How Acquired became the No. 1 Tech podcast

6 strategies Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal used to build Acquired to 800k listeners

Aug 21, 2024

Acquired isn’t your average tech/business podcast. Each episode reaches over 800,000 listeners, earning it the #1 spot on both Apple and Spotify charts for the technology category. It’s also a favourite among tech industry heavyweights, including Eddy Cue, Garry Tan, Daniel Ek, and Jensen Huang.

It’s also the only podcast that genuinely gives me a dopamine hit when I see a new episode drop.

Acquired at the No. 1 spot on Apple Podcasts

Not to mention, Acquired has experienced hockey stick growth that would make VCs salivate if it were a B2B SaaS startup — see chart below.

Hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, the dynamic duo magically transform what would’ve been a boring business case study into a riveting epic saga that last hours. The businesses they analyse varies from semiconductor titan TSMC to global pop star Taylor Swift.

In this article, I will be breaking down the strategy and tactics that have helped Acquired became the #1 Technology show on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify 👇

Create quality content consistently
Deep, deep dive
Go long when others short
Two is better than one
11 star podcast ad
Community led growth

Create quality content consistently

The short and deceptively simple answer to their success is that Ben and David have created quality content consistently. While approximately 90% of podcasts do not make it past their first three episodes, Acquired has released 285 episodes over 9 years (this number includes their secondary show ACQ2).

When it comes to quality, we can measure this both quantitatively and qualitatively. On Apple podcasts, they’ve managed to attain a 4.8/5 star rating with 2.3k reviews, while on Spotify it’s even higher at 4.9/5 with 4.6k reviews.

They have also received glowing testimonials from listeners — and even from sponsors, but more on that later.

The idea of creating quality content consistently isn’t unique to Acquired; it’s a common thread among successful content creators such as MKBHD or Ben Thompson. What sets Ben and David apart is the way they’ve defied the conventional wisdom of the podcast industry — and succeeded by doing so.

Deep, Deep Dive

Top podcast hosts invest significant time and effort into research — Tim Ferriss, for example, typically spends “a few hours (2-4 hrs) prepping for each interview.” But Ben and David from Acquired take this to an extreme, going really, really deep with their research. What started as 5 to 10 hours of preparation per episode has now swelled to a staggering 100 hours between the two of them.

But it's not just the time they spend that’s impressive; it’s the depth of their research.

For the Nike episode:

David read a dozen books on Nike and consumed four dozen articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos.
Ben’s research involved 117 links, the original 1972 trademark filing for the Swoosh, numerous earnings reports, and even LinkedIn posts by retired Nike historian Scott Reames.
Both hosts conducted a dozen calls with current and former Nike employees, including Reames.
The end result was David’s 39-page script and Ben’s 4,000-word research report.

For their LVMH episode, they tracked down a rare, out-of-print book from 1993 titled The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story, which is currently listed on eBay for US $11,499.

For their Microsoft episode, they spoke with over 20 current and former Microsoft employees, including Thomas Reardon, an original team member of Internet Explorer, and Steven Sinofsky, who led Windows 7 and 8.

This deep dedication to research is what enables Acquired to uncover insights that other podcasts often overlook.

Go long when others short

Conventional podcast wisdom advocates for short 20-40 minute episodes, so that listeners can enjoy it during their commute or while doing chores. Acquired, however, takes a different approach, with episodes typically lasting between 3 to 4 hours.

Some episodes are shorter, for example Taylor Swift (Acquired’s Version) only lasted 2 hours 39 minutes. Others are multi-episode epics, such as Microsoft Volume I and II, which totals to a whopping 9 hours 14 minutes.

The lengthy episodes filters out flaky listeners, leaving only the most dedicated fans — who are rewarded with a story packed with action and rich insights.

Two is better than one

A significant factor in Acquired's success is the chemistry between its two hosts, with David handling the storytelling and Ben focusing on the analysis.

From Fast Company:

“A huge part of the magic of the show is the two of us, our different roles coming together,” says Rosenthal. “He loves to hear me tell the story, and I love hearing him geek out on analysis.”

One tactic they use to preserve this delightful dynamic is by limiting the research they share before they record an episode. This results in several genuine surprise and delight moments. As a listener, you can feel the sheer joy they experience as they geek out over obscure facts and overlooked connections.

11 star podcast ad

Most podcast ads suck, which results in people skipping them. The only podcast ads that I don’t skip are the ones aired by Acquired because they don’t sound like ads.

From the Acquired sponsorship page:

Our goal is to create the most interesting content possible that highlights the sponsor. This typically consists of custom host-read segments or interviews with the sponsor’s CEO/founders, with the content created by Ben and David in close collaboration with the sponsor.

Take a listen to their ad for Brex which discusses “Buying a Billboard with Brex Points”. What you will notice is that instead of a quick 30-second read, Ben and David spend 2 minutes chatting about how Brex customers can earn points to redeem for a billboard to promote their company.

Another innovative approach Acquired has taken with their sponsored content is the bundling of their ad slots — see image below.

By doing this, they limit the number of sponsors, which reduces admin work — freeing them up to focus on the podcast. From a marketing perspective, the increased ad frequency helps increase brand recall.

David succinctly sums up their approach with this line from an interview:

We ask, ‘What is an 11-star podcast ad?’ And the answer is it looks as little like a traditional podcast ad as possible!’

This 11 star approach to sponsored content has enabled Acquired to not only command top dollar but provide substantial value to advertisers. Just take a look at the testimonials from their sponsors.

Community led growth

Community led growth has been a hot topic in the tech industry, with the likes of Notion and Figma leading the way. Ben and David were also early adopters of community led growth having started a Slack community back in May 2016.

At the time of writing, the Acquired Slack community has grown to 27,041 members strong. Not only do Ben and David regularly engage with listeners, but the members themselves have active discussions on a dozen different channels, ranging from fitness to fintech.

This online community has even transitioned to IRL, initially with members organising their own meetups across the world, followed by Acquired holding their own events.

In 2022, Acquired held it first live show at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena to around 1,000 listeners. This year, they’ve upped the ante by partnering with J.P. Morgan Payments for a live show at Chase Center. They’ve even secured Mark Zuckerberg as a special guest.

Ben and David are also active participants in the wider podcast and tech community, appearing on shows like This Week In Startups (which is how I discovered Acquired 4 years ago) and Capital Allocators with Ted Seides. This collaboration is mutually beneficial as it enables a cross pollination of communities.

Closing thoughts

In a world that’s being polluted by AI generated short form garbage and tech bro hot take podcasts, I’m grateful a thoughtful, well researched show like Acquired exists.

While Ben and David have deployed several innovative strategies to grow their podcast, the simplest explanation for their success is that they’ve created quality content consistently.

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The very first episode of Acquired was about Pixar.
The first episode to pass two-hours was Tesla.
Acquired uses Transistor for their podcast hosting and analytics.
Ben and David had three main goals for starting the podcast:
- To learn.
- Grow their network.
- Increase their influence.
Ben eats a Starbucks spinach, feta, and cage-free egg white bite wrap every single day.
David speaks French (which came in handy for their LVMH episode).
Phil Knight was the commencement speaker at David’s graduation in 2014.
The duo met while working together at Madrona Venture Group.

Attention Please by Chris Chow

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