Acquired

Acquired dives into the legendary acquisition of Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen’s “second act” software company Opsware, from a perspective never before heard—HP’s side of the story! Our heroes are joined by Michel Feaster, who led both the acquisition for HP and then the Opsware product as part of the integrated company afterward under Ben Horowitz. Today the tables have turned: Michel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Seattle-based startup Usermind, and Ben Horowitz sits on her board on behalf of A16Z. This episode is not one to miss! Topics covered include: * Opsware’s early history and origins as Loudcloud, the “second act” of internet wunderkind Marc Andreessen and Netscape product manager Ben Horowitz * Ben’s first person telling of the Loudcloud/Opsware history in The Hard Thing about Hard Things, as well as the great Wired "period piece” covering Loudcloud’s launch in August 2000 * The importance of timing, and Loudcloud’s too-early vision of—essentially—AWS before AWS (including eerie parallels between the metaphor Andreessen used to describe Loudcloud during the company’s first press briefing, and Jeff Bezos’s description of AWS at YC nearly a decade later) * Creation of the “Opsware” tool inside of Loudcloud to automate deploying and configuring servers within Loudcloud’s data centers * Loudcloud's meteoric rise, crash following the burst of the internet bubble, and hard pivot as a public company into Opsware—now an enterprise software company selling datacenter tools * Michel’s role in HP’s evaluation of the company as an acquisition target, and process leading to its $1.6B acquisition in July 2007 * Integration of the company into HP’s culture and sales channel * The creation of Ben & Marc’s “third act”, the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and what it’s like for Michel now having Ben as an investor on her board at Usermind The Carve Out: * Ben: StarStaX star trail photography software * David: Jimmy Iovine on the Bill Simmons Podcast

Acquired trains its lens on the “second or third best acquisition of all-time”, Priceline’s 2005 purchase of Booking.com. Our heroes are joined by friend-of-the-show and former Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson to help understand how this little-known startup from The Netherlands grew into the largest travel company in the world, with nearly $8B in annual revenue. Was this deal even better than Instagram??? We debate, hotly. Topics covered include: * The biggest startup you’ve never heard of (in the US), Booking.com, and its parent company Priceline (yes, the William Shatner Priceline) * Booking’s founding in Amsterdam in late 1996: by recent college graduate Geert-Jan Bruinsma * Skift.com’s Definitive Oral History of Online Travel * The travel industry's GDS's (“Global Distribution Systems”) and the development of Sabre * How Bruinsma raised the initial money for Booking: by emailing anyone he know who had an email address * OTAs ("Online Travel Agencies”) and how they operate; the "merchant model" versus the “agency model" * The role of search in online travel * Bill Gurley on Conversion: The Most Important Internet Metric of All * Expedia’s early flirtation with Booking, and decision not to acquire the company * Priceline head of M&A Glenn Fogel’s vision for how powerful the agency model for OTAs could become in Europe * Priceline and Glenn's 2004 acquisition of Active Hotels in the UK, followed by the 2005 acquisition of Booking for $133M and the combination of the two businesses into Booking.com * Booking’s incredible growth in the decade since the acquisition, from less than 20M room-nights to over 500M, and $7.8B in revenue in 2016 The Carve Out: * Ben: Scott Forstall talking about the original iPhone at the Computer History Museum * David: The Big Sick * Drew: Bloomberg’s Money Stuff by Matt Levine Sponsor: * Thanks to Silicon Valley Bank for sponsoring this episode. If you'd like to learn more or start a banking relationship, you can get in touch with Shai Goldman here.

Ben & David cover the creation of the gaming world’s equivalent of the 70’s rock supergroup: the 2008 merger of Blizzard and Activision. We tell the story from the Blizzard perspective, tracing the history of one of the most innovative companies in the business from humble beginnings at the hands of UCLA undergrads, to surviving multiple acquisition rollups (including at one point being owned by the French national water company), to joining ultimately with Activision to form the largest gaming company in the world, all while inventing multiple game genres that define the industry as we know it today. Click here to take the 2017 Acquired Survey. It takes 5-10 minutes, and you may win a pair of AirPods (woo!) Topics covered include: * Blizzard’s founding in 1991 as "Silicon & Synapse” by recent UCLA grads Allen Adham, Frank Pearce, and Mike Morhaime * The team’s first projects making ports for other games, including Battle Chess on the Commodore 64 * Early success on the Super Nintendo with Rock & Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings * Origin of the Real-Time Strategy game genre (“RTS”) and Blizzard’s fist mega-hit, Warcraft * Blizzard’s crazy corporate ownership changes over the years * Development of further legendary game franchises like Diablo and Starcraft, along with sequels to Warcraft and the rise of the rise of player modding * Emergence of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre (“MOBA”) from the Warcraft III modding community, and its growth into one of the biggest sectors in the games and esports industries today * Blizzard’s role in developing the concept of online gaming, from early hacks to play against friends to World of Warcraft and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (“MMORPG’s”) * The 2008 merger with storied gaming company Activision * Growth and success since the merger, including the launch of new game franchises Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch The Carve Out: * Ben: Dick Costolo on Vanity Fair’s Inside the Hive podcast * David: Nellie and Joe's 100% Natural Key Lime Juice (tip: buy in bulk from Walmart/Jet) Sponsor: * Thanks to Silicon Valley Bank for sponsoring this episode. If you'd like to learn more or start a banking relationship, you can get in touch with Shai Goldman here.

Ben and David are once again live on the scene, this time covering the biggest disruption in grocery since… well, sliced bread: Amazon’s $13.7B purchase of Whole Foods Market. We place this deal in context by diving deep into the long, intertwining history of grocery, tech and Amazon, from the infamous dotcom flameout Webvan (domain name now owned by Amazon) to its much more successful progeny Kiva Systems (acquired by Amazon in 2012) to current Silicon Valley unicorn Instacart (founded by former Amazon logistics engineer Apoorva Mehta). One thing is clear: for Amazon and Jeff Bezos, realizing the longterm vision of the Everything Store truly means building the everything store.

Ben and David are guests on Anchor's Podcast of the Day, discussing Acquired's origin story, show structure, and how the show gets made. If you're new to the show and looking for a primer, this is a great place to jump in!

Ben & David revisit the birth of the digital music revolution and Steve Jobs’ “digital hub” strategy, with Apple's 2000 acquisition of the Mac music player SoundJam MP, which would go on to become iTunes. We relive the 90’s with brushed metal interfaces, music visualizers and of course, software sold in (physical) boxes.

Ben and David continue Acquired’s “tech and sports” mini-series with Disney’s 2016 acquisition of a minority stake (with the right to purchase a majority stake at a later date) in BAMTech, the internet streaming company originally founded as part of Major League Baseball in the early 2000’s. However the importance of this story goes deeper than just sports, with major ramifications for nearly every major technology company from Amazon to YouTube. Even if you’re not not sure if baseball’s played on a diamond or a gridiron, tune in as we swing for the fences in predicting the future of TV! Topics covered include: * What is BAMTech, and why is it, according to The Verge, "the future of television”? * BAMTech’s origins as part of Major League Baseball's Advanced Media division ("MLBAM)”) * MLBAM’s founding CEO Bob Bowman’s decidedly “non-tech” background, and growth into one of the most important tech leaders of the past 15 years * Initial technology struggles and learnings from early streaming efforts (including a botched audio package of Ichiro Suzuki’s games with the Mariners for fans in Japan) * Landing on a streaming model that works with the launch of MLB.tv in 2002/2003—three years before YouTube is founded! * Improvement of the MLB.tv service and MLBAM’s streaming expertise over the next ten years through the rise of mobile, and simultaneous growth of MLBAM’s revenues to over $1B annually * MLBAM’s initial deals to expand its streaming services beyond baseball, starting with ESPN in 2010, then WWE, the PGA, HBO and the NHL * The importance of media rights, and MLBAM’s transition from a simple tech/infrastructure provider to a full-fledged media company * The decision to initiate a spin-off process for BAMTech from MLB in August 2015, and Disney’s $1B investment into the newly created spin-out company in August 2016 * Disney’s subsequent announcement that they’ll be working with BAMTech to create a direct-to-consumer ESPN streaming service * BAMTech’s $300M deal with Riot Games in December 2016 for the media rights to League of Legends eSports content * Bob Bowman’s announcement in February 2017 that he’ll be stepping back to from a day to day role, and hiring of former Amazon VP of Video Michael Paull as BAMTech’s new CEO Followups & Hot Takes: * Facebook’s struggles with Instant Articles * Microsoft killing Wunderlist (David is VERY sad) * Instagram continues its torrid growth, passes 700M MAU * Amazon’s new Look * The Cloudera IPO * Confirmation the ride sharing wars are far from over: Didi raises $5.5B in the largest private funding round ever The Carve Out: * Ben: NYT’s 4th Down Bot * David: Wait But Why on Elon Musk’s “Wizard Hat"

In honor of the start of NBA playoffs, Ben & David venture off the beaten path to explore one of Steve Ballmer’s most famous acquisitions, his 2014 purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise. Was this landmark purchase a steal or a turnover for the former Microsoft CEO? We speculate wildly! Topics covered include: * The Clippers’ founding in 1970 as the NBA expansion team the Buffalo Braves * Early ownership changes and the move west to San Diego in 1981 * Acquisition in 1981 by LA lawyer and real estate developer Donald Sterling for $12.5M * Sterling's relocation of the Clippers to LA in 1984 against NBA rules * Struggles over the next 25 years as the "worst franchise in professional sports” according to ESPN * Turnaround beginning in early 2010s led by Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris Paul * The bombshell in April 2014, reported by TMZ, of a taped conversation between Sterling and his mistress where Sterling makes hugely offensive and racist comments, directed in particular toward former Lakers point guard Magic Johnson * Fallout from the comments, resulting in a lifetime ban from NBA for Sterling, and a forced sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer for $2B * Impact of the landmark sale price on NBA and other sports franchise valuations * Clippers performance post-sale, and prospects for the future * The opportunity for technology and business model innovation in the NBA, and professional sports in general Followups: * Instagram Stories passes 200 million users per day (including correction on the definition of DAU) * The Last Jedi trailer! * Clarifying Starbucks’ same store sales performance post-IPO The Carve Out: * Ben: Bill Gurley on This Week in Startups * David: Pop, Race & the '60s podcast and Just Around Midnight by Jack Hamilton

Ben & David transcend the barriers of “real” reality, and dive into Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s geek-eutpoia vision of the future of gaming, social, and maybe even the entire internet: strapping goofy-looking goggles to your face. Is VR for real this time or are we living through another Virtual Boy moment? Tune in to find out! Topics covered include: * Oculus’s origins in 2010 as a twinkle in the eye of the then-17 year old VR wunderkind, Palmer Luckey, who started by prototyping VR headsets in his parents’ garage in Southern California * Palmer’s time interning at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, and chronicling of his own VR efforts in the Meant to be Seen 3D internet forums * Legendary game developer John Carmack’s own interest in virtual reality, his intersection with Palmer on the MTBS3D forums, and how he acquired and popularized one of Palmer's first early prototypes of the Oculus Rift (which was literally held together with duct tape!) by demonstrating it onstage at E3 2012 * How former Scaleform cofounders Brendan Iribe and Michael Antonov teamed up with Palmer after E3 to create the company Oculus VR * The newly-formed Oculus’s wildly successful August 2012 Kickstarter campaign, including video endorsements from both Carmack and Valve founder Gabe Newell * Oculus’s subsequent venture capital fundraisings, and catching the attention of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg * Facebook’s acquisition of the company in March 2014 for $2.3B * The Zenimax lawsuit filed against Oculus and Facebook following the acquisition * Valve (home of the most incredible company handbook of all-time) and Gabe Newell’s subsequent pivot from supporting Oculus to launching their own competing VR efforts with the Vive * Team changes at Oculus post-acquisition Followups: * SNAP: still a public company Hot Takes: * Intel’s $15B acquisition of Mobileye (with reference to Ben Thompson’s analysis of the deal and Smiling Curves) The Carve Out: * Ben: Kara Swisher interviews the Pod Save America team at SXSW * David: Adam Gopnik asks Are Liberals on the Wrong Side of History?

Ben & David "pour over" the 1992 IPO of the legendary Seattle coffee company with the help of Dan Levitan

Overture, Yahoo, Google, and the history of the Search business model

Snap! Acquired is live on the scene reporting from the "Super Bowl" of 2017 tech events: Snap Inc's hugely anticipated IPO.

Brad Stone, Senior Executive Editor of Global Technology at Bloomberg and author of The Upstarts and The Everything Store, joins Ben & David to dive deep into the Uber-Didi saga.

Ben & David venture into the semiconductor world, analyzing two hallmark Apple acquisitions: P.A. Semi and AuthenTec, both of which would go on to form the basis of core Apple product features in the “A” series of processors and TouchID sensors.

Note: we apologize for the less-than-amazing audio quality on this one. We’re still working on tuning our remote recording setup! Topics covered include: * Our top tech themes of 2016, including the first annual Acquired "Theme of the Year”: Aggregation Theory (surprise, surprise) * Themes we think will be most relevant as we head into 2017 * Extended Carve Outs! The Carve Out(s): * Books: * Ben: On Writing Well * David: The Creative Habit and the Asimov Robot/Empire/Foundation series * Article: * Ben: Wait But Why: Religion for the Nonreligious * David: The New York Times: The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S. * Podcasts: * Both: The Ezra Klein Show * Music: * Ben: Justin Bieber * David: Stevie Nicks * TV/Movies: * Ben: Westworld * David: Rouge One * Apps: * Ben: ReachNow * David: Amazon Music