Acquired's Success Secret: Ben Gilbert's Quality Approach

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People

Guy Kawasaki

Documentary, Society And Culture, Management, Evangelism, Innovation, Remarkable People, Education, Society & Culture, Apple, Silicon Valley, Writing, Technology, Marketing, Guy Kawasaki, Entrepreneurship, Self-improvement, Pitching, Social Media, Business, Macintosh, Speaking

4.6 • 667 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when two friends decide to learn about successful acquisitions and accidentally create one of the world's most popular business podcasts? Meet Ben Gilbert, co-founder and co-host of Acquired, the show that transforms company histories into captivating 4-hour audio experiences.

With millions of listeners worldwide, Acquired has become the Harvard Business School case study of the podcasting world. In this episode, discover the intensive research process behind each episode (totaling 300 hours of work), why being contrarian AND right matters in business, and how two people can become temporary experts on everything from semiconductors to luxury handbags. Ben also reveals what it takes to build an audience through pure word-of-mouth growth over a decade.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, podcaster, or simply fascinated by great companies, this conversation will change how you think about storytelling, business strategy, and the power of deep research.

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Guy Kawasaki is on a mission to make you remarkable. His Remarkable People podcast features interviews with remarkable people such as Jane Goodall, Marc Benioff, Woz, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Bob Cialdini. Every episode will make you more remarkable.

With his decades of experience in Silicon Valley as a Venture Capitalist and advisor to the top entrepreneurs in the world, Guy’s questions come from a place of curiosity and passion for technology, start-ups, entrepreneurship, and marketing. If you love society and culture, documentaries, and business podcasts, take a second to follow Remarkable People.

Listeners of the Remarkable People podcast will learn from some of the most successful people in the world with practical tips and inspiring stories that will help you be more remarkable.

Episodes of Remarkable People organized by topic: https://bit.ly/rptopology

Listen to Remarkable People here: **https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guy-kawasakis-remarkable-people/id1483081827**

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Cutting costs isn't the strategy. It's a survival tactic. But you're not here to survive. You're here to thrive. That's why there's Brex.
0:11.4	Brex is a finance platform for companies looking to drive growth. It's a corporate card, banking, expense, and travel platform, all powered by AI, all built to help
0:24.1	your business excel. More one way for startups, more control for scaleups, less busy work for
0:30.9	everyone. Brex helps you build boldly. Go to brex.com slash grow and get a platform that helps you turn finance into a strategic
0:40.4	edge. Here on remarkable people, we know that complexity can be the enemy of efficiency. That's the
0:49.2	philosophy behind Freshworks. While Legacy software stacks can slow teams down, Freshworks builds intuitive
0:57.1	tools that can help your team do their best work without the clutter. And when it comes to
1:03.2	AI, it's not about replacing humans. It's about amplifying what makes us remarkable. If you want
1:09.9	server software that delivers real results,
1:12.9	check out fresh servers for IT and fresh desk for customer support. Learn more at freshworks.com.
1:21.4	Every entrepreneur needs to look at themselves and say, in what way am I weird? In what way
1:27.3	am I the best in the world at something,
1:29.2	even if it's a strange something? And how can I combine a few of those traits together such that it's
1:35.0	a A times B equals 10,000 X, where it's really well suited to a product, a market, a moment in time,
1:41.9	a leadership style, a business strategy, a culture,
1:49.0	that I can create something to make jazz, to use a different example. How do I use my raw components to create jazz? So that's one thing is you can never say, well, I need to be
1:53.5	like Apple, therefore I should parrot Steve Jobs. That's just never going to work.
2:00.8	Hello, I'm Guy Kawasaki. This is the Remarkable People podcast, and today's remarkable
2:07.4	guest is Ben Gilbert. He is co-founder and co-host of a very famous podcast called Acquired.
2:16.2	And this podcast is known for extremely deep dives, like two to four
2:22.4	hour deep dives into the strategies of legendary companies like Rolex and meta and oh my God,
2:30.5	we're going to get into it. He has millions of listeners around the globe.
	...

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