SONY

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

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

4.7 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2022

⏱️ 181 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Born in the unlikeliest of places — the terrible, wasteland-like aftermath of post WWII Japan — Sony rose to capture the imaginations (and wallets) of consumers and engineers around the world. The company produced hit after hit after hit: portable transistor radios, CDs, the Walkman, the PlayStation, DVDs, life insurance(!!)... and yet ultimately fell behind its greatest American admirer, Steve Jobs and Apple. This is the incredible story of Sony’s human and technological optimism in the face of overwhelming odds — a story that, given recent world events, remains as relevant today as ever.

This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.

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Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
WorkOS: https://acquired.fm/unplugged
- Playing Cards: https://bit.ly/workOSshop (Code: ACQDECK)
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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Links:

Steve Jobs’ Tribute to Akio Morita: https://youtu.be/Drwkvf76Cls
Planet Money on Sony and Spider-Man: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1076531156/the-spider-man-problem
Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LpnPSju5xSPcuaRVd1TYXnL1oGBr4Qs5bRS7owbxoEc/edit?usp=sharing

Carve Outs:

How This All Happened by Morgan Housel: https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/how-this-all-happened/
The Model 3 is AWESOME: https://www.tesla.com/model3

‍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

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0:00.0	We keep biting off a lot in these episodes.
0:02.8	I mean, you're telling the history of modern Japan.
0:04.8	We need to do a like two-year-old company.
0:06.6	We need another FTX soon.
0:08.2	We're like literally enough days haven't passed for us to make the episode long.
0:13.7	Yeah, exactly.
0:15.2	Who got the truth?
0:17.2	Is it you, is it you, is it you?
0:20.2	Who got the truth now?
0:23.2	Is it you, is it you, is it you?
0:25.2	Send it down, say it straight.
0:28.2	The story on the way got the truth.
0:32.2	Welcome to season 10, episode three of acquired.
0:35.4	The podcast about great technology companies and the stories and playbooks behind them.
0:39.8	I'm Ben Gilbert and I'm the co-founder and managing director of Seattle based Pioneer
0:43.6	Square Labs and our venture fund PSL Ventures.
0:47.0	And I'm David Rosenthal and I am an angel investor based in San Francisco.
0:52.4	And we are your hosts.
0:54.6	Listeners, today we are telling the story of the company that Steve Jobs idolized and
1:00.1	modeled Apple Computer after the Sony Corporation.
1:03.8	Literally modeled himself after.
1:05.8	You know the story right to the black turtle necks and the Sony connection.
	...

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