logo
episode-header-image
About this episode

Meta is a company everyone knows (literally, everyone). But, somehow, it’s also a company that few people feel they actually understand. Their products are used by more humans than any other’s in history — almost half of the entire world’s population daily. But… what is Meta? Why do they do what they do? How do they do what they do? Ask ten people and you’ll likely get ten very different sets of answers.

Today, we dive deeper than we’ve ever gone trying to find Acquired’s answers to those questions. And after months of research and 6+ hours of incredible stories about how they (and really “they” being Mark himself) bet it all and win time and time again in the face of overwhelming odds, we arrive at our answers. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, AI, Oculus, Orion, it’s all here. Tune in for one of the greatest corporate stories of all time: Meta, a Mark Zuckerberg Production.

Sponsors:

WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn

Links:

Carve Outs:

 

More Acquired!:

© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC


‍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.
Up next
Oct 6
Google: The AI Company
Google faces the greatest innovator's dilemma in history. They invented the Transformer — the breakthrough technology powering every modern AI system from ChatGPT to Claude (and, of course, Gemini). They employed nearly all the top AI talent: Ilya Sutskever, Geoff Hinton, Demis H ... Show More
4h 6m
Aug 26
Alphabet Inc.
In its first six years from 1998 to 2004, Google built one of the greatest products of all time (and certainly the greatest business of all time) with Search. Then in its next six years from 2005 to 2011, Google built seven (!) more billion+ user products: Gmail, Maps, Drive and ... Show More
4h 11m
Jul 16
The Jamie Dimon Interview
We sit down with Jamie Dimon for a live conversation at Radio City Music Hall, covering the incredible journey from his 1998 firing at Citgroup (where he was widely expected to become CEO) to building the most powerful bank in the world. Today JPMorgan Chase is a juggernaut — the ... Show More
1h 6m
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
How to consistently go viral: Nikita Bier’s playbook for winning at consumer apps (co-founder of TBH, Gas, advisor, investor)
Nikita Bier is one of the most in-demand consumer, social, and growth experts in the world. He’s the co-founder of TBH (sold to Meta for more than $30 million) and Gas (sold to Discord for millions more) and has helped more consumer apps that have hit #1 in the app stores than an ... Show More
1h 38m
Jul 2024
Alphabet is clearly looking to buy, so who's selling, and why did Wiz say no?
This week felt like two weeks rolled into one. To kick things off, Mary Ann Azevedo walked everyone through Clio’s huge fundraise. The Canadian legal tech company raised $900 million at a $3 billion valuation — a very large sum anytime, but especially in this market. Impressively ... Show More
33m 13s
Oct 2024
Meta’s Head of Product (and 29th employee) on working with Mark Zuckerberg, early growth tactics, why PMs are like conductors, and more | Naomi Gleit
Naomi Gleit is head of product at Meta, joined as employee #29, and is the longest-serving executive at Meta other than Mark Zuckerberg. She’s been at the center of some of the company’s most foundational products, including Facebook’s early growth team. In our conversation, we d ... Show More
1h 38m
Aug 2024
AI Friends, deepfake foes, and which Tiger Global partner is leaving now
On today's Friday news roundup, we just had to talk about AI hardware taking on a new shape with Friend’s $99 necklace. The pendant gives you an AI friend to talk to and…that’s about it. Friend’s pitch is that its wearable can help combat loneliness, but other AI hardware product ... Show More
31m 12s
Jun 2024
EP4 - Fares Akkad - Regional Director Meta Facebook
Are you curious about the social media giants from a workforce prospective? Do they hire local talents and what does it really take to be an employee in META (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and others)? Join me for episode 4 of “The CEO Diaries” Podcast as we sit down with Fares ... Show More
1h 29m
Mar 2025
(Preview) xAI Buys X, The Bitter Lesson for Everyone, Everywhere, Google’s Only Hope in AI
Thoughts on both X and xAI in the wake of Friday’s announcement from Elon Musk, Chat GPT’s image capabilities and whether AI-adjacent SaaS companies will ever have a moat, and emailers offer counterpoints on Sam Altman’s ads answer and the notion that Google can’t make great prod ... Show More
12m 58s
Apr 2024
Tech Partying Like Its 2021 with Rick Heitzmann + A Better Way To Carpool with Joanna McFarland CEO of HopSkipDrive | Okay, Computer.
On this episode of “Okay, Computer,” Dan Nathan and Rick Heitzmann of FirstMark Capital give an update on the IPO market, and what to expect from some of the most valuable unicorns in 2024. Topics they hit include; the Reddit IPO (4:00), IPO outlook for 2024 (10:30), investing in ... Show More
1h 1m
Sep 20
Deep Dive: Did Meta Just Have its iPhone Moment?
Meta just unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display, $799 AI-powered smart glasses with a built-in screen and a neural wristband that lets you control them with finger gestures. Mark Zuckerberg is betting billions that this could be the next big computing platform, but is it really his i ... Show More
12 m
Apr 2025
Big Tech is back on trial
We promise, this episode is only a little bit about header bidding. Nilay and David are joined by The Verge’s Alex Heath to talk about some big news in tech regulation: Google lost its ad-tech monopoly trial, which could reshape both Google and the internet altogether. And that’s ... Show More
1h 55m
Oct 2024
Stripe's biggest acquisition yet, and what's a16z doing with all of those Nvidia GPUs?
It’s no secret that Stripe has doubled down on its crypto offerings, enabling crypto purchases in the EU back in July and announcing a Pay with Crypto feature earlier this month. This week, the fintech giant made its dedication to crypto even clearer with its largest deal to date ... Show More
31m 19s