Ben Gilbert

Ben Gilbert is the co-founder and co-host of the Acquired podcast, a top-ranked business and technology show known for deep-dive, long-form episodes on iconic companies and investors. He was previously a software engineer and venture capitalist, working at Microsoft on Office for iPad and at firms like Madrona and Pioneer Square Labs building and investing in startups. He is currently focused full-time on hosting and growing Acquired.

Products they talk about

AirPods Pro 3👍 Recommends
…personal carve out reviewing latest airpods generation
“I, because I can't help myself ordering every Apple product and most new tech gadgets that come out and then just having a giant pile of them. I ordered AirPods 3 on launch day with my new phone, and they're awesome. It just is crazy how Apple gets better and better and better and better iteratively each time with these things. The sound quality is better... The noise cancellation is insane.”
on Acquired
Brooks Vanguard👍 Recommends
…personal recommendation of running shoes
“Follow up to yours from the Vanguard episode. The shoes, Brooks Vanguards, are indeed great. I ordered a pair. They're excellent. I'm not wearing them today because they're not squishy enough to stand for whatever we're at, nine hours. Yes, but they are great shoes. I got two pairs. I wear them around the neighborhood. They're awesome.”
on Acquired
Carissimi clothing👍 Recommends
…ben receives and praises carissimi cashmere clothing from listener
“Then I have one more last one. A listener recently sent me, he started a clothing company called Karasimi, and it is an incredible garment. It is just this really, really nice cashmere shirt. I've been wearing it all recording. It's great on a cool day. It's great on a warm day. It's my current favorite shirt.”
on Acquired
Fujifilm X100 VI👍 Recommends
…ben's favorite camera with great film simulations and excellent 35mm equivalent
“Two is the Sony RX100 VII, or 7. So I recently bought a different camera, the Fuji X100 VI, or the 6. Yeah. And it's great. It's like the internet's favorite camera. It has these amazing film simulation color profiles. It's like a camera, though. I carry it around my neck because it's like, it's a camera that you hold and use, and it's very fun shooting 35 millimeter equivalent. It feels like I'm taking pictures the way that pictures were meant to be taken.”
on Acquired
Fujifilm X100 VI👍 Recommends
…ben's product carveout about camera for family photos
“The Fujifilm X100 VI. I previously specifically did not carve it out and carve it out a different camera. I've started carrying the Fujifilm and now love it. It's amazing. I've got a two-year-old and it's just so nice to have more than just smartphone pictures of family.”
on Acquired
Last Man Standing: The Ascent of Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase👍 Recommends
…ben's book carveout about jamie dimon
“One great book I read for research was Last Man Standing to prep for the Jamie Dimon interview. That was really good. Total Page Turner made it—it was a great time.”
on Acquired
MacBook Pro M5 Max👍 Recommends
…personal technology carve-out discussing new computer experience
“My real carve out is I am recording this episode on a brand new MacBook Pro M5 Max. Yeah. You went all out. I clicked the biggest spec possible. I did. And I was definitely in the camp of all Apple Silicon is amazing and it's remarkable how my M1 still feels snappy. And I was wrong. Getting an M5 Max revealed to me just how slow my 2021 computer was. And God, this thing is just such a beast.”
on Acquired
Secret Formula👍 Recommends
…discussing book that had access to coca-cola corporate archives on formula history
“The book I was reading, which is called Secret Formula, it's a great book on the history of Coca-Cola that had access to all the corporate archives, really describes Pemberton in this phase as finding his capitalist streak.”
on Acquired
Sony RX100 VII👍 Recommends
…ben's carveout praising the sony compact point and shoot camera
“My first one, and I swear to God, this is unrelated to their sponsorship, is Claude. Amazing. It's so great. It's so good. Using AI has completely changed the way that I prepare for these episodes now, and I cannot imagine going back. I hear AI is a thing. I hear AI is a thing. So that's the first one. I just find myself in it all day now. Two is the Sony RX100 VII, or 7. So I recently bought a different camera, the Fuji X100 VI, or the 6.”
on Acquired
The Animated Man👍 Recommends
…discussing animation quality improvements under disney
“There's a great quote in the book, Walt Disney, an American original by Bob Thomas, that says, Before Disney, cartoons were slapdash. Two-dimensional characters in bizarre movement before elemental backgrounds. Disney insisted on rounded, humanized figures.”
on Acquired
The Art of Spending Money👍 Recommends
…ben's book carveout about money and life priorities
“And then two is I just love reading Morgan Housel, and his new book, The Art of Spending Money, is really fun. I mean, it's where I get most of my, like, latent ideas of, hey, dummy, money's not going to make you any happier.”
on Acquired
The Secret Life of Groceries👍 Recommends
…citing book source on history of southland ice docks and 7-eleven origin
“This comes from Benjamin Lohr, who wrote the exceptional book, The Secret Life of Groceries, which we're going to reference a bunch in this episode.”
on Acquired
Toy Story👍 Recommends
…ben's parenting carveout about introducing toy story to son
“The last one is the movie Toy Story. We, it's the first movie we introduced him to. It was my favorite movie growing up. Um, and it's been really fun. He took to it? Uh, he took to it. He loves Mr. Potato Head.”
on Acquired
Travelpro suitcases👍 Recommends
…travel gear for international trips and family vacations
“My second one is the travel pro suitcase. I bought two really big ones for some international travel... everything about this suitcase checked lots of boxes for me and I completely thought I would be the person buying the Ramoa suitcase or the something very high end and this is just perfect.”
on Acquired
Walt Disney: An American Original👍 Recommends
…discussing animation quality improvements under disney
“There's a great quote in the book, Walt Disney, an American original by Bob Thomas, that says, Before Disney, cartoons were slapdash. Two-dimensional characters in bizarre movement before elemental backgrounds. Disney insisted on rounded, humanized figures.”
on Acquired