Acquired Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

We sit down with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek live in Stockholm at Spotify’s amazing HQ studio (check out the video version of this episode — which plays natively on Spotify!). This was an incredibly special and timely conversation: for those who haven’t been paying attention over the past few years, after revolutionizing music Spotify has now ALSO completely transformed our own industry in podcasting. Starting from way behind with ~zero market share in 2018, Spotify has now aggregated the listener market and amazingly surpassed Apple as the world’s largest podcast platform — including close to home with the Acquired audience, where it has 60%+ market share among you all!
We discuss the origins of this “second act” strategy with Daniel, the vision to move from a music company to an audio company, and what’s coming next with Spotify’s entry into Audiobooks. And of course we relive some key moments from the Acquired canon that Daniel was involved in, including his pivotal conversations with Taylor Swift and her team convincing her to come back to streaming following the release of 1984. Tune in!
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Links
Follow Daniel on TwitterNote: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

We sit down Benchmark’s legendary gaming investors Mitch Lasky and Blake Robbins (now also of the excellent Gamecraft podcast fame) to discuss the history and future of gaming business models. This episode is the perfect bookend to our Nintendo/Sega gaming series this season on Acquired — no one is more qualified than Mitch and Blake to breakdown how the business side of the industry has evolved so radically from the Periscope quarter-drop days to the forever games and platform based publishers of today.
Regardless if you’re a gamer, understanding the incredible innovation that’s taken place over the past two decades in gaming and what it portends for other industries is critical for any founder and investor to understand. Tune in!
ACQ2 Show + LP Program:

Subscribe to our interview show, ACQ2!

Become an LP and support the show. Help us pick episodes, Zoom calls and more.
Sponsors:
Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:

All of your product growth powered by Statsig
Up to 10% off your first year of business insurance with Vouch
A free trial of PitchBook + links to research reports!
Links

The Gamecraft Podcast

Mitch and Blake on Twitter
The Genius of the System
Mitch’s old “Investing in Content” blog post

That Game Company and Sky

Riot and the League of Legends dota-allstars.com growth hack
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Sega and the Genesis was THE underdog story of the early 90’s. In a single console generation, Sega went from ~zero to 50% US market share and dethroned Nintendo’s seemingly invincible global monopoly. But — somehow — it all then died. Two console generations later Sega was out of the hardware game entirely, and the company was sold off for pieces to a pachinko manufacturer. How on earth did this happen??
Today we’re launching Acquired Shorts in order to tell this story and others like it: side tales from the “Acquired Cinematic Universe” that are too brief for a full episode, but too good to leave in the vault. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the format (and this episode). Please send us your feedback in Slack, email or Twitter!
ACQ2 Show + LP Program:

Subscribe to our interview show, ACQ2!

Become an LP and support the show. Help us pick episodes, Zoom calls and more.
Sponsors:
Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:

Up to 10% on your first year of business insurance with Vouch
A free trial of PitchBook + links to research reports!
Links:

The shortest and most famous speech in video game industry history
Episode sources
Carve Outs:

Daryl Morey on Invest Like the Best
Succession
Starship
6 Days to Air
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

In the 1980’s Nintendo was on top of the world, with the NES achieving over 90% market share of home video games globally. So how did they fall ALL the way down to ~10% in just a few short console generations? And how did they then build themselves back up (and down and up again) to the top of the world again? Spoiler: it all hinged on one very small, yet very large and durable platform… the Game Boy. Fire up your favorite portable entertainment device and tune in for the epic story of Nintendo’s fall from grace and journey back to the top — capped off by our robust discussion of where they go from here, and whether this 130+ year old company may still (!) be misunderstood and mis-valued.
ACQ2 Show + LP Program:

Subscribe to the shiny new ACQ2!

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Sponsors:
Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:

Pilot: 20% off your company’s first six months of service
Vanta: $1,000 off any compliance audit product

…in touch with Tiny! (just tell them Ben & David sent you)
Links:

Our EA episode with Trip Hawkins
Matthew Ball on why “Nintendo as Disney” is a flawed analogy
Crossroads Capital’s investor letters outlining their Nintendo thesis
Episode sources
Carve Outs:


Kara Swisher in Vanity Fair (and our old episode with her!)

Hardcore History (finally!)
The Tetris movie
Daryl Morey on Invest Like the Best
‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

7 Powers author Hamilton Helmer and his Strategy Capital colleague Chenyi Shi join us again to discuss their latest research on a topic that’s highly relevant to the recent Acquired canon: how to build a second business line. This incredibly important “transforming” question faces every great company who has achieved initial product success (as well as their investors). Do we continue solely along the established path, or do we attempt to grow new branches on the tree? Some companies grow new businesses with tremendous success — Amazon and AWS, Nintendo and video games, Nvidia and CUDA — yet many others fail miserably. For the first time Hamilton and Chenyi share their research-based playbook on how companies should approach this decision and choose wisely. Tune in!
ACQ2 Show + LP Program:

Subscribe to the shiny new ACQ2!

Become an LP and support the show. Help us pick episodes, Zoom calls and more.
Sponsors:
Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:

Up to 10% on your first year of business insurance with Vouch
Free trial of PitchBook + links to research reports!
Link to Hamilton's 2-Axis Chart
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

ACQ Sessions returns with David Senra of the Founders Podcast. David is one of our very favorite people in the world — it’s impossible to spend an hour (or 3!) with him and not come away inspired to go take over the world. This conversation is an “extended, IRL version” of monthly calls that we do together where we share stories, swap life and podcast advice, and just genuinely enjoy sharing time with someone who shares our outlook and enthusiasm for the history of entrepreneurship. Pull up a chair, grab a beverage (or energy drink in David’s case) and join us!
ACQ2 Show + LP Program:

Subscribe to the shiny new ACQ2!

Become an LP and support the show. Help us pick episodes, Zoom calls and more.
Sponsors:
Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:

Up to 10% on your first year of business insurance with Vouch
One week of free PitchBook access!
Links:

Go subscribe to Founders! Some of our favorite episodes: Bernard Arnault, Brunello Cucinelli, Edwin Land, Kobe Bryant
Topics:

(00:01) - Intro
(03:30) - David’s time with Charlie Munger
(06:00) - Henry Flagler after Standard Oil
(09:00) - What makes a great biography, and how to capture all sides of complex characters?
(11:30) - Studying history is a form of leverage to achieve success
(13:30) - How do we figure out what the true story is for an episode we're doing?
(21:00) - Silicon Valley should focus more on durability than growth
(22:00) - How David Senra got into reading biographies and podcasting
(26:10) - What were each of their influences before starting Acquired and Founders?
(36:00) - How to suck less over time
(38:00) - What motivates, Ben, David, and David to get better?
(45:30) - Dead ends: business model changes, paid podcasts, changing the name to “Adapting”, and Senra's “Autotelic”
(52:00) - “You’re not advertising to a standing army, you’re advertising to a moving parade”
(56:30) - Comparison of podcasting business models
(01:00:40) - Senra’s insane Readwise "healthy twitter" habit
(01:05:00) - Is it possible for the ultra-wealthy not to mess up their kids?
(01:15:30) - The fleeting moments you get to spend with your kids
(01:17:30) - The value of building relationships with best-in-class peers
(01:20:00) - How the book publishing industry works
(01:29:15) - How to differentiate yourself as an investor in 2023?
(01:39:00) - The greatest historical examples as content marketing
(02:02:30) - The best businesses are cults (and Senra starts one on the episode)
(02:07:30) - Senra gives feedback to Ben and David on Acquired episode format
(02:16:00) - Steve Jobs’ 1997 product matrix
(02:17:30) - The moral imperative to market products that help people
(02:23:30) - Ray Kroc and Steve Jobs: deeply flawed founders
(02:24:00) - The founders we idolize are world-builders
(02:28:30) - When yachts and jets are underpriced assets
(02:32:30) - How to compete when money is cheap vs. when there are real interest rates
(02:40:00) - When Ben and David have fixed broken episodes in post-productio
(02:45:00) - Why masters of craft are so interesting to study
(02:46:00) - Should you listen to advice?
(02:53:00) - The Cuban experience immigrating to Miami
(02:53:30) - Senra’s first job detailing cars
(03:01:30) - College entrepreneurship programs
(03:04:30) - Ben’s experience learning UNIX as a kid
(03:09:00) - David remembers Tim Ferriss guest lecturing in college
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.