BusinessEntrepreneurshipInvesting

ACQ2 by Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

ACQ2 is Ben and David's conversations with experts on topics related to Acquired. Acquired the stories of great companies — and ACQ2 dives deeper into the lessons we can learn from them, often with the protagonists themselves.

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112 episodes
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Jun 20, 2023 · 1 hr 10 min
Comparing the Dotcom Crash to Today (with Tom Cowan from TDM)
Every now and then, we come across super interesting and under-the-radar (at least to us!) public markets folks like NZS Capital who make us think differently about the art of investing. TDM is another one of those groups — founded 18 years ago in Australia, they’ve compounded a single, private pool of capital at 26% per annum over nearly two decades. That’s Warren & Charlie territory! TDM recently published a memo comparing the current “post ZIRP bubble” market with what happened in the years following both the dot-com crash and the GFC in 2008. As always, past performance isn’t necessarily predictive of the future, but what happened back then surprised us and might surprise you too. More importantly, it gave us the perfect excuse to sit down with TDM cofounder Tom Cowan and share the conversation with you all. Tune in and learn alongside us! Links: TDM’s 2023 Market Memo The current BVP Cloud Index Follow TDM on Twitter or LinkedIn Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
May 9, 2023 · 1 hr 22 min
Generative AI Moats in B2B with Emergence Capital’s Jake Saper
How do you build defensible business value in an era when, as AngelList CEO Avlok Kohli said on our last ACQ2 episode, the “cost of intelligence is going to zero”? Longtime friend of the show Jake Saper and his partners at Emergence Capital have been refining their thesis for this brave new world of Generative AI in B2B, and we sit down with him to discuss. We cover topics including: When do exactly correct answers matter, and when do they not? When are human-in-the-loop systems necessary? When do startups have an advantage vs. incumbents, and vice-versa? Where can companies capture value on a durable basis? When do you need proprietary data in order to be defensible? Whether you’re building or investing in existing businesses from the “pre-AI” era or brand new startups that are native to GPT, this episode has plenty of takeaways you should consider. Tune in! Links: Jake’s recent blog post on Generative AI and B2B Follow Jake on Twitter Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
Apr 20, 2023 · 57 min
AngelList CEO Avlok Kohli on the Transforming the Company — and Venture Itself
Since joining AngelList as CEO in 2019, Avlok Kohli has presided over perhaps the most unexpected and astounding transformation in the venture ecosystem: taking AngelList from an SPV provider to a company that is quickly becoming the software platform for the entire industry. Today, AngelList provides investors and founders with the infrastructure they need to launch and scale a startup or fund, and supports over $15B of assets (including David’s own Kindergarten Ventures!). We sit down with Avlok to discuss how it all happened (and happened so fast), and - also unexpectedly and astoundingly - how generative AI is about to transform their entire business and the venture ecosystem again. Tune in! Links: Visit AngelList to get started Follow Avlok on Twitter Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
Apr 13, 2023 · 1 hr 5 min
Retool CEO David Hsu on Finding Product-Market Fit via Sales
David Hsu has one of the most interesting founders journeys in tech today. After growing up in Silicon Valley, he left to study both philosophy and computer science at Oxford in the UK, then returned immediately afterward to found an internal enterprise tools company. Fast forward to today, and Retool is a multi-billion dollar valuation juggernaut that — almost uniquely for this era — operates at roughly cashflow breakeven while still growing rapidly. On this episode David shares his thoughts on finding product-market fit through sales, the dangers of product-led growth, how to get $1-5 million in ARR with just 5-10 people on the team. Tune in! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Retool! Follow David H. on Twitter
Apr 7, 2023 · 1 hr 18 min
Ben and David on My First Million
Ben and David joined Sam and Shaan of "My First Million" to talk about scaling to a large podcast, the company they would like to own, the CEO's you don't want to compete against, and the 100+ year history of Nintendo. If you liked this and want more of Sam and Shawn, subscribe to the MFM YouTube channel here. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: * Hampton * Wait But Why * Marques Brownlee * Nintendo * NVIDIA ------ Show Notes: (01:45) - Intro to Acquired (10:00) - How to scale to a big podcast (14:05) - How big do you have to be to be at the top of the business category? (23:55) - What commonalities are there between weird companies? (27:40) - How to tell a real from a fake contrarian (34:45) - Nintendo (37:45) - Which company would you most want to own? (40:45) - Who would you least want to compete against? (52:30) - Business ideas (56:40) - Will you ever sell Acquired? (58:20) - Best ways to make money as a podcast
Mar 20, 2023 · 1 hr 5 min
The Future of Cloud Data Collaboration (with Samooha Co-Founder Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan)
On our AWS episode, we talked briefly about the next chapter of cloud: data warehouses. But what makes them so powerful? Why do enterprises rely on them? And how will cloud customers collaborate on data stored in multiple clouds? We sit down with Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, the co-founder and CEO of Samooha, a new company backed by Altimeter and Snowflake Ventures to tackle the problem of secure data sharing and collaboration in the cloud. Kamakshi has an impressive background to speak to this problem, having been a part of AdMob (sold to Google), and the founder/CEO of Drawbridge, which sold to LinkedIn. She then went on to work in Microsoft's Office of the CTO, where she obviously had a lot of experience understanding the needs of cloud customers. If you want a better understanding of how enterprises use the cloud, multi-cloud architecture, and how security and privacy works with customer data at scale, this episode is for you! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Kamakshi on Twitter Samooha Samooha Product Demo Video
Feb 10, 2023 · 1 hr 5 min
Democratizing the Tools of Big Tech with Statsig CEO Vijaye Raji
Statsig CEO and former Facebook VP Vijaye Raji joins us to discuss democratizing the tools of big tech. Before starting Statsig, Vijaye spent 10 years at Facebook where he led the development of their mobile ad product (yes — THAT mobile ad product that’s the core of FB today). We talk all about about Facebook’s early days in mobile, and the internal building and shipping process that let them continuously experiment and roll out features out to billions of users, which Statsig is now bringing to engineering and product teams everywhere. This episode is a must-listen for product builders at all stages! Listen in any podcast player. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Statsig’s generous free feature flags offering Statsig experimentation community on Slack, LinkedIn and Twitter
Jan 9, 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
Capital Formation and the LP / GP Relationship (with Altimeter’s Meghan Reynolds)
We sit down with Altimeter Capital’s head of Capital Formation Meghan Reynolds (who previously was TPG’s global co-head of Capital Formation for 10 years) to talk about everything that goes into the LP - GP relationship at venture funds. We cover how (and why) to think strategically about Capital Formation, why it should be about so much more the just investor relations/fundraising, and also why and how it’s going to change dramatically over the next decade. This was a GREAT conversation, and very relevant for GPs, LPs, and also company founders and employees heading into 2023 and post zero-interest-rate capital markets. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Follow Meghan on Twitter! 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.
Dec 3, 2022 · 1 hr 6 min
Crypto Self-Custody 101 (with Austin Federa)
The Acquired community's own Austin Federa joins us for a 101 primer on how to self-custody your crypto assets, and why it’s the only truly safe way to hold them. Given all the current turmoil (and fraud) in crypto-land, we were thinking “how could we do something to help the Acquired community right now”, and Austin gave us the perfect idea. In addition to running the #digital-assets channel on the Acquired Slack, Austin is the head of communications at the Solana Foundation and has plenty of hard-won experience through previous crypto cycles and implosions. This episode covers both the nuts and bolts of a “how-to” guide, as well as a more philosophical discussion of self-custody across asset classes, and the practicalities and convenience tradeoffs involved. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Nov 10, 2022 · 43 min
Netflix's Journey, Building TCV, and Investing Through Downturns (with TCV co-founder Jay Hoag)
We had the rare opportunity to interview Jay Hoag, cofounder of the first tech crossover investing firm, TCV, at TCV’s Engage Summit in Half Moon Bay earlier this fall. Jay and Rick Kimball started TCV back in 1995 and have been part of the private-to-public journeys of storied companies like Netflix (which Jay shares some great war stories about on this episode), Spotify, Zillow, Expedia, Facebook, Airbnb, Peloton and many others. Jay and TCV were kind enough to let us release the conversation as an Acquired LP episode, and we’re excited to share it with all of you. We cover the firm’s history, how companies should calibrate the magnitude of their future-looking product investments (a topic we didn’t realize would end up being so timely) and perhaps most importantly, pivotal moments where now seemingly unstoppable companies almost died amidst big macroeconomic changes. We hope you enjoy! Links: The Acquired Merch Store The Acquired Slack Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Oct 31, 2022 · 1 hr 17 min
Consumer Investing in 2022 (with Brian O'Malley of Forerunner Ventures)
We sit down with Brian O’Malley of Forerunner Ventures to talk about where in the cycle we are right now for consumer investing. We touch on the macro environment (obviously!), but also how to navigate between and around the current generation of platform incumbents, and where the next breakthrough consumer technology companies might come from. And in true Acquired Playbook fashion we talk about the benefits of focusing on niches — and how on the internet they can expand ever bigger than you might initially imagine! Links: Acquired Qualcomm Live Show at Breakpoint 2022! The 2022 Acquired Survey! The Acquired Merch Store The Acquired Slack Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Oct 24, 2022 · 1 hr 6 min
The Profitable B2B Growth Playbook and Mutiny’s Story
The CEO of Mutiny, Jaleh Rezaei, joins us to talk about the playbook to profitably grow a B2B company — something particularly useful for founders in 2022! Jaleh was Gusto’s first head of marketing (and before that worked at VMware and Sequoia), and has since gone on to build Mutiny, which helps B2B companies dynamically optimize their websites for conversion and has raised over $70m from Sequoia, Insight, Tiger and other great investors. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Acquired Qualcomm Live Show at Breakpoint 2022! Follow Jaleh on Twitter The 2022 Acquired Survey! The Acquired Merch Store The Acquired Slack
Oct 3, 2022 · 1 hr 34 min
Kindergarten Ventures’ Vanta investment, and building a new Strategy for Venture (with Thomas McGannon)
Kindergarten Ventures LP (and fellow podcast host over at Unlimited Partners) Thomas McGannon interviews David about Kindergarten’s investment thesis for their recent large investment in Vanta. Along the way they discuss KV’s overall strategy, how it fits into Acquired, and why it’s “accidentally” become the best answer David has ever had to “why should a great founder take my capital?” Links: The 2022 Acquired Survey Vanta! Kindergarten Ventures on AngelList Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Sep 9, 2022 · 1 hr 10 min
Reinsurance, Climate + Kindergarten Ventures (with Nat Manning)
We sit down with Kettle cofounder — and David’s Kindergarten Ventures partner — Nat Manning to discuss the fascinating world of reinsurance, risk and climate. We couldn’t think of a better and more appropriate conversation to have on the LP Show, and this was an absolute blast. Tune in and enjoy! Links: Kettle Kindergarten Ventures on AngelList Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Aug 22, 2022 · 1 hr 27 min
The 2022 State of Crypto + Web3 with Solana's Austin Federa
We sit down with long (long!) time-acquired community member Austin Federa to discuss the current state of crypto and Web3. By day Austin is the head of marketing & communications at the Solana Foundation, where he was one of the earliest employees. But many of you also know Austin from his "night job" as the founder and lead of the #digital-assets channel in the Acquired Slack, where he does an incredible job curating some of the best and most accessible digital asset discussion on the internet. No matter whether you're already deep in Web3, curious but sitting on the sidelines, or a diehard crypto skeptic, this episode is well worth listening to and learning from. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Jul 27, 2022 · 1 hr 20 min
Dissecting ProfitWell's Acquisition (with Patrick Campbell)
What does a $200 million+ acquisition look like up close? How much time, focus, and communication happens between the first conversation and closing the deal? And when do the CEOs of each company just need to use the "red phone" and have a direct conversation without the 86(!) lawyers in the room? We sit down with ProfitWell founder and CEO Patrick Campbell to answer it all, centering on ProfitWell's recent acquisition by Paddle. And incredibly, Patrick built and scaled the SaaS company without taking a single dollar of investment! If you're running a company that may one day need to navigate an acquisition (or just curious), tune in! Links: - Our Previous Episode with Patrick, a Masterclass on Pricing - The Documentary: "We Sign Tomorrow?" Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
May 23, 2022 · 1 hr 10 min
David Interviewed on "Unlimited Partners"
David is the first guest on a new podcast, Unlimited Partners! This is a wide-ranging interview where upon listening, even Ben learned some new things about David :) Unlimited Partners is hosted by long-time friend of the Acquired community, Thomas McGannon. UP is his journey to learn - what makes great partnerships? They explore stories of people working together throughout business building, investing, community and family. While much of this is brought to you through Thomas’ work as a limited partner investor, their hope is that this podcast project finds a way to share themes and lessons for anyone looking to learn from the best partnership has to offer. Follow the Unlimited Partners Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unlimited-partners/id1625166477 Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Apr 15, 2022 · 54 min
Travel for the Creator Economy
We sit down with TrovaTrip co-founders Nick Poggi and Lauren Schneider to talk about travel for the creator economy. This one is very close to home since Ben is on their board! TrovaTrip is a marketplace that enables creators to easily plan trips to places around the world with their audiences. It's a whole new way for people to travel, with other like-minded people who share the same passions and communities. We talk with them about growing from a bootstrapped business to over 10,000 travelers booked, growing a travel business during the pandemic, and dive deep on the power of choosing a business model with favorable cashflow dynamics. Tune in! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.
Apr 8, 2022 · 32 min
Reverse Interview: Ben and David at Vanta
We dropped by Vanta's all-hands in SF a few weeks ago for Christina to interview us for a change! We decided to turn the mics on and record it as an ACQ2 episode. We discussed lessons learned from building Acquired, the shape of the show's growth trajectory, how we think about the business, and dive into our own origin story. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
Mar 23, 2022 · 59 min
Composer (with CEO Benjamin Rollert)
We sit down with Composer CEO Benjamin Rollert to talk about bringing serious financial firepower to the people, wallstreetbets-style. Composer opens up to anyone the same level (or better) of tools that top quantitative hedge funds hire armies of PhDs and computer scientists to build internally. We have a blast discussing how he came at this space as a total outsider, and why Gamestop may prove to be the "iPhone moment" for Composer and all high-powered consumer financial tools. And oh yeah, he also worked with Packy and Composer was the first Not Boring portfolio company. :) Tune in! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra 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.

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