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: Unfortunatel...
Jan 23, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Season 2Ep. 1
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on next episode and...
Dec 18, 2017•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 51
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’. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes Join the Slack Subscribe to ACQ2 M...
Dec 11, 2017•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 50
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/a...
Dec 04, 2017•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 49
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acq...
Nov 20, 2017•57 min•Season 1Ep. 48
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/...
Nov 07, 2017•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 47
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...
Oct 08, 2017•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 46
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) Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquir...
Sep 21, 2017•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 45
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://b...
Sep 18, 2017•2 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 44
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on...
Aug 16, 2017•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 43
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 ...
Aug 05, 2017•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 42
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https:/...
Jul 26, 2017•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 41
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 gam...
Jul 13, 2017•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 40
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 forme...
Jun 21, 2017•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 39
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! Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes Join the Slack Subscribe to ACQ2 Merch Store ! © Copyri...
Jun 11, 2017•20 min•Season 1Ep. 39
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on n...
May 31, 2017•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 38
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 ...
May 10, 2017•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 37
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! Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups ...
Apr 24, 2017•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 36
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! Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with ...
Apr 11, 2017•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 35
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. Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes Join the Slack Subscri...
Apr 03, 2017•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 34
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 a...
Mar 13, 2017•2 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 33
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! Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acqui...
Mar 04, 2017•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 32
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, an...
Mar 01, 2017•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 31
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 pote...
Jan 24, 2017•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 30
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! Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude Mo...
Jan 11, 2017•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 29
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! Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic:...
Dec 31, 2016•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 28
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 tech...
Dec 16, 2016•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 27
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 Marv...
Dec 05, 2016•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 26
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 att...
Nov 11, 2016•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 25
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… Sponsors: Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24 Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude More Acquired!: Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes Join the Slack Subscribe to ACQ2 Mer...
Nov 02, 2016•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 24
