Yeah, I actually have on some Zoom calls been listening to Spotify in the background of my headphones, but it makes the video calls so much better.

That's so you're just like low in the background you get Spotify gone. That's amazing.

It's like nice of you to join me in the club. background you get Spotify going? That's amazing.

It's like nice of you to join me in the club

for our meeting.

That's really smart. Welcome to Season 7 episode 3 of acquired the podcast about great technology

companies and the stories and playbooks behind them. I'm Ben Gilbert. I'm

David Rosenthal and we are your hosts. Now for everyone new to the show and for

everyone who's been with us for a while, it's been a while since we introduced ourselves.

So we wanted to tell you a little bit about who we are.

I am the co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs in Seattle.

We are a startup studio and early stage venture fund.

And my background is primarily in founding companies and product management.

And I have been a long time venture capitalists.

I'm currently an independent angel investor and advisor to startups based in San Francisco.

So I come at things from the venture and investing

side. Most importantly we are excited to be with you today as peers and

practitioners in the industry diving into stories that I think we all talk about at the water cooler when that was a thing

The Zoom cooler the Zoom cooler exactly well today we will explore what happens when an idealist has full control over a product with perfect

global product market fit, unbelievable economics, and has the leverage to shape the world

to his idealistic will, even potentially at the expense of his own business.

Today we talk about Epic Games, makers of Fort Knight and the Unreal Game engine. You probably know of them since Fortnite is an absolute international phenomenon, the most played game in the world, and for parents out there,

...