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 Blue Bottle Coffee. Will hipster entrepreneurs and the VCs who love/need them continue to line up around the block for their minimalist coffee experience of choice, now that it’s owned by the Nesquik Bunny? Is this the beginning of Blue Bottle pod machines filling the empty counter space left by Juicero’s demise in VC offices throughout South Park? We investigate.Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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:The rise of “Third Wave” coffeeBlue Bottle founder James Freeman’s “classical” (music) influences Venture capital and the coffee business Achieving liquidity when companies and founders’ don’t want to go public, and don’t want to sell their stakes Nestle’s position in single-serve coffee market and potential brand impact of Blue Bottle The Carve Out: Ben: There Never Was a Real Tulip FeverDavid: iPhone SE

Acquired is back and live on the scene! After months of speculation, Google announces today their acquisition (err, "Cooperation Agreement”) of a large portion of HTC’s hardware division. What does this mean for the future of mobile? Can Google transform itself into a vertically integrated device company and compete directly with Apple? Most importantly, when will we see more  Beats Android handsets??? (We hope never) Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: The origins of HTC as a Taiwanese OEM, dating back to the Compaq iPAQ and Palm Treo 650!HTC’s long history with Google, starting as the manufacturer of the first Android phone, the HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1HTC’s ownership of Beats, for a hot minuteGoogle’s own winding history in hardware, with its Motorola acquisition in 2011 and divestiture in 2014Google & HTC’s joint work on the Pixel smartphones in 2016And much analysis and speculation on what this means for Google, Apple, Samsung, vertical vs horizontal business models and more!  The Carve Out: Ben: Odesza’s new album A Moment ApartDavid:  Bruce Springsteen on Fresh Air

On this extra-long episode of Acquired, Brian McCullough from the Internet History Podcast returns to discuss perhaps the most (in)famous merger of all time: AOL - Time Warner. Who doesn’t remember the soothing sounds of 56k modems and the timeless phrase, “You’ve Got Mail”? Join us all as we unpack how one of the biggest ISP’s of the 90’s tried to take over the world… and fell far short. Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: AOL’s status in the 90’s / early 00’sExplaining just what it is that AOL did at the height of their popularityHow AOL pioneered a number of internet paradigmsAOL’s persistent money troubles and bailouts from other companiesSteve Case foreseeing the coming era of broadband, inspiring AOL to pursue working with a cable companyEbay vs. Time Warner in a down-to-the-wire war for a merger with AOLWhy the money dried up for AOL after their merger with Time WarnerAOL and its value in the post-Time-Warner eraSpeculating about what would have happened had AOL and others stayed independent businessesAnd much discussion on how to grade this one…  The Carve Out: Ben: Give and Take by Adam Grant David:  Season of the Witch by David Talbot Brian: A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Rob Goodman

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 a canary in the coal mine signaling doom & gloom for the so-called unicorn companies of the early 2010’s, or a mispriced and misunderstood diamond in the rough? Acquired weighs in.Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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:Square’s deep origins in the early 90’s in St. Louis, MO with the initial meeting of its co-founders, Jack Dorsey & Jim McKelveyMcKelvey’s side glass blowing business and the “inspiration” for Square that came much later in the late 2000’sThe complicated involvement of Washington University (in St. Louis) professor Robert Morley, who had worked for years developing payment card reading technologyThe company’s early meeting with Scott Forstall at Apple, and its “significant” impact on the its name and designThe real disruptive innovation of Square and its business model (hint: not just building a mobile card reader)Square’s massive payments deal with Starbucks in 2012 and its impact on the companyThe evolution of Square’s business from a simple card reader to cloud-based Point of Sale (PoS) system and entire suite of merchant tools & business management servicesThe drama leading up to Square’s IPO (including at Jack Dorsey’s “other” company, Twitter), dynamics and narratives affecting its pricing, the effect of IPO “ratchets”, and the company’s performance over the ~2 years since The Carve Out:David: Bob Iger on Nick Bilton’s  Inside the Hive podcastBen:  The World After Capital on GitBooks

Acquired dives into the legendary acquisition of Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen’s “second act” software company Opsware, from a perspective never before heard—HP’s side of the story! Our heroes are joined by Michel Feaster, who led both the acquisition for HP and then the Opsware product as part of the integrated company afterward under Ben Horowitz. Today the tables have turned: Michel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Seattle-based startup Usermind, and Ben Horowitz sits on her board on behalf of A16Z. This episode is not one to miss!   Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn 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: Opsware’s early history and origins as Loudcloud, the “second act” of internet wunderkind Marc Andreessen and Netscape product manager Ben HorowitzBen’s first person telling of the Loudcloud/Opsware history in The Hard Thing about Hard Things, as well as the great Wired "period piece” covering Loudcloud’s launch in August 2000The importance of timing, and Loudcloud’s too-early vision of—essentially—AWS before AWS (including eerie parallels between the metaphor Andreessen used to describe Loudcloud during the company’s first press briefing, and Jeff Bezos’s description of AWS at YC nearly a decade later)Creation of the “Opsware” tool inside of Loudcloud to automate deploying and configuring servers within Loudcloud’s data centersLoudcloud's meteoric rise, crash following the burst of the internet bubble, and hard pivot as a public company into Opsware—now an enterprise software company selling datacenter tools Michel’s role in HP’s evaluation of the company as an acquisition target, and process leading to its $1.6B acquisition in July 2007Integration of the company into HP’s culture and sales channelThe creation of Ben & Marc’s “third act”, the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and what it’s like for Michel now having Ben as an investor on her board at Usermind   The Carve Out: Ben: StarStaX star trail photography softwareDavid: Jimmy Iovine on the Bill Simmons Podcast

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 by friend-of-the-show and former Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson to help understand how this little-known startup from The Netherlands grew into the largest travel company in the world, with nearly $8B in annual revenue. Was this deal even better than Instagram??? We debate, hotly.   Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: The biggest startup you’ve never heard of (in the US), Booking.com, and its parent company Priceline (yes, the William Shatner Priceline)Booking’s founding in Amsterdam in late 1996: by recent college graduate Geert-Jan BruinsmaSkift.com’s Definitive Oral History of Online Travel The travel industry's GDS's (“Global Distribution Systems”) and the development of Sabre How Bruinsma raised the initial money for Booking: by emailing anyone he know who had an email address OTAs ("Online Travel Agencies”) and how they operate; the "merchant model" versus the “agency model"The role of search in online travel Bill Gurley on  Conversion: The Most Important Internet Metric of AllExpedia’s early flirtation with Booking, and decision not to acquire the companyPriceline head of M&A Glenn Fogel’s vision for how powerful the agency model for OTAs could become in EuropePriceline and Glenn's 2004 acquisition of Active Hotels in the UK, followed by the 2005 acquisition of Booking for $133M and the combination of the two businesses into Booking.com Booking’s incredible growth in the decade since the acquisition, from less than 20M room-nights to over 500M, and $7.8B in revenue in 2016  The Carve Out: Ben: Scott Forstall talking about the original iPhone at the Computer History MuseumDavid: The Big SickDrew: Bloomberg’s Money Stuff by Matt Levine

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 tell the story from the Blizzard perspective, tracing the history of one of the most innovative companies in the business from humble beginnings at the hands of UCLA undergrads, to surviving multiple acquisition rollups (including at one point being owned by the French national water company), to joining ultimately with Activision to form the largest gaming company in the world, all while inventing multiple game genres that define the industry as we know it today. Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: Blizzard’s founding in 1991 as "Silicon & Synapse” by recent UCLA grads Allen Adham, Frank Pearce, and Mike MorhaimeThe team’s first projects making ports for other games, including Battle Chess on the Commodore 64Early success on the Super Nintendo with Rock & Roll Racing and The Lost VikingsOrigin of the Real-Time Strategy game genre (“RTS”) and Blizzard’s fist mega-hit, Warcraft Blizzard’s crazy corporate ownership changes over the yearsDevelopment of further legendary game franchises like Diablo and Starcraft, along with sequels to Warcraft and the rise of the rise of player moddingEmergence of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre (“MOBA”) from the Warcraft III modding community, and its growth into one of the biggest sectors in the games and esports industries todayBlizzard’s role in developing the concept of online gaming, from early hacks to play against friends to World of Warcraft and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (“MMORPG’s”)The 2008 merger with storied gaming company Activision Growth and success since the merger, including the launch of new game franchises Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch  The Carve Out: Ben:  Dick Costolo on Vanity Fair’s  Inside the Hive  podcastDavid: Nellie and Joe's 100% Natural Key Lime Juice (tip:  buy in bulk from Walmart/Jet)

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 purchase of Whole Foods Market. We place this deal in context by diving deep into the long, intertwining history of grocery, tech and Amazon, from the infamous dotcom flameout Webvan (domain name now owned by Amazon) to its much more successful progeny Kiva Systems (acquired by Amazon in 2012) to current Silicon Valley unicorn Instacart (founded by former Amazon logistics engineer Apoorva Mehta). One thing is clear: for Amazon and Jeff Bezos, realizing the longterm vision of the Everything Store truly means building the everything store.Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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:The  origins of Whole Foods Market as “Saferway” in the late 70’s Austin, TX hippie scene, founded by CEO John Mackey (“the Steve Jobs of grocery stores”) and his then-girlfriend Renee Lawson HardyWhole Foods’ expansion through acquisition throughout the 80’s and 90’sThe company’s recent struggles with competition, leading to sales declines and  attracting activist shareholder interest from Jana Partners  Amazon’s acquisition of the company on June 16, 2017 for $13.7 billion, a 27 percent premium to the stock's previous day closing priceIn depth history and analysis of the four keys to understanding this deal: Webvan, Kiva Systems, AmazonFresh and  InstacartFollowups: Walmart/Jet buys Bonobos for $310MThe Carve Out:Ben: Mark Zuckerberg’s 2005 CS50 guest lectureDavid: Exponent on Podcasting and Centralization

Ben & David revisit the birth of the digital music revolution and Steve Jobs' "digital hub" strategy, with Apple's 2000 acquisition of the Mac music player SoundJam MP, which would go on to become iTunes. We relive the 90's with brushed metal interfaces, music visualizers and of course, software sold in (physical) boxes.Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!:Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

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 a majority stake at a later date) in BAMTech, the internet streaming company originally founded as part of Major League Baseball in the early 2000’s. However the importance of this story goes deeper than just sports, with major ramifications for nearly every major technology company from Amazon to YouTube. Even if you’re not not sure if baseball’s played on a diamond or a gridiron, tune in as we swing for the fences in predicting the future of TV! Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: What is BAMTech, and why is it, according to The Verge, "the future of television”?BAMTech’s origins as part of Major League Baseball's Advanced Media division ("MLBAM)”)MLBAM’s founding CEO Bob Bowman’s decidedly “non-tech” background, and growth into one of the most important tech leaders of the past 15 yearsInitial technology struggles and learnings from early streaming efforts (including a botched audio package of Ichiro Suzuki’s games with the Mariners for fans in Japan)Landing on a streaming model that works with the launch of MLB.tv in 2002/2003—three years before YouTube is founded! Improvement of the MLB.tv service and MLBAM’s streaming expertise over the next ten years through the rise of mobile, and simultaneous  growth of MLBAM’s revenues to over $1B annuallyMLBAM’s initial deals to expand its streaming services beyond baseball, starting with ESPN in 2010, then WWE, the PGA,  HBO and  the NHLThe importance of media rights, and MLBAM’s transition from a simple tech/infrastructure provider to  a full-fledged media company The decision to initiate a spin-off process for BAMTech from MLB in August 2015, and Disney’s $1B investment into the newly created spin-out company in August 2016Disney’s subsequent announcement that they’ll be  working with BAMTech to create a direct-to-consumer ESPN streaming serviceBAMTech’s  $300M deal with Riot Games in December 2016 for the media rights to League of Legends eSports content Bob Bowman’s announcement in February 2017 that he’ll be stepping back to from a day to day role, and  hiring of former Amazon VP of Video Michael Paull as BAMTech’s new CEO  Followups & Hot Takes:  Facebook’s struggles with Instant Articles Microsoft killing Wunderlist (David is VERY sad) Instagram continues its torrid growth, passes 700M MAU Amazon’s new Look  The Cloudera IPOConfirmation the ride sharing wars are far from over:  Didi raises $5.5B in the largest private funding round ever  The Carve Out: Ben: NYT’s 4th Down BotDavid: Wait But Why on Elon Musk’s “Wizard Hat"

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 purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise. Was this landmark purchase a steal or a turnover for the former Microsoft CEO? We speculate wildly! Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: The Clippers’ founding in 1970 as the NBA expansion team the Buffalo BravesEarly ownership changes and the move west to San Diego in 1981Acquisition in 1981 by LA lawyer and real estate developer Donald Sterling for $12.5MSterling's relocation of the Clippers to LA in 1984 against NBA rulesStruggles over the next 25 years as the "worst franchise in professional sports” according to ESPN Turnaround beginning in early 2010s led by Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris PaulThe bombshell in April 2014, reported by TMZ, of a taped conversation between Sterling and his mistress where Sterling makes  hugely offensive and racist comments, directed in particular toward former Lakers point guard Magic JohnsonFallout from the comments, resulting in a lifetime ban from NBA for Sterling, and a forced sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer for $2BImpact of the landmark sale price on NBA and other sports franchise valuations Clippers performance post-sale, and  prospects for the future The opportunity for technology and business model innovation in the NBA, and professional sports in general  Followups:  Instagram Stories passes 200 million users per day (including correction on the definition of DAU) The Last Jedi trailer!Clarifying Starbucks’ same store sales performance post-IPO   The Carve Out: Ben: Bill Gurley on This Week in StartupsDavid:  Pop, Race & the '60s podcast and Just Around Midnight by Jack Hamilton

Ben & David transcend the barriers of “real” reality, and dive into Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s geek-eutpoia vision of the future of gaming, social, and maybe even the entire internet: strapping goofy-looking goggles to your face. Is VR for real this time or are we living through another Virtual Boy moment? Tune in to find out! Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: Oculus’s origins in 2010 as a twinkle in the eye of the then-17 year old VR wunderkind, Palmer Luckey, who started by prototyping VR headsets in his parents’ garage in Southern California Palmer’s time interning at  USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, and chronicling of his own VR efforts in the Meant to be Seen 3D internet forumsLegendary game developer John Carmack’s own interest in virtual reality, his intersection with Palmer on the MTBS3D forums, and how he acquired and popularized one of Palmer's first early prototypes of the Oculus Rift (which was  literally held together with duct tape!) by demonstrating it onstage at E3 2012 How former Scaleform cofounders Brendan Iribe and Michael Antonov teamed up with Palmer after E3 to create the company Oculus VRThe newly-formed Oculus’s wildly successful August 2012 Kickstarter campaign, including video endorsements from both Carmack and Valve founder Gabe NewellOculus’s subsequent venture capital fundraisings, and catching the attention of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg Facebook’s acquisition of the company in March 2014 for $2.3BThe Zenimax lawsuit filed against Oculus and Facebook following the acquisition Valve (home of the most incredible company handbook of all-time) and Gabe Newell’s subsequent pivot from supporting Oculus to launching their own competing VR efforts with the Vive Team changes at Oculus post-acquisition   Followups: SNAP:  still a public company  Hot Takes: Intel’s $15B acquisition of Mobileye (with reference to  Ben Thompson’s analysis of the deal and Smiling Curves)  The Carve Out: Ben:  Kara Swisher interviews the Pod Save America team at SXSWDavid: Adam Gopnik asks Are Liberals on the Wrong Side of History?

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 the IPO and who would later co-found the venture capital firm Maveron with Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz.Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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:The original Starbucks’ founding as a coffee bean roaster, started by three disciples of the legendary coffee roaster Alfred PeetHoward Schultz’s introduction to Starbucks, his joining the team as director of marketing, and inspiration behind his “third place” coffee shop visionHoward’s departure from the original Starbucks, founding of Il Giornale, and subsequent of acquisition the Seattle Starbucks storesStarbucks’ incredible growth following the acquisition and expansion beyond SeattleThe state of raising private capital in the 1980’s/90’s, and the decision to go public (link to the S-1)Howard’s ambitious goals for the roadshow and investor participation, and subsequent stock performance after the IPOThe narrative and evolution of Starbucks as a technology company, or a consumer company that leverages technology very effectively The Carve Out:Ben: Dan Primack’s new daily newsletter, Pro RataDavid: The  Wizard and the Bruiser podcast Dan: The Man in the Glass

Episode 33: Overture (with the Internet History Podcast!)    Ben & David dive deep into the early days of internet search, with the help of the best in the internet history business: Brian McCullough from the Internet History Podcast! We are huge fans of IHP at Acquired, so this was a real treat to collaborate with Brian and the great work he does over there. In this episode we cover the story of how a small incubator in Southern California spawned perhaps the greatest tech business model of all-time, Yahoo!’s fumbling of that golden opportunity, and Google’s recovery of that fumble to cross into the end zone of tech history behind the biggest moat ever constructed on the internet.  Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: Overture’s origins as part of the Idealab incubator run by famed early internet entrepreneur Bill GrossInvention of the paid search business model… initially by returning ADS ONLY in response to search queriesThe eventual marrying of Overture’s paid search (ads) with organic search results via syndication on other properties like Yahoo!Revenue from Overture’s ad partnership saving Yahoo!’s business after the internet bubble burst Yahoo!’s eventual acquisition of Overture for $1.4B in 2003 But… the really interesting story here: Overture’s 'inspiration' of Google’s business model and the creation of "the greatest advertising machine in the history of the world"The original (pre-Overture) Google business model: selling a box! Google’s differentiation vs Overture: focusing on the long tail, ad quality scores, and an advertiser-friendly auction structureGoogle’s first major search syndication victory over Overture: AOLYahoo!’s failed attempt to buy Google for $3B in 2002, leading it to settle for acquiring Overture instead the following year“Project Panama” at Yahoo!, and its impact on the tech and internet historyOverture's (and later Yahoo!’s) lawsuit against Google for stealing the paid search business model— "the O.G. version of Snapchat and Instagram”Paul Graham’s take on "What Happened to Yahoo?”Perhaps the most important technology to come out of this whole episode: HadoopThe power of incentive alignment in marketplaces— and creating the widest and deepest moats on the internet  The Carve Out: Ben: The famous University of Washington's “Love Lab” Dr. John Gottman: “The Secret to Love is Just Kindness”David: BerlinBrian: The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s

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 does the future hold for this plucky “camera company”? Will Snap's IPO endure as tech's most important picture-frame since the  2012 debut of Facebook, or is it destined to fade as just another snapshot? We debate! Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: Reference to our previous Acquired episode on Snap covering Facebook’s failed attempt to acquire the company in 2013, which goes deep on Snap’s origins and early historySnap’s busy years since: launching Discover,  Lenses,  Geofilters,  new Chat,  Memories, an  ads API, acquiring Bitmoji, and, of course,  debuting SpectaclesThe incredible document that is  Snap's S-1 filing (read starting from the  “BUSINESS” section on p.93)Snap Inc’s “unique” voting structureEvan Spiegel’s “CEO Award” bonus for successfully completing an IPO: an extra 3.0% of the company worth more than $600MSnap’s IPO pricing, first day of trading “pop”, and momentum carried into day two Introducing a new show section (for IPOs): Narratives!  Snap  is a “camera company"Snap's opportunity is  winning television ad dollarsSnap is a cult of the “product genius”Snap has a growth problem… and its name is Instagram (Stories)Snap has a cost problem: the (first?)  gross margin negative IPOWall Street to Evan: “we trust you… for now"Chris Sacca’s biggest email fail of 2012…And of course all the classics from the Acquired canon: waves, moats, flywheels, network effects, starting small and more!   The Carve Out: Ben:  The Bill Simmons Podcast with Ben ThompsonDavid: The Art of War, also Evan Spiegel’s Carve Out for 2013 :)

Topics covered include:The global surge in 2012 of entrepreneurs starting ridesharing companies, nowhere moreso than China Didi CEO Cheng Wei and investor Wang Gang’s backgrounds at Alibaba, first entrepreneurial effort in Momo, and Momo’s pivot to Didi DacheThe culling of the ridesharing herd in China down to Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache through brutal competition and involvement of the “big three” Chinese internet companies Rise of the Chinese messaging apps and associated mobile payments, and their impact on ridesharingThe 2015 merger between Didi and Kuaidi, brokered in part by Russian VC Yuri MilnerUber’s decision to enter the Chinese market, and early success with investment and support from BaiduThe first meeting between Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Cheng Wei in 2015—which does not go wellSubsequent “scorched earth” competition between Didi and Uber throughout 2015-16Negotiating an armistice: Uber’s agreement to sell its Chinese operations to Didi in late 2016End of the war, or just the beginning? January 2017: Didi invests $100M in Brazilian Uber competitor 99Sustainable growth, and building moats versus scorching earthSponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn  Followups: Stay tuned for real-time coverage of the Snap IPO coming here on Acquired!   The Carve Out: Ben:  Taming the Mammoth on Wait But WhyDavid: Conversations with Tyler Podcast by Tyler Cowen, co-author of the Marginal Revolution blogBrad: Yuval Noah Harari (author of  Sapiens)’s new book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of TomorrowMore Acquired!:Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

Topics covered include: P.A. Semi’s original moniker ("Palo Alto Semiconductor”) and its celebrity founder (in the semiconductor world) Dan DobberpuhlHistory of the back and forth tradeoffs between Intel’s powerful x86 chips and low power alternatives like ARM processors Dobberpuhl’s technology breakthroughs throughout his career that enabled true low-power + high-performance chipsThe initial target markets for P.A. Semi’s chips (surprise: NOT mobile phones)P.A. Semi’s  first foray into a potential deal with Apple, dashed by Cupertino’s  surprise switch to Intel processors in 2005The rise of mobile finally creating the huge market need for low-power / high-performance, Apple’s acquisition of P.A., and launch of the first Apple-designed chip, the “A4”, with the original iPad in 2010Geekbench: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors (A10 Fusion) has  basically caught up with Intel’s laptop CPUsAuthenTec’s beginnings in the late 90’s as a spinoff from the defense contractor Harris Corporation (named by Wired Magazine as the #2 threat to internet privacy in the US), based in Melbourne, Florida Early versions of the technology that became TouchID, the sensors for which were many times larger than today’s iPhones themselves!AuthenTec “not very Apple-like” website on Archive.org (and screenshot)AuthenTec’s  deal that almost was to put their technology and sensors  into Samsung’s flagship phones  Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec for $356 million in July 2012, and the rapid introduction of TouchID in the iPhone 5S one year later in September 2013Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn  Followups: Merging of Alaska & Virgin America loyalty programs (woo!) Walmart announces major reorg following the Jet acquisitionSnap Inc. IPO  drama is  mounting! (we can’t wait to cover this one)  The Carve Out: Ben: Rands in Repose: The SituationDavid: Daily Rituals: How Artists WorkMore Acquired!:Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

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 be relevant in the coming year. Can our hosts predict the future? Tune-in in 2018 to find out!   Note: we apologize for the less-than-amazing audio quality on this one. We’re still working on tuning our remote recording setup! Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore 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: Our top tech themes of 2016, including the first annual Acquired "Theme of the Year”: Aggregation Theory (surprise, surprise)Themes we think will be most relevant as we head into 2017Extended Carve Outs!  The Carve Out(s): Books:  Ben:  On Writing WellDavid: The Creative Habit and the Asimov  Robot/Empire/Foundation seriesArticle:  Ben: Wait But Why: Religion for the NonreligiousDavid: The New York Times: The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.Podcasts:  Both: The Ezra Klein ShowMusic:  Ben: Justin BieberDavid: Stevie NicksTV/Movies:  Ben: WestworldDavid: Rouge OneApps:  Ben: ReachNowDavid: Amazon Music

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 customer-centric company". From longterm thinking to flywheels to riding big waves, this episode is chock full of lessons and stories from the journey of building one of tech’s most iconic franchises. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we did recording it! Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn  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: Tom’s “prolific” bio from the Amazon S-1Jeff Bezos’s journey from a Vice President at the New York hedge fund D. E. Shaw to founding Amazon in a Bellevue, WA garage in the summer of 1994Jeff’s longterm thinking as evident in the early days of Amazon, and his approach that "failure is ok, but not trying things is not ok” Raising the seed money for Amazon before product launch, how Tom met Jeff and decided to invest despite the “high” valuationTom's (and Jeff’s) focus on the power of targeting large and growing markets Amazon’s actual overnight success after launching the website: according to Tom at the time, "By the second or third week… It was clear there was a trend here.”How Amazon’s venture round, led by John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, came together in the spring of 1996 Amazon’s torrid growth through 1996, Jeff’s mantra of “get big fast” to win the land grab of online book selling, and the board’s decision to prepare for a public offering in the spring of 1997 How Frank Quattrone and Bill Gurley, then of Deutsche Bank, won the lead position for the Amazon IPO, beating out more storied firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Development of the flywheel concept within Amazon, as an outgrowth of maniacal focus on creating superior customer experienceAmazon's public offering on May 15, 1997 at $18 per share (effectively $1.50 relative to today’s stock price after splits), raising $54M at a market capitalization of $438M — and subsequently trading down during the first few months following the IPO  Amazon and Jeff’s management of investor perceptions of the company, and ability to sell the longterm vision over short term profits — “you get the investors you ask for” The creation of the first annual letter to Amazon shareholders included in the company’s 1997 annual report (and republished every year since), and then-CFO Joy Covey’s role and contributions to it Raising convertible debt just before the peak of the dotcom bubble and subsequent ability to survive the burst, and the impact of the downturn on Amazon culture  The Carve Out: Ben: the band The Album LeafDavid: Cormac McCarthy (author of All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, etc)’s contribution to W. Brian Arthur’s landmark paper about the economics of the internet, “Increasing Returns and the New World of Business”Tom: Michael Lewis’s latest book The Undoing Project, chronicling the Nobel Prize winning partnership between Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky in developing the field of behavioral economics

Topics covered include: Brian’s history working across “both sides of the aisle” as both a startup founder and corporate development leader at a big company, how perspective from each informs the other, and the importance of learning “customer empathy” How Microsoft approaches M&A from an organizational perspective, and the importance of fit with the company’s product roadmap How Brian approaches strategic investments at Microsoft, and the evolution over time of the Microsoft (and large technology companies as a whole) perspective on investing in other companiesBalancing the tension between partnering and investing, and what criteria Brian thinks about when evaluating companies Microsoft’s investment in Facebook in 2007 (at a then-crazy-seeming $15B valuation), and more recently Foursquare,  Mesosphere,  CloudFlare and othersThe current state of the tech M&A landscape, and the emergence of private equity as tech company acquirers Potentially changing corporate and foreign tax structures and how they impact acquirers’ thinking around deals (or not!) How Microsoft tracks and evaluates success of acquisitions over time, and lessons learned from successes and failures The increasing number of operating companies (technology and otherwise) looking to invest in startups, and how that landscape has evolved over time Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn Followups:  Snap Inc.’s rumored IPO filing — and bonus discussion of how VC’s and other investors think about “exiting” their investments in companies that have gone publicHot Takes: Amazon Go!  The Carve Out: Ben: OK Go - The One Moment David: UC Berkeley Oral History with Sequoia Capital founder Don ValentineBrian: Om Malik’s recent piece in the New Yorker: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy VacuumMore Acquired!:Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC