Ben Gilbert

Get rid of most of our sponsors, yeah.

And try to just figure out when we come out the other side of this that we have the best companies to work with commercially as well as the most durable stories and brands associated with us because of the editorial side of the house.

You're right.

It was only after we had sort of leaned into Acquired as a brand about durability, about compounding over decades and centuries.

And I don't think I appreciated that as a person in the early days of Acquired.

And it certainly wasn't what the show was about.

I think they stopped taking fees for a while until they were back in.

We'd studied enough businesses by that point where we saw what led to durability.

And I think we already were awake to the idea that all that matters is the late years of compounding.

Like in any given year, you look at a Mag7 company and their profits from the last year are greater than the first 20 years combined or whatever.

And I think realizing that being around and being respected...

On the other side of this economic chasm is the key to everything.

Who cares about making money this year?

It's about 5, 10, 20 years from now.

And we have to have the brand that people want to be a part of then.

And now we pride ourselves on having the lowest ad percent in the entire industry.

So you do AI.

That's just the AI part of it.

Who's started with canonical?

Who's done great canonical work in the past?