ACQ2 by Acquired

We are very excited to bring you a special ACQ2 interview with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Aside from Joe's well-known work as a Golden Globe-nominated, Emmy-award-winning actor in films like 500 Days of Summer, Inception, and Looper, Joe is also the founder of HITRECORD, a startup which brings creative collaborators together across film, music, books, and more.Ben sat down with Joe to discuss:The creator economy’s focus on the finished product vs. the creative process, and how he thinks about this at HITRECORDThe state of the film and TV industry today, amidst the shift to streaming platforms and tech companies as primary distribution channelsWhat it has been like on set playing Travis Kalanick in Showtime’s upcoming “Super Pumped”Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraThanks to our good friends at Fika Ventures for setting this conversation up!

The title says it all. This feels weird to release by Acquired standards -- an hour of audio with zero research! -- but we wanted to check in with y'all and say hi from parental leave.Topics covered:- Update on Dad Life- Ben's new MacBook Pro- Discussion of Acquired's approach to doing video / YouTubeSponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

We sit down with Adam Jackson, the cofounder and CEO of Freelance Labs, which builds the incredible Web3 project Braintrust. (Disclosure David is an investor via Kindergarten Ventures.) We talk all about what a marketplace looks like in Web3, and why it's a completely different animal than traditional Web2 marketplaces like Uber, eBay, DoorDash, etc. Prior to starting Braintrust, Adam was the CEO of Doctor on Demand, so has literally lived both sides of the table. Tune in for a FASCINATING discussion of everything that crypto/tokenization enables, and why it's such an exciting shift that unlocks massive, $000B+ opportunities like Braintrust.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

We sit down with Roneil Rumberg, the co-founder and CEO of Audius — the decentralized music platform which currently is likely the widest-adopted Web3 project in existence with over 6m active users. This conversation was AWESOME and covers everything from Silicon Valley history, to how the music industry works, to the technical aspects and challenges of building a Web3 project today. Huge thank you to Roneil for joining us, and we're looking forward to hearing more from Audius on Acquired in the years to come!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Earlier this week David went on Levels' podcast, A Whole New Level, hosted by Acquired "Super LP" and Levels' head of growth, Ben Grynol. We had such a blast that we wanted to share here with the community as well! Full show notes from Levels below:When most companies start, they are single-threaded companies. More specifically, companies start with one product or revenue stream and evolve. Amazon is a great example of a company that has built an ecosystem. The company started as an e-commerce site for selling books, and now has a number of inter-related businesses that make up the entire Amazon ecosystem.Netflix is an example of a company that started as a single-threaded company – (a platform for viewing video content) – and has, for the most part, remained that way since its inception.As we build Levels, we often think about the way that our company will evolve – will it be an ecosystem for health, or will we remain focused on monitoring glucose? In this episode, David Rosenthal, (VC and Host of Acquired Podcast), dives deep into what it takes to build an ecosystem around a company.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Confused about everything going on with The Fed, inflation and how it affects tech and startup valuations? Or why it seems like every Jerome Powell comment brings out an army of finance's equivalent of fortune tellers and tarot card readers? So were we, so we called up the best person we know to explain everything -- Matt McBrady. Matt may be the only person who's been an academic economist, worked at the US Treasury, run a massive hedge fund AND helped start and sit on the board of two very successful startups, aQuantive and Axon/TASER. Tune in for a crash course in everything you need to know!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra‍LinksJ.P.'s Never Gonna Give you UpFollow Matt on LinkedIn to see his posts or connect with him for consulting, board opportunities, etcFor more on Matt’s academic work, check out his UVA faculty webpage

We sit down with Initialized Capital's Kim-Mai Cutler to talk about her opposite journey from us at Acquired, going from journalist to VC. We riff on how the landscape has evolved from Kim-Mai's parents' "Hewlett Packard generation" in the Valley through the TechCrunch era that se was a big part of, to today and how the nature of reporting, investing and influence -- the intersection of the two -- has changed.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

How on earth do you professionally manage a crypto investment firm? That was the question we wanted to find out, so we dialed up one of the best in the business: Multicoin Capital co-founder and managing partner Kyle Samani. Appropriately fresh on the heels of our Solana special episode (Multicoin was one of Solana's earliest investors), we dive into how in a few short years Kyle, Tushar and the team have built one of the largest and most well-known dedicated crypto funds on the market. We cover Multicoin's three crypto "mega-theses", how they've structured the firm across both a venture and hedge fund, and the dynamics of managing capital and running a firm in the new and fast-moving world of crypto investing.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraLinks:Multicoin's crypto mega-theses: https://multicoin.capital/thesis/The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.comKyle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani

Ben interviewed Initialized Capital founder and friend of the show, Garry Tan at Collision Conf last month. Garry is of course also a YouTuber, Clubhouse'r, and master of content creation. The good people at Collision Conf gave us the thumbs up to share this interview on the value of owning your own media stream with all of you.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

We're joined by Oliver Sharp of Highspot, Seattle's most recent unicorn company (at least at the time of recording!), to talk about how and why to architect everything a software company does around its customers — what today is often called "customer-led growth" — but really represents a company building philosophy that runs much deeper. Oliver has serious software cred: he first joined Microsoft in 1984, and then later became part of Bill Gates' famous "TA" staff after Microsoft acquired his first startup. The conversation was *fantastic* and we owe a huge thank you to Oliver for sharing his decades of learning by doing with us. Make sure you don't miss this one!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

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

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/acquiredsierraLinks:Lillian’s Chinese Characteristics substack: https://lillianli.substack.comLillian’s original Twitter thread after the Meituan episode: https://twitter.com/lillianmli/status/1370327344704016384?s=21Our original Meituan episode: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/meituan

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/acquiredsierraLinks:Modern Treasury: https://www.moderntreasury.com MT's Journal: https://www.moderntreasury.com/journal

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/acquiredsierraPeer group resources Jake recommends for entrepreneurs: Enrich Pace 10X CEO Leaders in Tech

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

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/acquiredsierraLinksMario & friends' definitive S-1 Club analysis of Roblox's prospectus: https://www.readthegeneralist.com/briefing/roblox-ipo Mario on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariodgabrieleAcquired: https://www.acquired.fm

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 businessHow they've operated as remote-only company for the past 10+ years, with 100 people across 35 countries and 10+ time zonesWhy just going remote but keeping the same tools and culture as in-person doesn't solve any problems and just creates moreWhy 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 thatHow remote + asynchronous unlocks massive opportunities both for new companies and the tools to serve them Links:Doist: https://doist.comDoist'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-calendarPacky's "We're Never Going Back" post: https://notboring.substack.com/p/were-never-going-backAmir on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amix3k

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/acquiredsierraTopics 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 partnersThe difference between "gross" and "net" fund returns and why IRR is still importantThe distribution of returns across venture firms & funds — how many hit the performance bar — and the importance of diversification vintage years2. 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'sHow to determine overall $ size you should target for a fundConcentration vs diversification and the concepts of "shots on goal" and "groups" of high-potential companies within a portfolioFund 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 idea4. Time allocation vs capital allocation within a fund:Understanding and managing your own cognitive biasesWhy 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.comSeth Levine's post on skewed VC returns: https://www.sethlevine.com/archives/2020/10/vc-fund-returns-are-more-skewed-than-you-think.htmlFred 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/

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/acquiredsierraTopics Covered:How to run a successful fundraising process Why founders should think about raising money as "creating a market" for their company's equityHow to build fundraising momentum, and why you shouldn't be afraid of using outsourced design and development agenciesPreempted fundraises vs marketed fundraises: why you always want to be preempted, and how to orchestrate that happeningNon-obvious ways that founders should think about runway, amount to raise and raise-timing in order to always have leverage in fundraising conversationsRound construction The value of "brand name" investors vs. non-traditional capital, and why you actually want both at different timesWhy 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 roundsHow to use high-resolution financings (SAFEs and convertible debt) efficientlyThe concept of "interstitial financings", where you raise convertible debt in-between rounds, and when & how to use themInvesting while also being a founder/operator Time/attention allocation and why it's now possible to do both effectivelyFlexibility to build positions over time vs. traditional fund structuresRahul's own angel fund with Todd GoldbergBonus! The origin story behind the Superhuman name Links:Todd & Rahul's Angel Fund: http://toddandrahulangelfund.com/

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/acquiredsierraBook notes public post: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/book-club-discussion-brotopia-with-emily-changGDoc version of book notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1939VQja1rIK9yP1Ahe4w2frPy4-nUYEH7pxwRk-WjBk/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=110434699798216361855Thanks as always,Ben & David

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 PalantirLeveraging “cult” startup culture into a magnet for specific types of peopleY 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 themselvesInitial strong reactions to YC, and knowing they were on to somethingThe beginning of “influencer investing” with Paul Graham’s essays + Hacker NewsThe 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 2011YC scaling from ~10-12 companies per batch to 70-80 and now 200+ per batchStarting Initialized Capital within YC, and then spinning it out into one of the largest independent seed fundsInfluencer investing and startup evangelism going mainstream The impact of The Social Network movieExporting the ~”YC message” to the entire world: you can start a startupThe power of direct, bi-directional access to people via the internetLinks:Paul Graham’s Essays: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.htmlHackers and Painters: https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-Computer/dp/1449389554/Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.comGarry's (great) YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIBgYfDjtWlbJhg--Z4sOgQ

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 investmentsThe four categories of company building: "Direct" work by the GPs"Active" platform and portfolio services teams"Passive" brand halo effectSimply "doing nothing"Activities you actually do: Board work (both governance and strategic/operational planning)Planning and orchestrating future financings and exitsRecruiting, closing deals and "selling"Cofounder/executive disputes and departuresPivots and company shutdownsAnd 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-leoneFred Wilson's great post on pivots vs. shutdowns: https://avc.com/2018/11/pivot-or-fail/

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-569175957ab4GDoc version of book notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gipiBGB_xnuQkPFVJVZ-XxSVjy6DSxwEloEN3qnloyA/edit Outsiders Book NotesThis 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

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/acquiredsierraTLDR: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 inLinks:A* and ONE: https://www.a-star.coJohn Luttig's great Medium piece on SPACs: https://luttig.substack.com/p/spac-attack-everything-a-founderBill 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/

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

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

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/1277740701246083072There 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 SaturdayTim Ferriss Interview w/ Nick: VCs Congratulating Themselves

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-648329d60804Rocks, 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

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 LaunchEmergence Capital Investment ThemesM-Hacks (Univ of Michigan Hackathon)Startup Weekend

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/acquiredsierraLinks:Patrick's 2x2 matrix of product features: https://i.imgur.com/J3AAilr.pngMax Diff analysis: https://learn.profitwell.com/article/tFfVQbtRnT-quantified-buyer-personasVan Westendorp's Price Sensitivity Meter: https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/190607/unlock-price-sensitivity-s-profitable-surpriseTransitioning Customers to your Current Pricing: https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/grandfathering-discounting-prices-terrible-subscription-business

We're joined by former Amazon, Microsoft and Bulletproof executive Anna Collins to discuss how high-performance organizations structure their hiring and interview processes. Whether you're a small startup or a big public company, as Anna puts it, there is no more important question than who you put "on your bus". Anna distills what she's learned across 20+ years and making thousands of hires into actionable, must-listen advice for anyone aiming to grow their organization in a high-performance manner (or on the other side, anyone looking to join a high-performance company!).“I believe that structure is what is required for creativity and for humans to actually connect. If you have chaos, that is the opposite of having the ability to connect and having a good candidate experience. It’s all about being human and you need the structure to facilitate that and to be productive.” – Anna CollinsSponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraBe sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFMLet People Know You’re An LP on Twitter! Show Links:14 Leadership Principles of Amazon33 Competencies of MSFTAnna's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-collins-5965/Transcript link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PX_6bUsHJRN3eZsCH5K8m-9OfHTOuFXH

In Part 2 of our conversation, Jason reveals his "secret master plan" behind the Calacanis empire, as well as how he and his team manage all their various activities and their own productivity. And of course, we couldn’t resist diving into some behind-the-scenes stories and hot takes, including a long bet on a future TWiSt - Acquired live show crossover collab. You can find Part 1 of our conversation in the main show feed at: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/acquired-special-episode-jason-calacanisSponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

We're joined for an Adapeting episode by the cofounders of Mystery, a Seattle seed-stage startup that we've mentioned before on Acquired and was started by early Convoy employees. In ordinary times, Mystery sends customers on magical date nights and group outings throughout the city with no planning or decision-making required -- an "easy button" for date night. Of course, we no longer live in ordinary times, and Mystery has undergone an incredible transformation. Within the span of a month, the company went from having "found" product market-fit and nearly completing a fundraise, to 100% of their business evaporating (and literally pitching Sequoia on the same day they released the Black Swan Memo), to then launching a completely new stay-at-home product and that not only recovered all of their revenue but meaningfully grew the business. We hope you all enjoy this conversation, and take some inspiration for navigating your own businesses through these stormy seas!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraLinks:https://www.trymystery.comhttps://sandwich.co ACQ2 announcement: We now have a Gdrive! You can find full transcripts of ACQ2 Episodes here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1PX_6bUsHJRN3eZsCH5K8m-9OfHTOuFXH

Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures joins us to illuminate everything Pre-Seed -- not just what it is and how founders/companies should navigate it, but also and more deeply: How he came into this corner of the venture world How he started Precursor as a solo GP and raised his first/subsequent funds, and what that journey was like How he manages the firm, its overall strategy, and especially portfolio construction within this relatively new asset class (spoiler: it's different!)Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraNote: we recorded this episode in the days right before it became clear that the coronavirus was going to become a major global crisis. While the world has obviously changed since, nothing in this episode is fundamentally different and -- if anything -- Pre-Seed rounds are going to be more relevant for entrepreneurs and investors going forward as valuations and check-sizes contract. We hope you enjoy and find the discussion as useful and illuminating as we did!

We're joined by Wade Foster, co-founder & CEO of Zapier, a company that basically hasn’t raised capital, doesn’t have an office, doesn’t have salespeople, and whose product consists of connecting other people’s products. And yet today they are doing well over $50M in profitable ARR, have hundreds of employees and thousands of hyper-passionate customers, and are one of the most interesting private SaaS companies in the world. We’re super excited for Wade to join us and dive into the full story of how this came to be!“We as founders have been prone to overthinking things. Just go for it, don’t be afraid of being a little weird about it. It’s hard to stand out. If your conviction is telling you to do something unconventional, unconventional stands out.” Wade, CEO of Zapier @wadefosterSponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Show Links:makerpad.coZapier Fibonacci PricingHigh Growth HandbookFord vs FerarriPoor Charlie’s AlmanackThe Ultimate Guide To Remote Work

“There’s no real secret to making the stuff we make. It’s not something where you have to be crazy talented. The thing is, you just spend a little bit longer on it than is reasonable. Most people would give up, and then you just keep going on it for three more hours making it better, doing more research, whatever the thing is that makes it better. Wherever most people would say, yea, that’s good enough, you just keep going for a little while longer. Not an eternity longer, just a bit longer.” -Nathan, quoting Alex Blumberg, Gimlet MediaBen and David agree to have the tables turned in a great interview by friend and longtime Acquired supporter Nathan Baschez, who was formerly the Head of Product at both Gimlet Media and Substack, and now writes the excellent Divinations newsletter on tech and business strategy. This episode originally came about because one of Nathan’s first articles at Divinations kindly focused on Ben and Acquired, which you can read in full here: https://divinations.substack.com/p/ben-gilbert-on-how-acquired-launchedThe core Divinations newsletter is free for everyone, but if you’d like special access to any of their paywalled content, Nathan shared this discount link for all Acquired LPs: https://divinations.substack.com/acquired . Check it out! Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraBe sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM Show Links:Nathan BaschezThe Morning Show (AppleTV)Thinking Fast and Slow SummaryWillpower SummaryMarshmallow ExperimentHow I Built ThisStartupSerialInvest Like The BestThe No-Code MovementDiggnationJoe Rogan Show

Let's face it, Acquired borders on Star Wars fan podcast anyway. So we dipped our toe in the water of making it official, with our review of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.We are joined by fellow Star Wars nerd and repeat special guest, Chetan Puttagunta, General Partner at Benchmark. In this episode, we *nearly* avoid any business analysis or speculation on the technology, media, or enterprise ecosystems, with only a brief revisit to the question: "Was it worth it for Disney to buy Lucasfilm?"Did we love it, hate it, or want to bury it like the prequels? Tune in! There are definitely spoilers, so be warned!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Steven Galanis, cofounder and CEO of the red-hot Chicago startup Cameo, joins us to discuss how they've turned selling personalized celebrity shoutouts online into both a massive business and the most interesting new social media phenomenon to hit the West since TikTok. We hope you have as much fun listening as we did recording this one!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM Show Links:Broke – ESPN DocumentaryMark McGrath’s Breakup Cameo

We're joined by Webflow's Co-Founder and CEO, Vlad Magdalin, talking about how he started the company (over a decade, trying three times), how to nail the timing of your startup, and the future of the "no-code movement."Vlad took his company through YCombinator in 2013, and raised only $3m in the following six years, before closing a $72m Series A from Accel earlier this year. He gives his perspective on why now is the only time Webflow could have worked (not in 2009, the last time he tried to start it), what's changed in browser technology, and how he was inspired by one of the original designers of the iPhone software. Vlad also shares his wisdom for other founders and opportunities he thinks will be available for entrepreneurs in the next five years when robust "no-code" infrastructure is built out.“The differentiator between No-Code and Low-Code is that Low-Code makes this implicit admission that in order to really finish a project, I’m going to need a developer. Or I am going to need to know how to take it across that last mile. In No-Code, the aspiration is that for the vast majority of cases, you will not that. Or, if you do, that one or a few developers that can create the No-Code version that abstracts away the Low-Code version and put it into the hands of millions.” -Vlad Magdalin, @callmevladSponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM Show Links:Bret Victor – The Future of Programming (YouTube)Bret Victor – Inventing on Principle (vimeo)Paul Graham – Default Alive or Default Dead Essay

We are joined by Chetan Puttagunta, General Partner on Benchmark, talking his investment philosophies, enterprise technology trends, and the uniqueness of Benchmark. How is this firm with only five partners and no associates so repeatably successful? Chetan shares the story of his very first investment, MongoDB, and lessons learned from his other investments and board positions in Elastic, Sketch, Duffel, Mulesoft, and many others.Chetan also helps us understand how he balances staying open-minded enough to let founders shape his vision of the future (and not the other way around), while staying educated on areas where he thinks the future is bright.“The product/market fit question, I don’t find to be a conclusive one…because one of the assumptions is that you’re assuming the market itself is constant, which we all know is not true. Today’s product/market fit might be tomorrow’s outdated solution.” – Chetan Puttagunta, @chetanp Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraBe sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM

"You can call it paranoia, or you can call it innovation. The language doesn’t matter if the feeling is the same. This is all an experiment I’m running eight years in: How do I update my mindset to want to approach things by activating the pleasure center more than the pain center? I’m more likely to move away from pain and towards pleasure. So why don’t I make innovation a game and bring play to, literally playfulness, into it? I see too many founders burn out because they have lost playfulness in their culture." – Tracy Lawrence, @chewishgirlTracy Lawrence, founder and CEO of Chewse (@chewse) takes us on the journey of how and why she founded Chewse. Tracy, Ben, and David discuss most of the traditional topics (early days, product-market fit, mission alignment), but spend most of the time talking about non-traditional topics like mental health, vulnerability, and love for company and self. If you’re a founder, this episode will perk both your IQ and your EQ. For everyone else, your faith in the future of tech might get restored. Enjoy!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM

We're joined by Stanford professor and senior advisor to Airbnb, Uber, Stitch Fix, and Wave Capital, Ramesh Johari, who is one of the world's leading experts in marketplaces. Ramesh has been advising David and his partners at Wave since day one, and we're super excited to bring his incredible experience and insights to all of our ACQ2 listeners. In this conversation we dive deep into nearly every aspect of starting, building and then operating a marketplace at scale. Whether you are a marketplace entrepreneur, employee, investor, or just curious about how some of the most powerful businesses of our time work, this is not one to miss!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Ben and David discuss the newest development in the venture ecosystem, startup studios, through the lens of Pioneer Square Labs (which Ben cofounded in 2015). David manages to trick Ben into sitting on the other side of the table and being interviewed about how PSL works, how he and his partners started it, and what lies ahead! For more information, check out http://psl.com.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Ben and David couldn’t agree on a topic for this LP episode with the clock winding down to our recording going live... so we decided to “do it live” and commentate on our Twitter feeds haha (and discuss your survey feedback). We hope you enjoy this fun slice of randomness, and we’ll be back with more actionable interviews and company-building topics very soon!Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

We dive into one of the most critical components of company building, recruiting product leaders (and executives in general), with Andrew Abramson of Riviera Partners -- one of the most elite search firms in Silicon Valley. We cover first how companies and founders should think about recruiting senior leaders, from knowing when you're ready to work with search firms. Then we dive into the other side, how product managers should think about managing and progressing in their own careers toward senior leadership roles. Thanks to Andrew for joining us and we hope everyone can take away something applicable for their own companies and careers!Great Founders think about the product; Exceptional Founders think about who should lead the company vs who should lead the product. They sound similar but they are very, very different. – Andrew Abramson, @AndrewA91Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM

“If you look at the firms that were traditionally the early-stage ventures firms, the Series-A firms, and you look at their fund sizes and their firm sizes and compositions, it’s changed significantly in the last ten years. Your typical early-stage venture fund was a $250M Series A fund. Now your typical early stage fund is anywhere from $500M to 1B.” In this episode, Ben and David dive into the evolution of Seed Funds and how early-stage investing has changed in the last two decades both for investors and founders alike. Understanding the past changes in the ecosystem helps founders and investors establish themselves for the future. If you are an early-stage founder, this episode will contextualize the information you need to prepare your company for investment.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM Links from the Show:Wing’s analysis of the current state of the early-stage venture ecosystem: Seed is the new A, A is the new BSecrets of Sand Hill RoadGartner Hype CycleValue of VC Investment (1995-2018)US VC Investment Surpasses Dot-Com Era

Could I see myself or my wife working for/with this CEO? Would I quit my job and go work for this person? That’s the crux of it. If you’re a CEO out raising money, that is the lens with which you should view every interaction with a VC. You should come across in such a personally compelling way that they’re drawn to you. That’s the bar they are holding you to. The right amount of diligence is a great topic to think about, whether a company is ready for investment or not. This episode was made for founders getting ready for investment, or founders who want to start asking the right questions about their work. Ben and David discuss in depth what you can reasonably expect from VCs conducting diligence, and how to set yourself up for long-term value creation. Most importantly, Ben and David discuss the questions you should be prepared to answer and the questions you should be prepared to have asked about you.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM

“There’s often a desire to keep adding features because ‘Oh wouldn’t it be cool if we could do this or that?’ The reality is if a customer is only spending five minutes with your product, they’re only going to interact with a very tiny subset of your feature set. And so, you’re better off usually improving something that 80% of [customers] interact with that is really core than things around the edges that are more functionality.” - Phil Kimmey We are very excited to be joined by Phil Kimmey, one of the co-founders of Rover (and a frequent member of various 30 under 30 lists), who designed Rover in its infant stages at a Startup Weekend! In this episode, we dive into Rover’s initial design, how the business model was proved, and wrap up with a lengthy discussion on Value-Add Features vs Data-Driven Features. Phil also provides his opinion on what makes new tech and development teams successful and explains why PayPal still sends Rover’s monthly summary statements to his parent’s house. Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraBe sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Follow Acquired: @AcquiredFM, acquired.fmLinks from the Show:Conjoined Triangles of Success

“Uber, pre-IPO, had raised more money than Lyft’s current market cap. And now, because they raised 9B in an IPO, they’re close to total money ever raised to being 2x of Lyft’s current market cap. It’s an outlier in every way.”Ben & David reflect on what they’ve learned from the APLUSS IPOs so far, what’s ahead for Uber and Lyft, and tackle some longstanding listener questions.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFM Links from the Show:Narrative Violations – Bedrock Capital

[on Uber’s Early Organizational Structure] “Uber always thought about it as a twin-turbine plane: maybe for a short period of time, you could operate on one engine. But if you want to operate at full efficiency, you need both engines working in tandem and working effectively together.” Brian Tolkin, (@briantolkin)We’re super excited to be joined by Brian Tolkin, one of Uber’s first ~100 employees who built their “Product Ops” organization and then went on to lead Product Management for UberPOOL and all shared rides on the platform. We dive into the nitty gritty of how Uber built their “twin turbine” engine of decentralized real-world Ops and centralized Tech Product, and how the organization evolved as it scaled. We also cover Brian’s new role at OpenDoor and the tight ops + product coupling they’re building now in real estate.Sponsors:Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFMLinks from the Show:Stanford Venture Capital ClubBen Evans: The End of the Beginning (video)Lyft IPO (Acquired)Pre-Meeting Narrative ExampleOpenDoor.com