Trailer: What is Acquired?

**Ben Gilbert** (0:00)
Hello, and welcome to Acquired, the podcast about great companies and the stories and playbooks behind them. I'm Ben Gilbert.

**David Rosenthal** (0:07)
I'm David Rosenthal.

**Ben Gilbert** (0:09)
And we are your hosts.

**David Rosenthal** (0:11)
So, Ben and I are obsessed with uncovering the history, strategy and stories behind what built the greatest companies in the world. Each month, we choose a company, and we spend the entire month researching what uniquely made it work, where many others failed. The output of that is a full day recording session where Ben and I come together and tell the absolute deepest business and technology stories on the Internet.

**Ben Gilbert** (0:34)
And when we say obsessed, we mean that we spend a hundred hours each reading everything that exists about a company and doing primary research and background interviews with the people who lived it firsthand. These are stories like Nvidia, Costco, Hermes, Microsoft, Rolex, Amazon. Those are some of our favorites anyway. What started 10 years ago as just the study of tech companies has led to a curiosity about our broader world from Berkshire Hathaway to the NFL or even Taylor Swift. Our goal in creating each episode is to uncover the secrets that are lurking in plain sight and how these world-changing companies went from obscurity to ubiquity. So if you've ever wondered, how did Starbucks end up on every corner around the globe, or what does Visa actually do and how did they become the payment rails of the whole globe, or why is the NFL so much bigger than other sports leagues than Acquired is for you?

**David Rosenthal** (1:32)
Yep. We have a unique format that we do on the show. We call it a conversational audiobook. Ben and I tell these stories of these companies through a deep conversation, and typically it's just the two of us without an interview guest. Occasionally, we will bring in a protagonist from the story, like Howard Schultz from Starbucks, or Jetson Huang from Nvidia, or Mark Zuckerberg from Metta. Usually, though, that's as a follow-up interview to a deep dive that we've already done on their company. Now, one thing we should say, our episodes are typically very long, like three to four hours long since we go really deep. But don't be scared. These are amazing stories that deserve every minute, and we have a lot of fun along the way. Our goal is really to deliver a complete understanding of a company by the time you finish the episode.

**Ben Gilbert** (2:19)
So we're glad you're here. Welcome. And if you ever want to discuss any episodes or give us any feedback, join us in the Acquired community at acquired.fm slash slack. Welcome.