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Acquired · Encyclopedia

Acquired is a long-form business-history podcast hosted by Ben Gilbert (former product-management at Microsoft, formerly of Pioneer Square Labs) and David Rosenthal (former Madrona Venture Group, formerly of UCSD), focused on detailed deep-dives into the histories of major technology and consumer companies. Founded in 2015, the podcast has emerged through 2020-2024 as one of the most-respected business-history media properties globally with episode-lengths typically running 3-6 hours per episode (some episodes exceed 8 hours) covering the substantial archival research, executive interviews, and analytical synthesis of company-founding-and-growth narratives.\n\nThe editorial approach combines substantial primary-source research (10-K filings, annual reports, founder biographies, archival press, executive memoirs), substantial executive interviews (the post-2022 expansion of executive interviews including substantial founder-and-CEO conversations with Charlie Munger weeks before his death, Brian Chesky of Airbnb, Tobi Lütke of Shopify, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta), and substantial "what made it work" analytical synthesis. The substantial post-2022 Acquired listener-base expansion has driven substantial top-of-charts placement on podcast-charts. The podcast has produced episodes covering Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Tesla, NVIDIA, TSMC, Costco, LVMH, Hermès, Nike, Visa, Mastercard, Berkshire Hathaway, Rolex, Lockheed Martin, Standard Oil, plus substantial broader corporate histories.\n\nThe associated Acquired Limited Partner (LP) program offers paid bonus content plus the substantial annual Acquired Live in-person events (with the 2024 New York and 2024 Las Vegas events drawing 4,000+ live attendees plus substantial executive-guest engagement). The substantial post-2024 Acquired-and-NVIDIA Jensen Huang interview series plus the broader Acquired interview-and-narrative format has substantially influenced the business-history podcast medium globally.\n\nFor a globally-mobile professional with technology-and-business interests, Acquired provides substantive intellectual content with reliable analytical-and-research depth. The podcast is freely available across major podcast platforms with optional paid LP membership. Indian-listener engagement is substantial particularly among technology-startup founders, venture-capital professionals, plus business-school students at major Indian B-schools (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, ISB, plus the broader Indian B-school network).