Acquired
About this creator
Acquired is a long-form business podcast that breaks down the companies, acquisitions, and strategic decisions behind iconic businesses.
Why they're in the library
Included for clear, credible perspective as long-form business podcast that breaks down the companies, acquisitions, and strategic decisions behind iconic businesses.
Showing 168 digests for Acquired.
Ho Nam of Altos Ventures: Berkshire-Style Investing in Early-Stage Tech
Acquired
June 21, 2021
Fundraising & VC
9
Long-term planning
7
Resilience & grit
5
How Altos turned an $85M fund into Roblox's largest IPO shareholder
Why founder control and capital efficiency beat growth-at-all-costs
Missing on selling becomes a feature, not a bug, when conviction is right
How Berkshire Hathaway Built a Lasting Conglomerate
Acquired
June 7, 2021
Origin stories
9
Business models
7
Management
6
Insurance float as permanent capital enables disciplined conglomerate acquisitions
Decentralized management structure retains top operators and sustains talent advantage
Succession depth and institutional systems enable continuity beyond Buffett era
Amazon Unbound: Brad Stone on how Amazon's interlocking businesses reshape commerce
Acquired
May 27, 2021
Case studies
9
Business models
7
Long-term planning
5
Prime Video, Alexa, and AWS are one interlocking system, not separate bets.
Western marketplace sellers structurally can't compete with Chinese manufacturers on Amazon.
Bezos's willingness to fail publicly — Fire Phone, then Alexa — is the innovation method.
China tech in 2021: consumer brands, community group buying, and EVs
Acquired
May 5, 2021
Business models
10
Iteration & feedback loops
8
Growth hacking
7
Chinese brands now iterate physical products like software — weekly new SKUs.
Rural China's billion consumers are the next trillion-dollar platform battleground.
Every major Chinese internet company is now also an EV company.
Warren Buffett: from paper boy to investor, the formative years
Acquired
April 21, 2021
Origin stories
10
Unit economics
6
Business models
5
Insurance float is a free, uncollateralised loan compounded at scale.
Buffett's two biggest early wins — GEICO and Amex — were both sold too soon.
Combining insurance float with operating businesses creates a self-funding capital flywheel.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Levels, CGMs, and the case for real-time metabolic data
Acquired
April 6, 2021
Founder interviews
9
Business models
7
Bootstrapping
5
70% of oatmeal eaters spike into pre-diabetic glucose ranges.
Real-time glucose data closes the loop diet advice never could.
Insurance billing codes killed preventive healthcare — direct-to-consumer fixes it.
Rec Room: how a VR startup pivoted to a cross-platform metaverse
Acquired
March 24, 2021
Case studies
9
Pivoting
8
Iteration & feedback loops
6
VR market flatlined for two years — Rec Room survived by going multiplatform.
Handing creation to users unlocked 2M creators and 660% revenue growth.
Centralized economy beats crypto: control is what lets you evolve the rules.
How Meituan became China's third largest tech company
Acquired
March 10, 2021
Case studies
10
Business models
7
Meituan cloned Groupon, survived a 5,000-company war, then transcended it
Acquiring Dianping's 18-year review database unlocked an unbeatable flywheel
China's super app model makes US food delivery look like a prototype
How the New York Times Survived 170 Years and Reinvented Itself
Acquired
February 18, 2021
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
A broke outsider from Tennessee bought the NYT using none of his own money.
Cutting price from 3 cents to 1 cent tripled circulation and saved the paper.
Trump's presidency became the single greatest subscriber growth driver in Times history.
Founder interviews
Podcast
How Sequoia Capital identifies and builds legendary companies
Acquired
February 1, 2021
Founder interviews
9
Fundraising & VC
7
Vision & mission
6
Sequoia builds 'prepared minds' on markets before founders ever pitch them.
The core investment test: why does this idea work now when it failed before?
Holding through compounding beats distributing early — as-held multiples prove it.
Founder interviews
Podcast
How Cortland Allen built IndieHackers and sold it to Stripe
Acquired
December 17, 2020
Founder interviews
10
Bootstrapping
8
Business models
7
Seven failed startups taught Cortland Allen how not to quit
IndieHackers went from 1,400 users to 100x in three years inside Stripe
Selling to companies with budgets beats convincing broke founders to pay
Airbnb IPO: the story, business model, and growth challenges
Acquired
December 11, 2020
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
Growth hacking
7
Sequoia's $585k seed check returned over $11 billion at IPO
91% direct traffic is both Airbnb's greatest moat and its performance marketing blind spot
Growth slowed to 29% pre-COVID while fixed costs grew 60% — the cost structure never adjusted
DoorDash: How a Stanford Startup Won the Food Delivery Wars
Acquired
December 10, 2020
Case studies
9
Fundraising & VC
7
Business models
7
Suburban launch, not urban, was the move that unlocked DoorDash's growth.
Two down rounds and a near-death bridge loan preceded a $70B IPO.
Contribution margin only turned positive in the pandemic quarter that changed everything.
Designing software to feel like a game: Rahul Vohra on Superhuman
Acquired
November 12, 2020
Design thinking
9
Iteration & feedback loops
7
Deep work & focus
5
Extrinsic rewards halve intrinsic motivation — gamification backfires without game design.
Flow, not features, is the design target — inspired by racing a Lamborghini at cognitive limits.
Superhuman reverse-engineered Chrome's font engine for sub-pixel typographic perfection.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Twitter's hidden story: revenue, Instagram, and the road not taken
Acquired
October 28, 2020
Founder interviews
10
Competitive analysis
7
Fundraising & VC
5
Twitter invented the in-feed ad format now used by every social platform
A missed Instagram acquisition changed the competitive landscape permanently
Syndication was Twitter's untapped structural advantage Facebook couldn't replicate