Nike (Audio)

Nike — it’s perhaps the most iconic and most prolific brand of the modern era. On any given day, swooshes adorn the feet of more people on earth than any other footwear company — by a long shot. If you read Shoe Dog or watched Air, you may think you know its history. But Shoe Dog ends in 1980, and Air… well let’s just say it’s an enjoyable piece of fiction. And it turns out (as always) that the real story is filled with far more drama, twists and business lessons than either of those works. We’ve been wanting to cover Nike for a long time, and thanks to our LPs who voted to choose this episode it’s finally here. So lace up your Vaporflys, Air Maxes, Dunks or Jordans (or your Monarchs, hey we don’t judge), head out for a long run or walk and enjoy! Sponsors: Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get: Free access to Blinks of our episode research on Blinkist https://bit.ly/BlinkistNike Scalable, clean and low-cost cloud AI compute from Crusoe https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoe All of your product growth powered by Statsig https://bit.ly/statsigacquired Register for Statsig’s SF Event with Ben and David! https://bit.ly/acqstatsigevent More Acquired!: Get email updates (+ hints on the next episode topic) https://www.acquired.fm/email Join the Slack http://acquired.fm/slack Subscribe to ACQ2 https://pod.link/acquiredlp Become an LP and support the show. Help us pick episodes, Zoom calls and more https://acquired.fm/lp Links: Episode sources https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lzJ9sZ5z4U4FQOfwXQUTrG5QxSxS6Wiu0IN6_9DjmGc/edit?usp=sharing Carve Outs: Marc Andreessen on Lex Fridman https://lexfridman.com/marc-andreessen/ Marc Andreessen on Ben Thompson https://stratechery.com/2023/an-interview-with-marc-andreessen-about-ai-and-how-you-change-the-world/ Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) https://open.spotify.com/album/5AEDGbliTTfjOB8TSm1sxt 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. © Copyright ACQ, LLC

Ben GilberthostDavid Rosenthalhost

Jul 25, 20234h 3mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: July 25, 2023
Duration: 4h 3m
Channel: Acquired
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Nike — it’s perhaps the most iconic and most prolific brand of the modern era. On any given day, swooshes adorn the feet of more people on earth than any other footwear company — by a long shot. If you read Shoe Dog or watched Air, you may think you know its history. But Shoe Dog ends in 1980, and Air… well let’s just say it’s an enjoyable piece of fiction. And it turns out (as always) that the real story is filled with far more drama, twists and business lessons than either of those works. We’ve been wanting to cover Nike for a long time, and thanks to our LPs who voted to choose this episode it’s finally here. So lace up your Vaporflys, Air Maxes, Dunks or Jordans (or your Monarchs, hey we don’t judge), head out for a long run or walk and enjoy! Sponsors: Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get: Free access to Blinks of our episode research on Blinkist https://bit.ly/BlinkistNike Scalable, clean and low-cost cloud AI compute from Crusoe https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoe All of your product growth powered by Statsig https://bit.ly/statsigacquired Register for Statsig’s SF Event with Ben and David! https://bit.ly/acqstatsigevent More Acquired!: Get email updates (+ hints on the next episode topic) https://www.acquired.fm/email Join the Slack http://acquired.fm/slack Subscribe to ACQ2 https://pod.link/acquiredlp Become an LP and support the show. Help us pick episodes, Zoom calls and more https://acquired.fm/lp Links: Episode sources https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lzJ9sZ5z4U4FQOfwXQUTrG5QxSxS6Wiu0IN6_9DjmGc/edit?usp=sharing Carve Outs: Marc Andreessen on Lex Fridman https://lexfridman.com/marc-andreessen/ Marc Andreessen on Ben Thompson https://stratechery.com/2023/an-interview-with-marc-andreessen-about-ai-and-how-you-change-the-world/ Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) https://open.spotify.com/album/5AEDGbliTTfjOB8TSm1sxt 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. © Copyright ACQ, LLC

SPEAKERS

Ben Gilbert
host
David Rosenthal
host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Acquired, featuring Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, Nike (Audio) explores nike’s rise: distribution hustle, athlete marketing, and scale flywheel dominance The episode traces Nike from Phil Knight’s Stanford business plan and Blue Ribbon Sports’ car-trunk sales of Onitsuka Tiger shoes to building Nike’s own manufacturing network and iconic products like the Cortez and Waffle Trainer.

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