Standard Oil Part II (Extended Cut)

1. BGBen Gilbert0:00

   Dude, this is gonna especially kill you as someone that travels even for, like, two and three-day trips just with a backpack.

2. DRDavid Rosenthal0:07

   Oh, it's so gonna kill me.

3. BGBen Gilbert0:09

   Like, you're never traveling that way again.

4. DRDavid Rosenthal0:11

   I know.

5. BGBen Gilbert0:11

   You're checking, like-

6. DRDavid Rosenthal0:13

   Checking

7. BGBen Gilbert0:13

   ... car seats and-

8. DRDavid Rosenthal0:14

   Yes

9. BGBen Gilbert0:14

   ... backpacks and-

10. DRDavid Rosenthal0:15

    Yep.

11. BGBen Gilbert0:17

    I'll see you at baggage claim, my friend.

12. DRDavid Rosenthal0:18

    Oh, my God. [laughing]

13. SPSpeaker0:20

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

14. BGBen Gilbert0:37

    Welcome to season nine, episode five of Acquired, the podcast about great technology companies and the stories and playbooks behind them. I'm Ben Gilbert, and I'm the co-founder and managing director of Seattle-based Pioneer Square Labs, and our venture fund, PSL Ventures.

15. DRDavid Rosenthal0:51

    And I'm David Rosenthal, and I am an angel investor based in San Francisco.

16. BGBen Gilbert0:57

    And we are your hosts. When we last left our hero... villain? Uh, unclear. We saw John D. Rockefeller- [laughing]

17. DRDavid Rosenthal1:07

    Anti-hero?

18. BGBen Gilbert1:08

    ... supporting the Sherman Antitrust Act as a piece of dead-on-the-vine legislation with really nothing to fear from it. Today, we will cover Standard Oil from 1890 through their, spoiler alert, breakup in 1911.

19. DRDavid Rosenthal1:23

    Oh, Ben, you're ruining the plot. [laughing]

20. BGBen Gilbert1:25

    [laughing] Uh, we're gonna cover Rockefeller's legacy and philanthropy, and how today's world is a Rockefeller-shaped one in more ways than one. We will also debate the finer points of where Standard Oil crossed the line between using legitimate business practices, like operational efficiency and economies of scale, into straight-up abuses of power to grow their massive, massive profits.

21. DRDavid Rosenthal1:51

    You mean, like, bribing elected officials? [chuckles]

22. BGBen Gilbert1:53

    David, I... Look, I don't wanna spoil anything here- [laughing] ... I guess other, other than the breakup. [laughing]

23. DRDavid Rosenthal1:58

    [exhales]

24. BGBen Gilbert1:59

    Well, uh, there's also- we should say there is a ludicrous amount of post-1911 oil industry history that we will, uh, find some way to dive into in the future, uh, on a dedicated sort of energy industry history special. Uh, 'cause there's, you know, especially once you leave the US and get into the, the, uh, the powers that be internationally, I think it's a, a, a- we could do six more episodes.

25. DRDavid Rosenthal2:24

    Oh, totally. Well, we'll have to in the future.

26. BGBen Gilbert2:26

    We will. Well, uh, listeners, we wanna say thank you. David, what for?

27. DRDavid Rosenthal2:33

    Yeah. We have had a, uh, pretty crazy month here [chuckles] at Acquired. Uh, the, uh... Starting with the TSMC episode, we have just been on... I don't know what it is. Y'all like semiconductors, but, uh-

28. BGBen Gilbert2:45

    [laughing]

29. DRDavid Rosenthal2:45

    ... uh, the show has been growing hugely. Uh, so much good stuff is going on. Um, and, uh, we, we, we were talking beforehand, like, we really do wanna keep our- try and keep our intros shorter and just start getting right into the stories. But, uh, two things today: one is this, we gotta say thank you to all of you. Like, this journey is incredible.

30. BGBen Gilbert3:03

    And in particular, thank you to our old listeners for, like, spreading the gospel. Like, we've really enjoyed this, like, slow, methodical, linear growth because it's- I think it's helped us hone the product of, of Acquired. Um, but of course, like, an explosive br- growth spurt is always a fun thing. So, so thank you to those of you for spreading the word over the years, and welcome to all the new folks.

Episode duration: 2:44:56