Acquired podcast
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 42 podcasts by recommenders
Long, deep-dive episodes on the history of individual companies, with a large back catalog that people recommend for learning how businesses work.
Long, deep-dive episodes on the history of individual companies, with a large back catalog that people recommend for learning how businesses work.
25 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Deep dives into company histories
“Highly recommend the Acquired podcast and their Costco episode if people want to dive deeper into the history of this company.”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Costco Is the Anti-Amazon” “The Acquire Podcast recently did a great job of outlining the history of Google & Alphabet.”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “Building a Simple Search Engine That Works” “Acquired podcast does long (2 4-hour episodes on Google) episodes on various companies”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla” - Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “The Home Depot”
- Comment from 10 Aug 2026 in “Mars Bar from 1991 found – and it's 20g bigger than today's”
- Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “What do Visa and Mastercard do? An intro to card networks”
- Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Best Podcasts of 2025?”
Entertaining, engaging storytelling
“the Acquired podcast recently did an episode on Epic and it is great”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “ChatGPT terms disallow its use in providing legal and medical advice to others” “still be captivating with how they do their deep-dives on a company”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “The Home Depot” “the interview for the Acquired podcast which was awesome”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “ASML says it sold 'absolutely nothing' in Europe in 2026” - Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “AMA: I'm Eric Ries (The Lean Startup) & Author of New Bestseller Incorruptible”
Useful primer on how businesses work
“The Acquired podcast on Rolex really opened my eyes to this whole world.”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The Brand Age” “I had no idea how Costco or Home Depot or Walt Disney worked”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Visa, Mastercard, major banks facing new litigation over 'anticompetitive' fees” “The Acquired podcast on him is a great jumping off point.”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades” - Comment from 14 May 2026 in “A History of IDEs at Google”
Large back catalog of episodes
“which I love. They have a huge catalog of great old episodes, too.”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “What podcasts are you listening to?” “Great podcast BTW, lots of good stuff in the archives.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Coca Cola has an executive dedicated to McDonald's”
Other podcasts people recommend
The four most recommended other podcasts, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwarkesh Podcast | 29 | 8 | 78% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Oxide and Friends | 26 | 3 | 90% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Acquired podcastThis page | 25 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Behind the Bastards podcast | 18 | 1 | 95% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Mindscape podcast by Sean Carroll | 18 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
23 of the 26 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“particularly the episodes about the creation of Visa, and Vanguard”
“I just discovered this podcast and am more than half way through the Home Depot episode.”
“I had no idea how Costco or Home Depot or Walt Disney worked”
“the interview for the Acquired podcast which was awesome”
“Listen to the Visa episode of The Acquired Podcast, and you'll change your mind.”
“still be captivating with how they do their deep-dives on a company”
“Those guys go deep. It's one of my favorites.”
“You should listen to the podcast Acquired, specifically Nvidia and then Jensen Huang.”
“The Acquired podcast covers the full family history”
“super good. I've recommended it a ton.”
“Highly recommend the Acquired podcast and their Costco episode if people want to dive deeper into the history of this company.”
“Acquired podcast on Costco is very entertaining”
“The Acquired podcasts on Google are a solid background.”
“The Acquired podcast on Rolex really opened my eyes to this whole world.”
“which I love. They have a huge catalog of great old episodes, too.”
“I'm a huge fan of a lot of different longform business content (like the Acquired podcast”
“did a nice episode on the history of AI in Google recently”
“The Acquired podcast on him is a great jumping off point.”
“Long episodes about companies”
“Great podcast BTW, lots of good stuff in the archives.”
“The Acquire Podcast recently did a great job of outlining the history of Google & Alphabet.”
“Acquired podcast does long (2 4-hour episodes on Google) episodes on various companies”
“the Acquired podcast recently did an episode on Epic and it is great”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.