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Acquired

Nike

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.82.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2023

⏱️ 243 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nike — it’s perhaps the most iconic and most prolific brand of the modern era. On any given day, swooshes adorn the feet of more people on earth than any other footwear company — by a long shot.

If you read Shoe Dog or watched Air, you may think you know its history. But Shoe Dog ends in 1980, and Air… well let’s just say it’s an enjoyable piece of fiction. And it turns out (as always) that the real story is filled with far more drama, twists and business lessons than either of those works.

We’ve been wanting to cover Nike for a long time, and thanks to our LPs who voted to choose this episode it’s finally here. So lace up your Vaporflys, Air Maxes, Dunks or Jordans (or your Monarchs, hey we don’t judge), head out for a long run or walk and enjoy!

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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Listeners, you should know, David and I were texting before this debating, do we change

0:05.2

this thing around?

0:06.2

Do we play with this?

0:07.2

Should we reorganize this section and he texted me, let's just do it.

0:11.2

So in the honor of Bad jokes by David Rosenthal, here we go.

0:30.0

Welcome to season 13 episode one of Acquired, the podcast about great technology companies

0:38.5

and the stories and playbooks behind them.

0:40.4

I'm Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal, and we are your hosts.

0:45.0

There's an age-old question in business.

0:47.3

What is more important, a great product or great marketing?

0:51.8

Well today we have literally the perfect case study in that very question in Nike.

0:57.9

Does breakthrough innovation drive that business?

1:00.9

Or is their core competency really around their profound advertisements and their sponsorship

1:06.2

deals with athletes and teams, or are they're probably best in the world brand positioning?

1:12.2

To understand it, we have to examine Nike's entire 60 year history, of course, because

1:16.6

this is acquired.

1:17.6

And because shoe dog is so good.

1:20.0

That's amazing.

1:21.0

You got to start at the beginning.

1:22.3

So really the question is, what makes this company the single largest apparel business

1:27.0

in the world today, outside of luxury, of course?

1:31.0

And how is it possible to be a shoe company that does over $50 billion in revenue when

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