Ben Gilbert

I mean, truly, on most of our phone calls.

No, no, no.

Creating TV shows, creating documentaries, adapting these stories into films.

They all sound good until we start digging in and then we're like, the time it would take us to think through all the implications of this is... We should just make another episode.

I mean, this is the craziest, craziest thing about podcasting.

And a giant amount of why this has worked for us is we do a lot of work that looks a lot like the research and the writing of a book.

But when we make our book and we release it to the world, people click subscribe.

And so when we release the next one, those same people go listen.

It's almost guaranteed.

Podcasting, being an author...

There's loose compounding elements to it, but there's not a literal... Not nearly what I thought.

You've probably done it better than any other.

You're one of the few people who probably does have such a brand.

The opportunity cost is so high of spending a month not making an Acquired episode because when we publish an episode of Acquired, the base does come with us.

I mean, not all of it, but like,

We make epic systems about healthcare, and all the people who listen to LVMH are now learning how doctor's office IT works.

So podcasts are unique in that it does have that true subscriber base, but unlike anything else where you click subscribe, there's not an algorithmic platform that disintermediates you.

I mean, you think YouTube or Twitter or any of these, when someone clicks follow or subscribe, they're like, it's like signal in the algorithm, but it's not guaranteed.

But like you subscribe in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and those people are actually subscribed and they're going to get the next episode.

And they learn to trust you.