10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)

Michael Lewis joins Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal to dissect why Acquired works on its 10th anniversary, recorded in Google’s founding garage.

• Acquired will release only 8 episodes in the coming year, down from 26 in early years, deliberately engineering scarcity like the NFL and Hermès.
• Michael Lewis discovered Acquired in July 2025 at Google Camp after a prominent CEO recommended it; has since listened to ~10 episodes.
• Sequoia’s Doug Leone told them after the dot-com crash: ‘you could burn cigarettes on our arms and we wouldn’t flinch’ — Acquired applied this posture in 2022–23 downturn.
• JP Morgan Payments joined as presenting partner in January 2024, only after Acquired proved the long-form quality format with LVMH, NFL, and Porsche episodes in 2023.
• Acquired’s core counter-positioning: no agencies, no CPM ad sales, no shareholders — structurally incompatible with volume-maximizing podcast competitors.
• The hosts deliberately research separately and withhold details from each other before recording to preserve genuine surprise and improvisation.
• Bluey creator Joe Brumm retained IP ownership; Disney struck a licensing deal without acquiring it, with Bluey coming to Disney World’s Animal Kingdom in 2026.
• Lewis framed the hosts’ emotional on-air reactions as a signal to listeners about what deserves attention — absent in their flat early episodes.

2025-12-15 · Watch on YouTube