Acquired - Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Latest Episodes:

The Pinterest IPO Apr 23, 2019

Show notes

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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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 Mar 30, 2019

Show notes

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!

Sponsors:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
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Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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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

Instagram Revisited (with Emily White) Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

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.

Sponsors:

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Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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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

Special: Spotify + Gimlet/Anchor Quick Take + Worldwide Meetup Details! Feb 18, 2019

Show notes

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!

Sponsors:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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ARM & SoftBank Feb 03, 2019

Show notes

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!

Sponsors:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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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

ESPN Jan 21, 2019

Show notes

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!!

Sponsors:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
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Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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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

Tencent Dec 16, 2018

Show notes

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:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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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

Netflix (Part 2) Nov 25, 2018

Show notes

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:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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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

Netflix (Part 1) Nov 11, 2018

Show notes

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!

Sponsors:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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Links:

Netflix’s original logo

Carve Outs:

Ben: The Good Place on… Netflix!
David: The Broken Earth Series by N. K. Jemisin

Venmo (live with Andrew Kortina) Oct 29, 2018

Show notes

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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