🇺🇸 United States Episodes

Joe is joined by Brendan Schaub, Joe Schilling, and Eddie Bravo to watch the fights on September 17, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ben & David examine Google’s 2005 purchase of Android for a rumored $50M, undeniably one of the best technology acquisitions of all time. But will it top the list of these tough graders? Tune in to find out. Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraSentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryAnthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Vanta: https://vanta.com/acquired    More Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCTopics covered include: Welcome new listeners! We quickly review the show format for newbies. Community spotlight: Patagonia on a Budget from community member Matt Morgante (@mattm on Slack)Andy Rubin’s career trajectory and what made him “born to start Android"The undeniable “cool factor” of the Danger Sidekick in the early/mid-2000’s, including fans such as  Larry Page, Sergey Brin and… Turtle from Entourage Android’s original ambition to build an operating system for…  digital camerasWebTV founder Steve Perlman is  pretty much the best friend ever Google’s own perspective on Android as their “best deal ever"The Android team’s reaction to Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone in January 2007, and redesigning the initial launch hardware Announcing Android and—equally importantly—the Open Handset Alliance (“OHA”)The much-talked-about "mobile holy wars", between Android’s “open” platform and Apple’s “closed” platform The less-talked-about US carrier wars with the iPhone + AT&T in one camp, and everyone else in the Google / OHA camp (including “Droid Does”)A quirk of history: HTC at one point acquires a majority share in Beats, resulting a short-lived period of  Beats-branded Android phones (still available on Amazon!)The real battleground for Google in the mobile platform wars: the economics of “default search” (briefly known thanks to the  Oracle/Java lawsuit against Google) Google’s detour into smartphone hardware with the acquisition (and subsequent divestiture) of Motorola The “fork-ability” of Android via the Android Open Source Project (versus “Google Android”), and the rise of Xiaomi, Cyanogen, Kindle Fire and other platformsThe ecosystem economics of the Android business for Google “Defensive” versus “offensive” acquisitions, and protecting Google’s core search business Could (or would) Google have built an Android-like platform without acquiring Android the company (or having Andy Rubin)?Framing the technology world’s shift to mobile within (surprise) Ben Thompson’s Aggregation TheoryThe current “moving up the stack” of the competitive playing field as the mobile landscape matures Grading: Android versus Instagram?  Followups:  Waze launches Carpool in the Bay Area.  Much consternation ensues on the Uber board.  Hot Takes: The iPhone 7 (and AirPods) announcement   The Carve Out: Ben:  Business Adventures by John Brooks, Bill Gates’ favorite business bookDavid: Ezra Edelman's fantastic 5-part ESPN documentary on O.J. Simpson, O.J.: Made in AmericaNone this week… coverage of Instagram Stories to come next time!

Rob Cross, professor at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, explains how work became an exhausting marathon of group projects. He's the coauthor of the HBR article "Collaborative Overload."

Dan Carlin is an amateur historian and former radio talk show host. He now hosts two popular podcasts available on Spotify: "Common Sense" and "Hardcore History". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Shermer is a science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Apple isn't just a tech company; it's a tastemaker." Remember the iconic ads of dancing silhouettes in black, with only the headphone wires visible in white? They were a critical part of the larger buy-Apple innovation narrative. So what happens now...

Hedge Fund Manager and author Jeff Gramm talks with Patrick O'Shaughnessy about the history and current state of shareholder activism and discusses how Jeff invests himself, taking large positions and often board seats in undervalued companies.   For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/gramm/ For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

TJ Dillashaw is a mixed martial arts fighter and former Bantamweight champion currently fighting in the UFC. Duane Ludwig is a former mixed martial arts fighter and is now a coach. Bas Rutten is a retired MMA fighter and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He currently is the co-host of Inside MMA, and hosts a podcast with Mauro Ranallo called "Rutten & Ranallo." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joseph Badaracco, Harvard Business School professor, explains what to do when no decision feels like a good decision. He is the author of "Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work."

Andreas Antonopoulos is a bitcoin entrepreneur, he also serves on the advisory boards of several bitcoin startups and serves as the Chief Security Officer of Blockchain. Links to "The Internet of Money": Paperback - https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454 Kindle - https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos-ebook/dp/B01L9WM0H8/ Give-away (No purchase necessary) (5)Paperbacks - https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/e9a610a7c83ddeff?ref_=pe_1771210_134854370#ln-fo (5)Kindle copies - https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/8ac158adbe11d197?ref_=pe_1771210_134854370#ln-fo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sleep, productivity, and creatively are intimately linked, for better and for worse. And "we are living under a collective delusion that burnout is the way to succeed," observes Arianna Huffington, author of The Sleep Revolution. Not only does this ...

Tony Hinchcliffe is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor. Tony also hosts his own podcast called "Kill Tony" with Redban, and it's available on Spotify under "Deathsquad" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Kresser is a health detective specializing in investigative medicine, blogger, podcaster, teacher and a Paleo diet and lifestyle enthusiast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joe is joined by Brendan Schaub, Bryan Callen, and Eddie Bravo to watch the fights on September 3, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Burkus, author of "Under New Management", explains why some companies are taking extreme measures to limit electronic communication. Burkus is also a professor at Oral Roberts University and host of the podcast Radio Free Leader.

"Incremental change may be good theory, but in practice you have to have a big enough stick to hit everybody with to make everything move at once". So shares Adrian Cockcroft, who helped lead Netflix's migration from datacenter to the cloud -- and fr...

Greg Fitzsimmons is a stand-up comedian. He also hosts his own podcast "FitzDog Radio" available on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For better or worse, most of the computing systems that run much of our lives (whether invisibly or visibly) have become increasingly complex -- they're not fully engineered; they're almost grown. And with that we enter a brave new world of "biologic...

Donald Cerrone is a professional mixed martial artist and former professional kickboxer currently competing in the UFC's welterweight division. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ben & David break down Jet.com’s meteoric rise, culminating in Walmart’s blockbuster $3B+ acquisition of the company just two years after its founding. Will we look back on this deal as an ‘Instagram-like’ bargain or a ‘Pets.com'-sized blunder? And most importantly, can *anyone* compete with Amazon going forward? We speculate wildly. Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraSentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryAnthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Vanta: https://vanta.com/acquired   More Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCTopics covered include: Community spotlight: Nowdue, a super fast invoicing platform for teams on Slack. Invoice like it’s the future! This looks very cool. Jet’s deep origins in Founder & CEO Marc Lore’s first two companies, The Pit and Quidsi (aka, diapers.com) Lore’s  chance run-in with Jeff Bezos at a school picnic in Seattle in the early 2000’sAmazon's dramatic acquisition of Quidsi in 2010, including Bezos’ admonition to Amazon corp dev to keep Quidsi from being bought by Walmart under any circumstances (covered well in  The Everything Store)Lore’s  less-than-favorable opinion of Amazon's culture Lore's vision of Jet as an ‘online Costco’ that can directly with Amazon on price by selling goods to a “huge middle-class of people" at effectively zero margin, and make profit on membership feesJet’s  huge,  pre-launch  fundraising rounds, and subsequent  massively promoted public launch in July 2015Jet’s pivot in October 2015 to  drop the membership model (their only profit engine), and subsequent massive growth (but also accompanying massive losses) 'Admitting defeat” to Amazon in July 2016? Immediately followed by the  blockbuster $3B+ Walmart acquisition announcementIs e-commerce really a winner-take-all business and will Amazon just take over the world? Featuring liberal citations (again) of Ben Thompson's Aggregation Theory and the importance of customer experience. Is there any path for Walmart & Jet to compete effectively with Amazon? Is Marc Lore Walmart’s only hope?Fantastic  interview with Tim Cook discussing (among other things) the massive amount of growth still left in the internet   Followups: Lucasfilm: Star Wars Rouge One trailer drops! Featuring a strong female protagonist!   New section: Hot Takes! (thank you @cteitzel on Slack for the idea)  Verizon/AOL acquires Yahoo!Lyft reportedly turns down acquisition offer from GM Microsoft acquires Beam Randstad acquires Monster.com   The Carve Out:Ben: Michael Mauboussin’s Talk at Google and Reflections on the Ten Attributes of Great Investors after thirty years of honing his craftDavid: Strava, the fantastic social fitness-tracking appNone this week… coverage of Instagram Stories to come next time!