Acquired
Every company has a story. Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them.
Filtered episodes(14)
- Intelligent ReportGoogle Part III: The AI Company
Published Oct 6, 2025
Ben GilbertGoogle faces the greatest innovator's dilemma in history. They invented the Transformer — the breakthrough technology powering every modern AI system from ChatGPT to Claude (and, of course, Gemini). They employed nearly all the top AI talent: Ilya Sutskever, Geoff Hinton, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei — more or less everyone who leads modern AI worked at Google circa 2014. They built the best dedicated AI infrastructure (TPUs!) and deployed AI at massive scale years before anyone else. And yet...
- StandardSummaries onlyAmazon Web Services
Published Sep 6, 2022
Ben GilbertSo, how DID an online book retailer end up building the infrastructure layer that powers the entire internet? (Or at least 39% of it, per latest market share data.) While many myths, legends, and some downright falsehoods exist, the real answer to that question deserves a full Acquired episode of its very own. So here it is: the story of Amazon Web Services. Who’s got the truth? Tune in and find out. :) Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryThe A
- StandardSummaries onlyWalmart
Published Jul 19, 2022
Ben GilbertWe kick off Season 11 with the incredible story of the retail “granddaddy of them all” Walmart, and its founder Sam Walton. Once you study Walmart, you realize just how deep its heritage runs through Amazon and so many iconic modern companies we cover on Acquired. This episode was an absolute blast, and we even uncovered a new addendum to the hallowed “focus on what makes your beer taste better” playbook theme! Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsen
- StandardSummaries onlyArena Show Part II: Brooks Running (with CEO Jim Weber)
Published May 16, 2022
Ben GilbertFor the final act of the Arena Show, we’re joined by Brooks CEO Jim Weber to tell the amazing story of how he transformed the company from a 3rd tier, deeply cashflow negative “also-ran” into one of the world’s premiere fitness brands and a crown jewel of the Berkshire Hathaway empire — with compounding revenue and cashflow growth that rivals even the legendary Mrs. See’s Candies! Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryThe Acquired Meetup (in SF!)
- StandardSummaries onlyArena Show Part I: Idea Dinner + YC Continuity
Published May 12, 2022
Ben GilbertWe did an Arena Show!! This evening was so big and so special, we had to split it into two episodes for the podcast feed. First up is the Idea Dinner with our best internet buddies, Packy McCormick and Mario Gabriele (and special guest judge Shu Nyatta), followed by the story of YC Continuity with managing partner Anu Hariharan. Huge, huge thank you to PitchBook for making this night possible. Stay tuned for Part II!Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquir
- StandardSummaries onlySuper Pumped (with Brian Koppelman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
Published Feb 22, 2022
Ben GilbertWe sit down with two of the most talented and respected people in Hollywood — Brian Koppelman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt — to talk about the process of adapting Mike Issac’s story of Uber, “Super Pumped”, into their new Showtime series. To say this was a thrill for us is a MASSIVE understatement. Huge thank yous to Brian, Joe and Showtime for making it happen!This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
- StandardSummaries onlyThe Browser (with Brendan Eich, Chief Architect of Netscape + Mozilla and CEO of Brave)
Published Feb 15, 2022
Ben GilbertWe sit down with perhaps the only person besides Marc Andreessen who’s had a major influence on each of the Web 1, 2 and 3 eras: Brave Browser CEO (and former Netscape + Mozilla Chief Architect) Brendan Eich. In true Acquired fashion we cover both a huge amount of both internet history AND internet future in one awesome conversation. Big thank you to Brendan for making this so special — tune in!This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude2
- StandardSummaries onlyPeloton
Published Feb 10, 2022
Ben GilbertThe Peloton journey has been one seriously wild ride. From can’t raise money to one of Tiger Global’s first venture investments, to pandemic darling to the stock being down 85% in 6 months... there’s never a dull moment in this company’s history. And guess who’s leading the pack for its next chapter: that’s right, THREE-TIME ACQUIRED SUPERHERO, the one and only Barry McCarthy. We had to tell this story.This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquire
- StandardSummaries onlyTaylor Swift (Acquired’s Version)
Published Jan 23, 2022
Ben GilbertNot only is Taylor Swift the biggest music artist of our generation by nearly every metric (it’s not even close!), with the re-recording of her original albums she’s in the process of reshaping the entire music industry in a way no band or artist ever has before. And oh yeah — she’s still only thirty-two. We dive into the incredible business story behind perhaps the new "last great American dynasty"... the TSwift empire.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/ac
- StandardSummaries onlyNot Boring (with Packy McCormick)
Published Dec 3, 2021
Ben GilbertWhen does a creator become a company? Who says that media companies — or venture firms — have to be organizations? How high is the ceiling on one person + the internet? Acquired has the answers and they are... Not Boring. 🙂Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryThe Acquired Meetup (in SF!): https://bit.ly/sentryacquiredmeetupWorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos26 Full Acquired Unplugged Videos: https://acquired.fm/unpluggedStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquir
- StandardSummaries onlyStandard Oil Part II
Published Oct 18, 2021
Ben GilbertWe bring the epic saga of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller to a close (for now) with two of history's greatest second acts: Rockefeller's pioneering of modern philanthropy (and really modern life itself), and perhaps the single greatest shareholder value "unlock" of all-time in the breakup of Standard Oil. And like any great American saga, of course the good guys win in the end. The only question is... just who were the good guys?? Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: h
- StandardSummaries onlyAndreessen Horowitz Part II
Published Aug 10, 2021
Ben GilbertAlright, backstory's out of the way, and Acquired is rolling three hours deep on the venture firm that changed the game for everyone — a16z.VC marketing? Check."Founder-friendly?" Check.Platform services? Check.Huge valuations and massive fund sizes? Check and check.We dissect it all in glorious detail, right down to the famous office library (located next to the Rosewood on Sand Hill, natch). The story of modern venture capital starts here. Let's Go!!!Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquired
- StandardSummaries onlyBerkshire Hathaway Part III
Published Jun 7, 2021
Ben GilbertIt's time. We wrap our Berkshire Hathaway trilogy with Warren and Charlie entering a new era: the age of the internet. Can they and Berkshire adapt to this brave new world? We find out. And, after 9+ hours, we render our final judgments on Berkshire and Warren's career. Is "Never bet against America" still the right longterm approach? Or is there another, even bigger Snowball out there that Warren may be missing? Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquireds
- StandardSummaries onlySpecial: Amazon Unbound (with Brad Stone)
Published May 27, 2021
Ben GilbertBrad Stone joins us to discuss the making of the modern Amazon, and how it's morphed from the "flywheel company" of The Everything Store into a set of interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses that extended both wider and deeper into the global economy than anyone ever imagined. (except perhaps Jeff Bezos) Is Amazon the Standard Oil of our time, or maybe something much, much bigger? Tune in as we dive in! Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry