Microsoft Volume I: The Complete History and Strategy of founding through Windows 95 (Audio)

1. DRDavid Rosenthal0:00

   What were you listening to before we hopped on to your walkout music?

2. BGBen Gilbert0:03

   New Beyoncé.

3. DRDavid Rosenthal0:04

   Ooh, new Beyoncé! I haven't heard it yet. How is it?

4. BGBen Gilbert0:06

   I really like it.

5. DRDavid Rosenthal0:07

   Nice.

6. BGBen Gilbert0:08

   I think it is reductionist to call it country.

7. DRDavid Rosenthal0:11

   Ah. I was appropriately enough listening to Start Me Up through the ages. [chuckles]

8. BGBen Gilbert0:16

   Of course you were. But I kind of feel like a David Rosenthal move is that you might have been listening to Start Me Up, whether we were doing Microsoft or not. That's a very squarely in your genre song.

9. DRDavid Rosenthal0:29

   The Stones, though, man, like, it's crazy. They're in their seventies, eighties.

10. BGBen Gilbert0:33

    Amazing.

11. DRDavid Rosenthal0:34

    Man, I hope we're in our seventies and eighties dancing on stage.

12. BGBen Gilbert0:38

    Season one hundred and twenty-six.

13. DRDavid Rosenthal0:40

    Yeah. [laughing]

14. BGBen Gilbert0:42

    [laughing] All right, let's do it.

15. DRDavid Rosenthal0:43

    Let's do it.

16. SPSpeaker0:44

    Who got the truth? Is it you? Is it you? Is it you? Who got the truth now? Is it you? Is it you? Is it you? Sit me down, say it straight. Another story on the way. Who got the truth?

17. BGBen Gilbert1:01

    Welcome to Season fourteen, episode four of Acquired, the podcast about great companies and the stories and playbooks behind them. I'm Ben Gilbert.

18. DRDavid Rosenthal1:09

    I'm David Rosenthal.

19. BGBen Gilbert1:11

    And we are your hosts. We often remark that selling software is the best business model of all time. Well, today, finally, we tell the story of the company that created that business, Microsoft.

20. DRDavid Rosenthal1:26

    Finally. We're, like, ten years into Acquired here.

21. BGBen Gilbert1:28

    [laughing]

22. DRDavid Rosenthal1:28

    We're finally doing it.

23. BGBen Gilbert1:30

    Uh, it's been daunting. You know, we've wanted to do it for a while, but it takes some chutzpah to tackle Microsoft.

24. DRDavid Rosenthal1:35

    I'm so fired up. We're ready. It's time.

25. BGBen Gilbert1:38

    Yep. Well, listeners, Microsoft today is sprawling and massive. It is the world's most valuable company, worth over three trillion dollars. They have forty-nine years of history making software for consumers and enterprises, making hardware, gaming systems, gaming studios, Windows apps, iPad apps, Mac apps, operating systems, mobile operating systems, MP3 players, search engines, cloud computing, services on cloud computing, programming languages, development environments... The list goes on, but it did not start out that way. Today, we will tell the story of the desktop software company, before the enterprise, before IT, before the internet, before being a trusted partner to governments around the free world, and really, before people even knew what to do with personal computers. This is the story of a bunch of ragtag geniuses in their twenties pushing what was possible. Welcome to Microsoft: The PC Era. Well, listeners, if you want to know every time an episode drops, you can get hints at the next topic and follow-up, you can sign up at acquired.fm/email. Come talk about this episode with the community at acquired.fm/slack. If you want more from David and I, you should check out our second show, ACQ2, where we interview founders, investors, and experts, often as a deeper dive into topics we cover on the main show. And before we dive in, we want to briefly thank our presenting sponsor, J.P. Morgan Payments.

26. DRDavid Rosenthal3:09

    Yes, just like how we say every company has a story, every company's story is powered by payments, and J.P. Morgan Payments is a part of so many journeys from seed to IPO and beyond.

27. BGBen Gilbert3:20

    So with that, this show is not investment advice. David and I may have investments in the companies we discuss, and likely all of you, if you hold any index funds, and this show is for informational and entertainment purposes only. David, where on earth do we start the Microsoft story?

28. DRDavid Rosenthal3:37

    Uh, we're right down the middle on this one. We're gonna start in 1955 in Seattle, Washington, with the-

29. BGBen Gilbert3:42

    Whoo!

30. DRDavid Rosenthal3:42

    -birth of Bill Gates III, or Trey, as he's known-

Episode duration: 4:23:45