcTranscriptNVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang
S13 · Oct 2023
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…
2ch · 12srcTranscriptNvidia Part III: The Dawn of the AI Era (2022-2023)
S13·E3 · Sep 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…
3ch · 147srcTranscriptNike
S13·E1 · Jul 2023
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…
2ch · 221srcTranscriptPorsche (with Doug DeMuro)
S12·E6 · Jun 2023
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…
2ch · 82srcTranscriptUber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
S12 · Jun 2023
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptLockheed Martin
S12·E5 · May 2023
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…
2ch · 136srcTranscriptSpotify CEO Daniel Ek
S12 · May 2023
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptBenchmark’s Mitch Lasky and Blake Robbins on The Art of Business in Gaming
S12 · Apr 2023
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…
4ch · 20srcTranscriptShort: The Death of Sega
S12 · Apr 2023
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…
2ch · 16srcTranscriptNintendo: The Console Wars
S12·E4 · Apr 2023
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…
2ch · 187srcTranscriptInterview: Hamilton Helmer & Chenyi Shi on How to Build an AWS-Like Second Business
S12 · Apr 2023
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptSessions: David Senra (Founders Podcast)
S12 · Mar 2023
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…
3ch · 13srcTranscriptNintendo's Origins
S12·E3 · Mar 2023
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…
3ch · 100srcTranscriptLVMH
S12·E2 · Feb 2023
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…
2ch · 133srcTranscriptHoliday Special 2022
S11 · Dec 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…
2ch · 43srcTranscriptStratechery (with Ben Thompson)
S11·E8 · Dec 2022
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptEnron
S11·E7 · Nov 2022
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…
2ch · 81srcTranscriptQualcomm
S11·E6 · Nov 2022
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.…
2ch · 102srcTranscriptBenchmark Part II: The Dinner
S11·E5 · Oct 2022
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…
4ch · 12srcTranscriptACQ Sessions: Jason Calacanis
S11 · Oct 2022
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…
3ch · 12srcTranscriptBenchmark Part I
S11·E4 · Sep 2022
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…
2ch · 90srcTranscriptAmazon Web Services
S11·E3 · Sep 2022
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…
2ch · 144srcTranscriptHoward Marks & Andrew Marks: Something of Value
S11 · Aug 2022
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…
2ch · 14srcTranscriptAmazon.com
S11·E2 · Aug 2022
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…
2ch · 113srcTranscriptFrom NFL to Startup COO to Congressman Regulating Crypto (with Rep. Anthony Gonzalez)
S11 · Aug 2022
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptWalmart
S11·E1 · Jul 2022
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…
2ch · 89srcTranscriptThe Playbook: Lessons from 200+ Company Stories
S10 · Jun 2022
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptAmerican Dynamism (with Katherine Boyle)
S10 · Jun 2022
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…
2ch · 16srcTranscriptCapital-Efficient Growth (with Zoom CEO Eric Yuan & Veeva CEO Peter Gassner)
S10 · May 2022
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…
1ch · 0srcArena Show Part II: Brooks Running (with CEO Jim Weber)
S10·E8 · May 2022
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…
3ch · 12srcTranscriptArena Show Part I: Idea Dinner + YC Continuity
S10·E7 · May 2022
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…
2ch · 12srcTranscriptNvidia Part II: The Machine Learning Company (2006-2022)
S10·E6 · Apr 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…
1ch · 0srcPlatforms and Power (with Hamilton Helmer and Chenyi Shi)
S10 · Apr 2022
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…
2ch · 12srcTranscriptNvidia Part I: The GPU Company (1993-2006)
S10·E5 · Mar 2022
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…
1ch · 0srcAltimeter (with Brad Gerstner)
S10·E4 · Mar 2022
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptSONY
S10·E3 · Mar 2022
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…
2ch · 77srcTranscriptSuper Pumped (with Brian Koppelman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
S10 · Feb 2022
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…
4ch · 21srcTranscriptThe Browser (with Brendan Eich, Chief Architect of Netscape + Mozilla and CEO of Brave)
S10 · Feb 2022
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)…
2ch · 17srcTranscriptPeloton
S10·E2 · Feb 2022
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…
3ch · 56srcTranscriptTaylor Swift (Acquired’s Version)
S10·E1 · Jan 2022
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…
1ch · 0srcCAA (with Michael Ovitz)
S9·E8 · Dec 2021
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”,…
3ch · 13srcTranscriptFTX (with Sam Bankman-Fried & Mario Gabriele)
S9·E7 · Dec 2021
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…
1ch · 0src7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer
S9 · Dec 2021
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptNot Boring (with Packy McCormick)
S9·E6 · Dec 2021
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…
2ch · 20srcTranscriptComplexity Investing & Semiconductors (with NZS Capital)
S9 · Nov 2021
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…
1ch · 0srcStandard Oil Part II
S9·E5 · Oct 2021
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…
3ch · 63srcTranscriptMichael Mauboussin Master Class — Moats, Skill, Luck, Decision Making and a Whole Lot More
S9 · Oct 2021
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptStandard Oil Part I
S9·E4 · Sep 2021
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,…
2ch · 41srcTranscriptTSMC
S9·E3 · Sep 2021
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…
2ch · 76srcTranscriptKevin Rose from Web 2.0 to Web3
S9 · Aug 2021
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptAndreessen Horowitz Part II
S9·E2 · Aug 2021
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…
2ch · 114srcTranscriptAndreessen Horowitz Part I
S9·E1 · Jul 2021
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…
3ch · 94srcTranscriptSpecial: Solana (with CEO Anatoly Yakovenko)
S9 · Jul 2021
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…
1ch · 0srcEthereum
S8·E8 · Jul 2021
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…
2ch · 76srcTranscriptSpecial: Ho Nam from Altos Ventures — A Different Approach to VC
S8 · Jun 2021
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptBerkshire Hathaway Part III
S8·E7 · Jun 2021
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+…
5ch · 84srcTranscriptSpecial: Amazon Unbound (with Brad Stone)
S8 · May 2021
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptBerkshire Hathaway Part II
S8·E6 · May 2021
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…
2ch · 56srcTranscriptSpecial: 2021 China Tech Trends (with Tech Buzz China)
S8 · May 2021
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…
2ch · 12srcTranscriptBerkshire Hathaway Part I
S8·E5 · Apr 2021
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…
2ch · 52srcTranscriptSpecial: "Why Now" for Digital Health (with Levels founder Josh Clemente)
S8 · Apr 2021
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptRec Room Part II (with CEO Nick Fajt)
S8·E4 · Mar 2021
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,…
2ch · 14srcTranscriptMeituan
S8·E3 · Mar 2021
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…
2ch · 68srcTranscriptThe New York Times Company
S8·E2 · Feb 2021
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…
2ch · 74srcTranscriptSpecial: Sequoia Capital's Investment Playbook (with Alfred Lin)
S8 · Feb 2021
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…
1ch · 0srcBitcoin
S8·E1 · Jan 2021
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…
2ch · 99srcTranscriptSpecial: Acquired x Indie Hackers
S7 · Dec 2020
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptAirbnb
S7·E8 · Dec 2020
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…
2ch · 53srcTranscriptDoorDash
S7·E7 · Dec 2020
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…
3ch · 68srcTranscriptSlack + Salesforce Emergency Pod with Packy McCormick of Not Boring
S7 · Dec 2020
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptVirgin Galactic
S7·E6 · Nov 2020
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…
2ch · 46srcTranscriptSpecial: Superhuman Part II - Designing Software to Feel like a Game (with Rahul Vohra)
S7 · Nov 2020
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptTwitter (with Dick Costolo)
S7·E5 · Oct 2020
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.…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptSpecial: Invest Like the Best on Acquired
S7 · Oct 2020
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…
2ch · 23srcTranscriptThe NBA
S7·E4 · Sep 2020
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…
2ch · 14srcTranscriptSpecial: Acquired x My First Million
S7 · Sep 2020
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptEpic Games
S7·E3 · Sep 2020
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptEventbrite (with Julia & Kevin Hartz)
S7·E2 · Aug 2020
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…
1ch · 0srcPinduoduo
S7·E1 · Jul 2020
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…
2ch · 47srcTranscriptOprah (Harpo Studios)
S6·E8 · Jun 2020
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…
6ch · 44srcTranscriptSpaceX
S6·E7 · May 2020
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 —…
2ch · 42srcTranscriptAdapting Episode 3: Intel
S6·E6 · May 2020
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptSpecial Episode: Jason Calacanis
S6 · Apr 2020
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…
1ch · 0srcAdapting Episode 2: Sequoia’s Black Swan Memo (with Roelof Botha)
S6·E5 · Mar 2020
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…
0ch · 0srcAdapting Episode 1: Canlis
S6·E4 · Mar 2020
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…
1ch · 0srcThe Top 10 Acquisitions of All-Time
S6·E3 · Mar 2020
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…
1ch · 0srcSequoia Capital Part II (with Doug Leone)
S6·E2 · Feb 2020
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…
3ch · 17srcTranscriptWhatsApp
S6·E1 · Jan 2020
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…
2ch · 39srcTranscriptThe Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (with Eric Ries)
S5·E10 · Dec 2019
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…
1ch · 0srcConvoy (with CEO Dan Lewis)
S5·E9 · Dec 2019
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptTikTok
S5·E8 · Dec 2019
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…
2ch · 56srcTranscriptDisney, Plus
S5·E7 · Nov 2019
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…
3ch · 22srcTranscriptThe WeWork “Acquisition” (with Dan Primack)
S5·E6 · Oct 2019
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…
3ch · 10srcTranscriptSeason 5, Episode 5: Atari (with Nolan Bushnell)
S5·E5 · Oct 2019
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…
1ch · 0srcSequoia Capital (Part 1)
S5·E4 · Sep 2019
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…
2ch · 26srcTranscriptGoogle Maps
S5·E3 · Aug 2019
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…
2ch · 14srcTranscriptThe Shopify IPO
S5·E2 · Aug 2019
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”…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptHuawei
S5·E1 · Jul 2019
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…
2ch · 14srcTranscriptSuperhuman (with CEO Rahul Vohra)
S4·E10 · Jun 2019
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…
1ch · 0srcThe Slack DPO
S4·E9 · Jun 2019
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…
2ch · 16srcTranscriptThe Zoom IPO (with Santi Subotovsky)
S4·E8 · Jun 2019
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptThe Electronic Arts IPO (with Trip Hawkins)
S4·E7 · May 2019
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptThe Uber IPO
S4·E6 · May 2019
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptThe Pinterest IPO
S4·E5 · Apr 2019
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…
4ch · 15srcTranscriptThe Lyft IPO
S4·E4 · Mar 2019
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 4, Episode 3: Instagram Revisited (with Emily White)
S4·E3 · Feb 2019
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…
1ch · 0srcSpotify + Gimlet/Anchor Quick Take + Worldwide Meetup Details!
S4·E3 · Feb 2019
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptSeason 4, Episode 2: ARM & SoftBank
S4·E2 · Feb 2019
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 4, Episode 1: ESPN
S4·E1 · Jan 2019
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…
2ch · 14srcTranscriptSeason 3, Episode 10: Tencent
S3·E10 · Dec 2018
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptSeason 3, Episode 9: Netflix (Part 2)
S3·E9 · Nov 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 3, Episode 8: Netflix (Part 1)
S3·E8 · Nov 2018
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,…
1ch · 0srcAcquired Season 3 Episode 7: Venmo (live with Andrew Kortina)
S3·E7 · Oct 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 3, Episode 6: Behance (with Scott Belsky)
S3·E6 · Oct 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 3, Episode 5: Alibaba
S3·E5 · Sep 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 3, Episode 4: Recode (with Kara Swisher)
S3·E4 · Sep 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 3, Episode 3: The Sonos IPO
S3·E3 · Aug 2018
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptSeason 3, Episode 2: The Xiaomi IPO
S3·E2 · Aug 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 3, Episode 1: Tesla
S3·E1 · Jul 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 10: The Rover-DogVacay Merger (with Rover CEO Aaron Easterly)
S2·E10 · Jun 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 9: GitHub
S2·E9 · Jun 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 8: T-Mobile / Sprint
S2·E8 · May 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 7: PowerPoint
S2·E7 · May 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 6: Spotify’s Direct Listing
S2·E6 · Apr 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 5: The Dropbox IPO
S2·E5 · Mar 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 4: SoftBank, Fortress and the Vision Fund
S2·E4 · Mar 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 3: Nest
S2·E3 · Feb 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 2: Raising a Seed Round with Against Gravity CEO Nick Fajt
S2·E2 · Feb 2018
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…
1ch · 0srcSeason 2, Episode 1: Zappos (with Alfred Lin)
S2·E1 · Jan 2018
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…
0ch · 0srcEpisode 51: 2017 Holiday Special
S1·E51 · Dec 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 50: Apple - Beats
S1·E50 · Dec 2017
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…
2ch · 12srcTranscriptEpisode 49: The Stitch Fix IPO
S1·E49 · Dec 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 48: Qualcomm - Broadcom
S1·E48 · Nov 2017
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…
2ch · 17srcTranscriptEpisode 47: The Atlassian IPO
S1·E47 · Nov 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 46: Blue Bottle Coffee
S1·E46 · Oct 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 45: HTC, Google and the Future of Mobile
S1·E45 · Sep 2017
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…
2ch · 17srcTranscriptEpisode 44: AOL - Time Warner (with the Internet History Podcast)
S1·E44 · Sep 2017
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptEpisode 43: The Square IPO
S1·E43 · Aug 2017
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptEpisode 42: Opsware (with special guest Michel Feaster)
S1·E42 · Aug 2017
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…
2ch · 15srcTranscriptEpisode 41: Booking.com with Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson
S1·E41 · Jul 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 40: Activision Blizzard
S1·E40 · Jul 2017
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptAcquired Episode 39: Whole Foods Market
S1·E39 · Jun 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcAcquired Episode 38: SoundJam (iTunes)
S1·E38 · May 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 37: BAMTech, Disney and "the Biggest Media Company You've Never Heard Of”
S1·E37 · May 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 36: The LA Clippers
S1·E36 · Apr 2017
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…
2ch · 17srcTranscriptEpisode 35: Oculus
S1·E35 · Apr 2017
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…
2ch · 22srcTranscriptEpisode 34: The Starbucks IPO with Dan Levitan
S1·E34 · Apr 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 33: Overture (with the Internet History Podcast!)
S1·E33 · Mar 2017
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…
2ch · 29srcTranscriptEpisode 32: The Snap Inc. IPO
S1·E32 · Mar 2017
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…
2ch · 31srcTranscriptEpisode 31: The Uber - Didi Chuxing Merger with Brad Stone, author of The Upstarts & The Everything Store
S1·E31 · Mar 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 30: P.A. Semi + AuthenTec
S1·E30 · Jan 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 29: Special—2016 Review and 2017 Predictions
S1·E29 · Jan 2017
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 28: The Amazon IPO with original Amazon Board Member Tom Alberg
S1·E28 · Dec 2016
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…
2ch · 18srcTranscriptEpisode 27: Special—A Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz
S1·E27 · Dec 2016
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 26: Marvel
S1·E26 · Dec 2016
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 25: The Facebook IPO
S1·E25 · Nov 2016
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…
2ch · 24srcTranscriptEpisode 24: Skype
S1·E24 · Nov 2016
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…
2ch · 27srcTranscriptEpisode 23: NeXT (Live show at the GeekWire Summit)
S1·E23 · Oct 2016
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,…
2ch · 27srcTranscriptEpisode 22: Zillow + Trulia (with Zillow Group CFO Kathleen Philips)
S1·E22 · Oct 2016
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…
2ch · 17srcTranscriptEpisode 21: Inside the M&A Press with Bloomberg's Alex Sherman
S1·E21 · Sep 2016
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 20: Android
S1·E20 · Sep 2016
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptEpisode 19: Jet
S1·E19 · Aug 2016
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…
3ch · 36srcTranscriptEpisode 18: Special—An Acquirer’s View into M&A with Taylor Barada, head of Corp Dev at Adobe
S1·E18 · Aug 2016
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…
1ch · 0srcAcquired Episode 17: Waze
S1·E17 · Aug 2016
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…
2ch · 24srcTranscriptAcquired Episode 16: Midroll + Stitcher (acquired by Scripps)
S1·E16 · Jul 2016
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…
2ch · 22srcTranscriptAcquired Episode 15: ExactTarget (acquired by Salesforce) with Scott Dorsey
S1·E15 · Jul 2016
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,…
2ch · 25srcTranscriptEpisode 14: LinkedIn
S1·E14 · Jun 2016
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…
2ch · 20srcTranscriptEpisode 13: Push Pop Press (Facebook Instant Articles) with Todd Bishop
S1·E13 · Jun 2016
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. Sponsors: Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry…
3ch · 15srcTranscriptEpisode 12: Snapchat
S1·E12 · May 2016
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…
2ch · 13srcTranscriptEpisode 11: PayPal
S1·E11 · May 2016
Ben and David return to technology acquisitions by examining a classic: eBay's 2002 purchase of PayPal. Sponsors: Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25 Anthropic:…
2ch · 20srcTranscriptAcquired Episode 10: Virgin America
S1·E10 · Apr 2016
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 9: Writely (Google Docs)
S1·E9 · Mar 2016
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptEpisode 8: Acompli, Sunrise, and Wunderlist (w/ Kurt DelBene)
S1·E8 · Feb 2016
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 7: YouTube
S1·E7 · Feb 2016
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptEpisode 6: Lucasfilm
S1·E6 · Jan 2016
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…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptEpisode 5: Siri
S1·E5 · Dec 2015
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptEpisode 4: Bungie (with Xbox Co-Founder Ed Fries)
S1·E4 · Nov 2015
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…
1ch · 0srcEpisode 3: Twitch
S1·E3 · Nov 2015
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…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptEpisode 2: Instagram
S1·E2 · Nov 2015
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?…
2ch · 10srcTranscriptEpisode 1: Pixar
S1·E1 · Oct 2015
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?…
2ch · 11srcTranscriptTrailer: What is Acquired?
Oct 2015
Every company has a story. Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them. The episodes are deep and heavily-researched, uncovering the full histories…
0ch · 0src- Showing 213 of 213 catalogued episodes.
