Acquired
Episodes
DoorDash
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Slack + Salesforce Emergency Pod with Packy McCormick of Not Boring
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 in...
Virgin Galactic
22 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Special: Superhuman Part II - Designing Software to Feel like a Game (with Rahul Vohra)
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Superstar past guest and Superhuman CEO Rahul Vorha joins us for a deep dive on how Superhuman applies concepts from game design to building productiv...
Twitter (with Dick Costolo)
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Special: Invest Like the Best on Acquired
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The NBA
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 m...
Special: Acquired x My First Million
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Epic Games
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 i...
Eventbrite (with Julia & Kevin Hartz)
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Pinduoduo
16 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 pr...
Oprah (Harpo Studios)
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We close out Season 6 with the story of perhaps the single most successful media entrepreneur of all-time: Oprah Winfrey, and her juggernaut conglomer...
SpaceX
26 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Adapting Episode 3: Intel
11 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of Intel today, you probably think of the microprocessor company. Maybe you also think about about 'Intel Inside' and their famous jing...
Special Episode: Jason Calacanis
28 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Podapalooza Announcement: Intel
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sponsors:Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnHuntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntressMissing Acquired? We are too. B...
Adapting Episode 2: Sequoia’s Black Swan Memo (with Roelof Botha)
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On March 5th 2020, Sequoia Capital published a Medium post entitled ‘Coronavirus: The Black Swan of 2020’. The memo minces no words, admonishing f...
Adapting Episode 1: Canlis
20 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Top 10 Acquisitions of All-Time
17 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sequoia Capital Part II (with Doug Leone)
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 te...
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 acquisitio...
The Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (with Eric Ries)
29 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 in...
Convoy (with CEO Dan Lewis)
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 listene...
TikTok
08 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 startu...
Disney, Plus
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The WeWork “Acquisition” (with Dan Primack)
24 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 W...
Season 5, Episode 5: Atari (with Nolan Bushnell)
15 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Sequoia Capital (Part 1)
26 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Acquired dives into the history behind storied venture firm Sequoia Capital and its legendary founder, Don Valentine. Part 1 tells Don’s story, star...
Google Maps
26 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 Technologie...
The Shopify IPO
06 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
Huawei
22 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For our first episode of Season 5, Acquired returns to Shenzhen to cover another Chinese technology giant, this one slightly... different from our pas...
Superhuman (with CEO Rahul Vohra)
27 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Slack DPO
24 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ex...
The Zoom IPO (with Santi Subotovsky)
18 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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....
The Electronic Arts IPO (with Trip Hawkins)
27 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 incred...
The Uber IPO
11 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 reverber...
The Pinterest IPO
23 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 Th...
The Lyft IPO
30 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Season 4, Episode 3: Instagram Revisited (with Emily White)
25 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We enter the wayback machine and revisit the subject of Acquired’s second ever episode, Facebook’s bombshell 2012 acquisition of Instagram — thi...
Spotify + Gimlet/Anchor Quick Take + Worldwide Meetup Details!
18 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Spotify + Gimlet/Anchor Quick Take!We continue to experiment on Acquired, this time with a quick-take on Spotify’s bombshell dual-acquisition of Anc...
Season 4, Episode 2: ARM & SoftBank
03 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We dive into the crazy, little-known story of how this small, former PC-maker in Cambridge, England dethroned Intel, saved Apple from bankruptcy, beca...
Season 4, Episode 1: ESPN
21 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Season 3, Episode 10: Tencent
16 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We close out Season 3 and our China mini-series with a monster episode on Tencent, the Shenzhen-based social networking and entertainment powerhouse. ...
Season 3, Episode 9: Netflix (Part 2)
25 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 busine...
Season 3, Episode 8: Netflix (Part 1)
11 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 deth...
Acquired Season 3 Episode 7: Venmo (live with Andrew Kortina)
29 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 chronicl...
Season 3, Episode 6: Behance (with Scott Belsky)
01 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and David are joined by Adobe’s Chief Product Officer, Behance founder, Benchmark partner, author, and product luminary, Scott Belsky, to tell t...
Season 3, Episode 5: Alibaba
23 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We continue our China Tech series with perhaps the most incredible entrepreneurial journey in history: Alibaba and its indefatigable founder, Jack Ma....
Season 3, Episode 4: Recode (with Kara Swisher)
10 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Season 3, Episode 3: The Sonos IPO
20 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and David are (almost) live on the scene covering the plucky Southern California “camera company”… uh wait, wrong episode… we mean *speake...
Season 3, Episode 2: The Xiaomi IPO
05 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Season 3, Episode 1: Tesla
16 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Acquired kicks off Season 3 with a gangbuster two-hour extravaganza on America’s most successful automotive startup since The Ford Motor Company: Te...
Season 2, Episode 10: The Rover-DogVacay Merger (with Rover CEO Aaron Easterly)
17 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Acquired wraps up Season 2 with our first “elusive” private-private merger: Rover.com and its 2017 combination with rival pet care marketplace Dog...
Season 2, Episode 9: GitHub
05 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We’re live on the scene the day following the biggest announcement in the open source software world since well, open source software: Microsoft acq...
Season 2, Episode 8: T-Mobile / Sprint
21 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 Th...
Season 2, Episode 7: PowerPoint
04 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Acquired returns with a classic, delving into Microsoft’s first acquisition ever: Forethought Inc, the makers of PowerPoint. Hate it or love it, you...
Season 2, Episode 6: Spotify’s Direct Listing
05 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Season 2, Episode 5: The Dropbox IPO
25 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 Stev...
Season 2, Episode 4: SoftBank, Fortress and the Vision Fund
22 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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-o...
Season 2, Episode 3: Nest
19 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Season 2, Episode 2: Raising a Seed Round with Against Gravity CEO Nick Fajt
06 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Season 2, Episode 1: Zappos (with Alfred Lin)
22 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 51: 2017 Holiday Special
18 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 i...
Episode 50: Apple - Beats
11 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 j...
Episode 49: The Stitch Fix IPO
04 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 si...
Episode 48: Qualcomm - Broadcom
20 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 star...
Episode 47: The Atlassian IPO
06 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
Episode 46: Blue Bottle Coffee
07 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 45: HTC, Google and the Future of Mobile
21 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Acquired is back and live on the scene! After months of speculation, Google announces today their acquisition (err, "Cooperation Agreement”) of a la...
Episode 44: AOL - Time Warner (with the Internet History Podcast)
17 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On this extra-long episode of Acquired, Brian McCullough from the Internet History Podcast returns to discuss perhaps the most (in)famous merger of al...
Episode 43: The Square IPO
16 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 42: Opsware (with special guest Michel Feaster)
04 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Acquired dives into the legendary acquisition of Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen’s “second act” software company Opsware, from a perspective ...
Episode 41: Booking.com with Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson
25 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 40: Activision Blizzard
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 te...
Acquired Episode 39: Whole Foods Market
20 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 pu...
"About Acquired" on the Anchor Podcast of the Day
11 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Acquired Episode 38: SoundJam (iTunes)
31 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ben & David revisit the birth of the digital music revolution and Steve Jobs' "digital hub" strategy, with Apple's 2000 acquisition of the Mac mus...
Episode 37: BAMTech, Disney and "the Biggest Media Company You've Never Heard Of”
10 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 36: The LA Clippers
23 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 35: Oculus
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ben & David transcend the barriers of “real” reality, and dive into Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s geek-eutpoia vision of the future of gami...
Episode 34: The Starbucks IPO with Dan Levitan
03 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 33: Overture (with the Internet History Podcast!)
13 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 33: Overture (with the Internet History Podcast!) Ben & David dive deep into the early days of internet search, with the help of the ...
Episode 32: The Snap Inc. IPO
04 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 31: The Uber - Didi Chuxing Merger with Brad Stone, author of The Upstarts & The Everything Store
28 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Topics covered include:The global surge in 2012 of entrepreneurs starting ridesharing companies, nowhere moreso than China Didi CEO Cheng Wei and inv...
Episode 30: P.A. Semi + AuthenTec
24 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Topics covered include: P.A. Semi’s original moniker ("Palo Alto Semiconductor”) and its celebrity founder (in the semiconductor world) Dan Dobbe...
Episode 29: Special—2016 Review and 2017 Predictions
11 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 b...
Episode 28: The Amazon IPO with original Amazon Board Member Tom Alberg
31 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 custome...
Episode 27: Special—A Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz
16 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Topics covered include: Brian’s history working across “both sides of the aisle” as both a startup founder and corporate development leader at ...
Episode 26: Marvel
05 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Topics covered include: Marvel’s corporate origins as "Timely Publications”, created in 1939 by pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman in NYC, wi...
Episode 25: The Facebook IPO
11 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 ch...
Episode 24: Skype
01 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 happ...
Episode 23: NeXT (Live show at the GeekWire Summit)
23 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Episode 22: Zillow + Trulia (with Zillow Group CFO Kathleen Philips)
13 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
CFO of Zillow Group Kathleen Philips joins Ben and David to cover the show’s first true “merger” versus “acquisition" (only took 22 episodes!)...
Episode 21: Inside the M&A Press with Bloomberg's Alex Sherman
27 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 yo...
Episode 20: Android
16 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ben & David examine Google’s 2005 purchase of Android for a rumored $50M, undeniably one of the best technology acquisitions of all time. But wi...
Episode 19: Jet
29 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ben & David break down Jet.com’s meteoric rise, culminating in Walmart’s blockbuster $3B+ acquisition of the company just two years after its ...
Episode 18: Special—An Acquirer’s View into M&A with Taylor Barada, head of Corp Dev at Adobe
22 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ben & David are joined by special guest Taylor Barada, VP and Head of Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships at Adobe, to discuss how ...
Acquired Episode 17: Waze
03 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Topics covered include: Community Showcase: the Nexcast podcasting platform from listener Brian Sanders, along with their podcast chronicling the tea...
Acquired Episode 16: Midroll + Stitcher (acquired by Scripps)
12 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The meta show: Ben and David turn their gaze inward and examine the podcasting industry through E. W. Scripps’ recent acquisitions of the Midroll po...
Acquired Episode 15: ExactTarget (acquired by Salesforce) with Scott Dorsey
05 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and David return to make their first foray into enterprise software, covering Salesforce’s $2.5B acquisition of ExactTarget in 2013 with the hel...