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Acquired Podcast

Acquired Podcast

Podcast | United States | Centre
www.acquired.fm/

Deep dives into the playbooks of the greatest companies and investors. Hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal.

Engagement Insights

0.68 score
128
Discussions
1
Participants
1
Total Votes
129
Articles

Discussions from Acquired Podcast

Technology

Hugging Face's CEO on Open Source AI, Model Routing, and the Future of Competition

As governments weigh new restrictions on frontier AI models, one question is becoming increasingly important: what role should open source play in the future of artificial intelligence? Theo Jaffee and Sofia Puccini speak with Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue about AI regulation, open source safety, model routing, and why he believes competition—not consolidation—is essential for the industry's future. They discuss GPT-5, government oversight of frontier models, Hugging Face surpassing $100 ...

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Technology

Amjad Masad on Going Direct, Building Replit, and the Future of Software

Recorded live at the New Media Summit, Erik Torenberg sits down with Replit founder and CEO Amjad Masad to discuss founder-led storytelling, building in public, and the role of media in company building. Masad reflects on Replit’s decade-long journey, including the years before the company’s recent breakout growth, and explains why communicating a vision can be just as important as executing on it. He argues that for many founders, especially those building ambitious products ahead of the mar...

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Technology

Replay 2025: David Sacks on AI, Crypto, and America's Technology Future

As part of our summer replay series, we're revisiting one of our most-discussed conversations from the past year. David Sacks joins Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Erik Torenberg to discuss the intersection of AI, crypto, regulation, and American competitiveness. The conversation explores the Trump administration's approach to AI and crypto policy, open source AI, export controls, energy and infrastructure, the global race with China, and the role regulation plays in shaping innovation. Th...

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Technology

Can Anyone Catch NVIDIA? | The Future of Chips and Infrastructure

As part of our summer replay series, we're revisiting one of our favorite conversations on the future of AI infrastructure. SemiAnalysis founder Dylan Patel joins Erin Price-Wright, Guido Appenzeller, and Erik Torenberg to examine the rapidly evolving economics of AI hardware, from GPUs and custom silicon to data centers, power, and the global race for compute. The conversation explores NVIDIA's competitive advantages, the rise of custom chips from Google, Amazon, and Meta, the economics of f...

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Technology

Is AI a Bubble? | Gavin Baker on Data Centers, GPUs, and the AI Economy

As part of our summer replay series, we're revisiting one of the standout conversations from Runtime, a16z's conference on AI infrastructure and the future of computing. Gavin Baker, Managing Partner and CIO of Atreides Management, joins David George to examine the biggest questions surrounding today's AI investment cycle. Is AI a bubble? What does the unprecedented buildout of data centers, GPUs, and compute infrastructure mean for the economy? And how should investors think about the compan...

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Technology

Before Blockchains, There Was State Machine Replication

Every blockchain today relies on replication techniques first developed in the 1980s by researchers who weren't thinking about cryptocurrencies at all. In this episode, Tim Roughgarden speaks with MIT professor and Turing Award winner Barbara Liskov, one of the pioneers of programming languages, fault tolerance, and distributed systems. Joined by a16z crypto research partner Ittai Abraham, they trace the evolution of ideas that now underpin modern blockchain networks. The conversation explore...

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Technology

How Bitcoin Rewired a Classic Computer Science Problem

We're excited to share a special feed drop from The a16z Crypto Show. In the first episode of First Principles: The Scientific Roots of Blockchain Technology, Tim Roughgarden and Ittai Abraham trace the decades of computer science research that laid the foundation for modern blockchains. Long before Bitcoin, researchers were studying one of distributed computing's hardest challenges: how independent machines can reliably agree on a shared state, even when some participants are faulty or malic...

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Business

Adam Neumann: This Is How You Build Iconic Companies

Adam Neumann joins Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Erik Torenberg for a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, failure, and building Flow. Neumann reflects on his childhood, military service, immigration to the United States, the rise and fall of WeWork, and what he learned from one of the most scrutinized founder journeys in technology. He explains why Flow is focused on rethinking housing, community, and belonging, and why he believes technology can fundamentally improve how people ...

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Healthcare

Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan: How AI Will Help Cure Disease

As part of our summer replay series, we're revisiting one of our favorite conversations from the past year. Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan join Ben Horowitz, Vineeta Agarwala, and Erik Torenberg to discuss the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's ambitious effort to help cure, prevent, and manage disease by the end of the century. Rather than funding individual breakthroughs, CZI is focused on building the tools and infrastructure that can accelerate scientific discovery across entire fields....

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Technology

Is Software Losing Its Head?

Seema Amble, Steven Sinofsky, and Elena Burger unpack one of the biggest questions facing enterprise software: what happens when AI agents become the primary users of software instead of humans? The conversation explores the rise of "headless" software, why APIs and agentic workflows are reshaping enterprise applications, and whether traditional SaaS products are becoming systems of record rather than systems of engagement. They discuss Salesforce's Headless 360 announcement, MCP, enterprise ...

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Education

Don’t Follow Your Passion | Ben Horowitz’s Advice for New Graduates

In this commencement address to Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science Class of 2015, Ben Horowitz challenges some of the most common advice given to graduates. Rather than urging students to “follow their passion,” Horowitz argues that people should focus on developing their strengths and making meaningful contributions to the world. Drawing on stories from his own time at Columbia, the founding of technology companies, and investments in startups like ...

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Technology

Technology, Alliances, and American Leadership.

Ben Horowitz is joined by Anne Neuberger, Raghu Raghuram, and Jen Kha to discuss a16z's expanding international strategy and the growing role technology plays in economic growth, national security, and global partnerships. The conversation explores why America's technology leadership matters beyond Silicon Valley, how AI is reshaping relationships between governments and the private sector, and why countries around the world are looking to adopt frontier technologies while building stronger i...

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