Topics Covered

• Community spotlight: Slack community member Swyx's financial data research startup Sentieo! 
• Skype founders Niklas Zennstr√∂m and Janus Friis's meeting in the 1990's at Swedish telecom company Tele2
• Zennstr√∂m & Friis's introduction to talented Estonian developers Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla, and Priit Kasesalu as part of Tele2's efforts to jump into the dot com "portal mania" 
• Skype's origins in the technology powering Zennstr√∂m, Friis and the Estonians' first startup endeavor together: the peer-to-peer file sharing platform Kazaa
• The "complicated" legal, technological and ownership situation for Kazaa and Skype 
• Skype's "unique" corporate culture, including a swimming pool in the board room and shots for initiating new employees 
• The first Skype acquisition: eBay's 2005 deal to acquire the company for $2.6B, just two years after launch
• Culture clash between eBay and Skype management, and further legal drama regarding Skype technology ownership post-acquisition
• The second Skype acquisition: eBay's 2009 decision to spin the company out to a private investor consortium including Silver Lake and the newly-formed Andreessen Horowitz 
• The third (and final?) Skype acquisition: Microsoft's $8.5B purchase of the company in 2011
• Skype as a "crossover" product with viable market opportunities both in consumer and enterprise
• Bill Gurley's "Keys to the 10X Revenue Club" and the power of Skype's organic customer acquisition model

Follow-ups

• The Google iPhone... err, Pixel!

Hot Takes

• AT&T's $85B mega-acquisition of Time Warner... making America great again, or rebuilding the T-1000? 
• The New York Times acquiring The Wirecutter

Carve Outs

• Ben: Sam Altman's Manifest Destiny
• David: SOMA the Musical starring our very own Acquired listener, the brilliant and talented Jake Saper!