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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
  • Avg 1 hr 5 min
  • English

Episodes 112

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  • Apr 23, 2021 · 1 hr 8 min

    LP "Expert Call" with Josh Clemente from Levels

    We got *awesome* feedback on the recent special episode we did with Levels founder Josh Clemente -- so we asked Josh if he'd join for a follow-up Q+A session on our next LP Call, and he graciously agreed! The conversation was so good we decided to release the audio recording in the ACQ2 feed. Thanks again to Josh and the Levels crew, and we hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did live! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

  • Apr 1, 2021 · 1 hr 13 min

    The Meituan Bear Case (with Lillian Li)

    When the internet’s top China tech analyst Lillian Li posted a great Twitter take (linked below) on our Meituan episode, we knew we had to try to get her on ACQ2 to tell us all more. What’s really going on with these platforms on the ground in China, what is the government’s role in all this, and why is Meituan’s outlook “rosy, but maybe not quite as rosy as we painted on the episode”? Thanks to the magic of the internet, a few Twitter DMs later and voila — not only do we have this awesome episode with her, but a new friend and collaborator on hopefully much more Western-China tech crossover content to come! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Lillian’s Chinese Characteristics substack: https://lillianli.substack.com Lillian’s original Twitter thread after the Meituan episode: https://twitter.com/lillianmli/status/1370327344704016384?s=21 Our original Meituan episode: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/meituan

  • Mar 18, 2021 · 52 min

    Modern Treasury interviews Ben & David (and vice versa!)

    The very cool (and also very hot! You can read about their recent funding rounds from Benchmark and Altimeter) fintech startup Modern Treasury recently asked if they could interview us for their internal "Coffee Break" series of fireside chats. We agreed, on one condition... that we also get to interview them! The result was a match made in Acquired Interview Heaven. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Modern Treasury: https://www.moderntreasury.com MT's Journal: https://www.moderntreasury.com/journal

  • Mar 5, 2021 · 1 hr 6 min

    State-of-SaaS and Deep Collaboration (with Jake Saper from Emergence Capital)

    Emergence Capital's Jake Saper returns to the LP Show to talk 2021 "state-of-SaaS" and Emergence's Deep Collaboration thesis. We cover how Figma changed the game for embedded collaboration within work tools, and why this theme represents a deep vein that Emergence is investing behind with companies like Ironclad and Jake's latest investment in Maze. Plus we cover the impact of the Zoom investment (undeniably one of the greatest venture investments of all time) on Emergence as a firm, and why investing in your partnership through coaching, peer groups and simply prioritizing dedicated time together is just as important after big successes as before. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Peer group resources Jake recommends for entrepreneurs: Enrich Pace 10X CEO Leaders in Tech

  • Feb 26, 2021 · 1 hr 15 min

    The Idea Dinner #1 (with Mario Gabriele and Packy McCormick)

    We team up with Mario from the Generalist and Packy from Not Boring for something new: The Idea Dinner! We've been longtime fans of each others' work and, given all the buzz on Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces, decided to team up and run a little experiment: The Idea Dinner. Last night on Twitter Spaces we all got together and brought one beverage of choice, one public market investment idea, and one private market investment idea. Despite some technical audio issues... it was a blast! We're super excited to share the recording here with everyone who couldn't make it. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Stay tuned for more to come! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

  • Feb 12, 2021 · 1 hr 25 min

    Roblox IPO Preview (with Mario Gabriele from The Generalist)

    It's a kids game, it's a social network, it's... potentially the hottest IPO of 2021? We team up with Mario Gabriele from The Generalist + S-1 Club to break down Roblox's business and its prospects as a public company. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links Mario & friends' definitive S-1 Club analysis of Roblox's prospectus: https://www.readthegeneralist.com/briefing/roblox-ipo Mario on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariodgabriele Acquired: https://www.acquired.fm

  • Dec 21, 2020 · 54 min

    What Remote Work Looks Like in 2021 (and Beyond) with Doist CEO Amir Salihefendić

    With 2020 and (hopefully soon) the global pandemic coming to a close, both existing and new companies everywhere will soon face a choice of how to operate going forward. Embrace the "future" that was pulled forward by the pandemic and remain remote? Or return fully/partially to a physical office environment? For those who choose the future (and investors who are considering betting on them), Doist and its CEO Amir Salihefendić provide a 10-year case study of both the challenges that arise and the opportunities unlocked by embracing the internet to its fullest extent in growing and running an organization. And oh yeah — along the way they built a profitable, double-digit $m ARR business with 100 employees, that's been completely bootstrapped on $0 capital invested. We dive into it all! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Topics Covered: Amir and Doist's journey from side programming project to bootstrapped, double-digit million ARR global business How they've operated as remote-only company for the past 10+ years, with 100 people across 35 countries and 10+ time zones Why just going remote but keeping the same tools and culture as in-person doesn't solve any problems and just creates more Why the temporal nature of work is just as (if not more) important than its physical location, and how the new modality of "asynchronous" work takes advantage of that How remote + asynchronous unlocks massive opportunities both for new companies and the tools to serve them Links: Doist: https://doist.com Doist's "remote setup guide": https://twist.com/remote-work-guides/remote-company-setup "The CEO with an Empty Calendar": https://superorganizers.substack.com/p/the-ceo-with-an-empty-calendar Packy's "We're Never Going Back" post: https://notboring.substack.com/p/were-never-going-back Amir on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amix3k

  • Nov 30, 2020 · 1 hr 14 min

    VC Fundamentals Part 4: Portfolio Construction & Management (with Jaclyn Hester & Lindel Eakman of Foundry Group)

    We continue our VC Fundamentals series with Portfolio Construction & Management — how do you build and manage a fund's portfolio as a whole, beyond each individual portfolio company and investment decision? We brought in two of the very best people in the world to help us dissect this topic: Jaclyn Hester & Lindel Eakman of Foundry Group. Jaclyn and Lindel have been early and longtime LPs in some of the best venture funds in the world: USV, True, Spark — and of course Foundry — and now also sit on the GP side of the table at Foundry. Tune in for a master class on how the best VC managers think about generating and optimizing fund performance. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Topics Covered: 1. The bar for what "good" venture fund performance looks like in terms of returns: Where venture sits on the spectrum of capital allocation options available to limited partners The difference between "gross" and "net" fund returns and why IRR is still important The distribution of returns across venture firms & funds — how many hit the performance bar — and the importance of diversification vintage years 2. Portfolio construction: how do you allocate the fund's capital across companies? Why have a "portfolio" at all vs. loading up on a few high conviction investments — and what an LP's incentives are for diversification vs. a GP's How to determine overall $ size you should target for a fund Concentration vs diversification and the concepts of "shots on goal" and "groups" of high-potential companies within a portfolio Fund reserves planning — are you "making your money at the buy", or able to buy up over time in your winners? 3. Balancing playing offense and defense: The upside potential of "interstitial rounds" Whether it's possible to save a company with more capital, and if pivots are a good idea 4. Time allocation vs capital allocation within a fund: Understanding and managing your own cognitive biases Why time & effort allocation across a portfolio rarely matches capital allocation (and shouldn't) Why a firm's partnership dynamics are typically the most important driver of funds' outcomes Links: Foundry Group: https://www.foundrygroup.com Seth Levine's post on skewed VC returns: https://www.sethlevine.com/archives/2020/10/vc-fund-returns-are-more-skewed-than-you-think.html Fred Wilson's posts on losing money and portfolio outcome distributions: https://avc.com/2016/04/losing-money/and https://avc.com/2012/07/the-power-of-diversification/

  • Nov 12, 2020 · 1 hr 11 min

    Masterclass: Superhuman's Fundraising Playbook (with CEO Rahul Vohra)

    Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra joins us for an absolute masterclass on startup fundraising that shatters much outdated traditional wisdom in the space. We cover why it's possible to build momentum and raise even as a solo founder, how you should think about syndicates vs. "brand name" VCs, and why you always want to be preempted and how to make that happen. This episode is a 100% must-listen for anyone raising money now, or planning to in the future. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Topics Covered: How to run a successful fundraising process Why founders should think about raising money as "creating a market" for their company's equity How to build fundraising momentum, and why you shouldn't be afraid of using outsourced design and development agencies Preempted fundraises vs marketed fundraises: why you always want to be preempted, and how to orchestrate that happening Non-obvious ways that founders should think about runway, amount to raise and raise-timing in order to always have leverage in fundraising conversations Round construction The value of "brand name" investors vs. non-traditional capital, and why you actually want both at different times Why founders might want to raise their first capital from other founders and operators (versus from funds) Why founders should put some of their own capital into early rounds How to use high-resolution financings (SAFEs and convertible debt) efficiently The concept of "interstitial financings", where you raise convertible debt in-between rounds, and when & how to use them Investing while also being a founder/operator Time/attention allocation and why it's now possible to do both effectively Flexibility to build positions over time vs. traditional fund structures Rahul's own angel fund with Todd Goldberg Bonus! The origin story behind the Superhuman name Links: Todd & Rahul's Angel Fund: http://toddandrahulangelfund.com/

  • Oct 23, 2020 · 55 min

    Book Club Discussion: Brotopia with Emily Chang

    Hello ACQ2! Posting the audio recording of our Book Club Zoom session with Emily Chang in digestible podcast form. For those who weren't able to attend, we hope you get as much out of the recording as we did being there live! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Book notes public post: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/book-club-discussion-brotopia-with-emily-chang GDoc version of book notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1939VQja1rIK9yP1Ahe4w2frPy4-nUYEH7pxwRk-WjBk/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=110434699798216361855 Thanks as always, Ben & David

  • Sep 29, 2020 · 1 hr 13 min

    How YC Rewrote the Seed Playbook with Garry Tan

    We're joined by Posterous co-founder, former YC partner and current Managing Partner of Initialized Capital Garry Tan to go deep on how YC changed the game for company creation and seed investing, how they thought about building the "cult" of startups, and what lies ahead as the early-stage world continues to globalize and evolve more quickly than ever. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Topics Covered (among others): How the recruiting challenge for early-stage startups led to outside-the-box thinking Peter Thiel’s “crazy” (but not actually crazy) offer to Garry to join Palantir Leveraging “cult” startup culture into a magnet for specific types of people Y Combinator’s path from fringe to mainstream Insight that those same cult recruiting techniques could be applied at a meta-level to recruiting company founders themselves Initial strong reactions to YC, and knowing they were on to something The beginning of “influencer investing” with Paul Graham’s essays + Hacker News The blooming of Seed as an asset class alongside and around YC The landmark deal with SV Angel and DST / Yuri Milner to “auto-fund” every YC company starting in 2011 YC scaling from ~10-12 companies per batch to 70-80 and now 200+ per batch Starting Initialized Capital within YC, and then spinning it out into one of the largest independent seed funds Influencer investing and startup evangelism going mainstream The impact of The Social Network movie Exporting the ~”YC message” to the entire world: you can start a startup The power of direct, bi-directional access to people via the internet Links: Paul Graham’s Essays: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html Hackers and Painters: https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-Computer/dp/1449389554/ Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com Garry's (great) YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIBgYfDjtWlbJhg--Z4sOgQ

  • Sep 15, 2020 · 1 hr 32 min

    VC Fundamentals Part 3: Company Building

    We continue our VC Fundamentals series with Company Building — everything that happens after you write the check. We catalog the different categories, strategies and tactics for VCs to "add value" to their portfolio companies, from direct involvement to portfolio services to simply doing nothing (often better than many alternatives!). For both of us, this is the best and most fun part of being an investor, and we hope that shines through in this episode. Here's to building great companies! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Topics Covered: The goals of Company Building: (Obviously) add value to your investments (Less obviously) increase your odds of finding/winning your next investments The four categories of company building: "Direct" work by the GPs "Active" platform and portfolio services teams "Passive" brand halo effect Simply "doing nothing" Activities you actually do: Board work (both governance and strategic/operational planning) Planning and orchestrating future financings and exits Recruiting, closing deals and "selling" Cofounder/executive disputes and departures Pivots and company shutdowns And perhaps the most important company-building advice of all: Don't Freak Out. Links: Our interview on the main show with Doug Leone: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/sequoia-capital-part-ii-with-doug-leone Fred Wilson's great post on pivots vs. shutdowns: https://avc.com/2018/11/pivot-or-fail/

  • Sep 3, 2020 · 1 hr 5 min

    The Outsiders Book Club Discussion with author Will Thorndike

    Hello ACQ2! Posting the audio recording of our Book Club Zoom session with Will Thorndike from The Outsiders in digestible podcast form. Big thank you to Will and to all of you who made this a really special experience. For those of you who weren't able to attend, we hope you get as much out of the recording as we did live! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Book notes public post: https://medium.com/@AcquiredFM/book-club-notes-the-outsiders-569175957ab4 GDoc version of book notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gipiBGB_xnuQkPFVJVZ-XxSVjy6DSxwEloEN3qnloyA/edit Outsiders Book Notes This fantastic book consists of eight case studies of “Outsider” CEOs who, borrowing the words of Warren Buffett’s quote on the cover, “excelled at capital allocation” and created enormous shareholder returns during their tenures. Btw, how crazy is it that Warren Buffett gave the cover quote? That rivals Reed Hastings writing the forward for 7 Powers. 😀 All of the CEOs profiled (with the exception of Buffett himself) operated in the pre-internet and, in most cases, pre-private equity eras. Thanks as always for being on this journey with us, - Ben & David

  • Aug 25, 2020 · 1 hr 2 min

    Primer on SPACs with Kevin Hartz and Troy Steckenrider of A* and AONE

    We dive into everything you need to know about SPACs — what they are, why they're a compelling alternative to IPO/DPOs, and how they might play an even more important role in startup financing going forward — with two of the very best people to teach us: Kevin Hartz and Troy "SPAC Professor" Steckenrider of the newly-minted $200m SPAC, AONE. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra TLDR: SPACs are an alternative path for companies to go public, however until recently they were mostly obscure and little-known/used. Meanwhile, the traditional IPO process has become onerous and broken: it takes 9+ months of company time, yet investors get only 15 minutes of management access and must make a decision in Links: A* and ONE: https://www.a-star.co John Luttig's great Medium piece on SPACs: https://luttig.substack.com/p/spac-attack-everything-a-founder Bill Gurley on SPACs as an attractive alternative to IPOs/DPOs (posted after recording): https://abovethecrowd.com/2020/08/23/going-public-circa-2020-door-3-the-spac/

  • Aug 19, 2020 · 1 hr 15 min

    Recording -- 7 Powers Book Club Discussion with Hamilton Helmer

    Hello ACQ2! We heard from several of you that Book Club recordings were hard to digest as Zoom recordings. So we stripped out the audio and are posting it here in podcast form. Thanks to all of you who made this a really special experience with Hamilton, and for those of you who weren't able to attend we hope you're able to get as much out of the recording as we did live! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra -Ben & David

  • Aug 6, 2020 · 1 hr 5 min

    VC Fundamentals Part 2: Investment Decision Making

    Despite many advances in industry transparency over the past ~10 years, much about the actual "jobs of a VC" remains locked inside firm/institutional knowledge and venture's apprenticeship model. With this series, we aim to change that. Our goal is to draw back the curtain on what the actual tasks are that VCs do day-to-day, how you can learn them, and ultimately what's required to succeed. We hope this series will be helpful both to anyone looking to break into the industry and to those who are already practicing and also for entrepreneurs and consumers of venture capital to understand more about the motivations and activities of those across the table! We continue in this episode with (initial) investment decision-making: how it's done in practice across the industry, who within firms makes the decisions, and -- most importantly -- the incentives and behavioral finance elements that shape people's actions. Our goal on this one was to explain and hopefully bring to light a process that impacts nearly everyone in our industry, but few people are ever exposed to (and even then only rarely). Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

  • Jul 27, 2020 · 1 hr 14 min

    Arming the Restaurant Rebels with Tock CEO Nick Kokonas

    We’re joined by Tock CEO Nick Kokonas to discuss how they’re “arming the restaurateur rebels” versus DoorDash / Uber Eats, in much the same way Shopify has done so for e-commerce merchants versus Amazon. This episode is full of lessons on how to execute a counter-positioning playbook to disrupt entrenched incumbents, including the influence of Nick’s friend / Tock investor and Nobel prize-winning economist Richard Thaler. Whether you’re an entrepreneur who’s also building a “picks & shovels” type business or an investor interested in the future of the food industry or disruption in general, this is not one to miss. See Ben's original Tweet that spurred the episode here: https://twitter.com/gilbert/status/1277740701246083072 There are lots of great replies to help understand the restaurant tech ecosystem, and of course, Nick chimed in with a tweet that led to him coming on the show. (Thanks to Matt Shobe for connecting us!) You can read distilled observations from all the replies here. “Even if you’re long on Tesla, don’t buy Tesla Options.” – Nick Kokonas (Instagram: @nkokonas, Twitter: @NickKokonas) Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast: Acquired.fm @AcquiredFM Show Links: Tuesday is Not Saturday Tim Ferriss Interview w/ Nick: VCs Congratulating Themselves

  • Jul 7, 2020 · 1 hr 1 min

    VC Fundamentals: Consumer Investing Master Class with Sarah Tavel, General Partner at Benchmark

    Benchmark General Partner Sarah Tavel joins us for a master class on consumer investing. We start with why invest in consumer at all (given the inherent risks of its "hit-driven nature"), then deep dive on marketplace investing and wrap up with social, gaming and consumer transactional businesses. Big thank you to Sarah for sharing her immense knowledge on this topic, and to her partner (and fellow Acquired "master class lecturer" on enterprise investing) Chetan Puttagunta for introducing us and for making it happen! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links to Sarah's consumer investing blog posts: "Hierarchy of Marketplaces" posts: https://medium.com/@sarahtavel/the-hierarchy-of-marketplaces-introduction-and-level-1-983995aa218e "Hierarchy of Engagement" post: https://medium.com/@sarahtavel/the-hierarchy-of-engagement-expanded-648329d60804 Rocks, Sand, and Water Framework for Consumer Attention: https://medium.com/@sarahtavel/the-opportunity-and-risks-for-consumer-startups-in-a-social-distancing-world-a-framework-for-15f65e2fbdff

  • Jun 10, 2020 · 56 min

    VC Fundamentals Part 1: Sourcing

    Despite many advances in industry transparency over the past ~10 years, much about the actual "jobs of a VC" remains locked inside firm/institutional knowledge and venture's apprenticeship model. With this new series, we aim to change that. Our goal is to draw back the curtain on what the actual tasks are that VCs do day-to-day, how you can learn them, and ultimately what's required to succeed. We hope this series will be helpful both to anyone looking to break into the industry and to those who are already practicing and also for entrepreneurs and consumers of venture capital to understand more about the motivations and activities of those across the table! In this episode we start with sourcing: what it is, why it's important, who does it and when, and -- most importantly -- the brass tacks of where to look and how to do it. Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Show Links: SpaceX Launch Emergence Capital Investment Themes M-Hacks (Univ of Michigan Hackathon) Startup Weekend

  • May 21, 2020 · 1 hr 13 min

    Pricing: everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask, with ProfitWell CEO Patrick Campbell

    We're joined by Patrick Campbell, founder & CEO of the world's leading SaaS profit-optimization service ProfitWell, to dive deep on all things pricing and monetization. Patrick began bootstrapping ProfitWell 8 years ago, and has since grown the business into a massive success with customers like Notion, Lyft, Masterclass, Atlassian, Help Scout, HubSpot, Cisco, Autodesk and many more. Patrick gives us a masterclass in how to think with a profit-maximization lens about pricing, feature development, growth and retention. And, as a special bonus at the end of the episode, he talks about his own entrepreneurial journey, bootstrapping the company without any venture funding, along with challenges overcome along the way. This episode has something for everyone to learn about company building — and is not one to miss! Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Links: Patrick's 2x2 matrix of product features: https://i.imgur.com/J3AAilr.png Max Diff analysis: https://learn.profitwell.com/article/tFfVQbtRnT-quantified-buyer-personas Van Westendorp's Price Sensitivity Meter: https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/190607/unlock-price-sensitivity-s-profitable-surprise Transitioning Customers to your Current Pricing: https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/grandfathering-discounting-prices-terrible-subscription-business

Showing 61–80 of 112 episodes