Episode 27: Special—A Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz
Acquired16 Joulu 2016

Episode 27: Special—A Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz

Topics covered include:

  • Brian’s history working across “both sides of the aisle” as both a startup founder and corporate development leader at a big company, how perspective from each informs the other, and the importance of learning “customer empathy”
  • How Microsoft approaches M&A from an organizational perspective, and the importance of fit with the company’s product roadmap
  • How Brian approaches strategic investments at Microsoft, and the evolution over time of the Microsoft (and large technology companies as a whole) perspective on investing in other companies
  • Balancing the tension between partnering and investing, and what criteria Brian thinks about when evaluating companies
  • Microsoft’s investment in Facebook in 2007 (at a then-crazy-seeming $15B valuation), and more recently Foursquare, Mesosphere, CloudFlare and others
  • The current state of the tech M&A landscape, and the emergence of private equity as tech company acquirers
  • Potentially changing corporate and foreign tax structures and how they impact acquirers’ thinking around deals (or not!)
  • How Microsoft tracks and evaluates success of acquisitions over time, and lessons learned from successes and failures
  • The increasing number of operating companies (technology and otherwise) looking to invest in startups, and how that landscape has evolved over time

Sponsors:


Followups:

  • Snap Inc.’s rumored IPO filing — and bonus discussion of how VC’s and other investors think about “exiting” their investments in companies that have gone public

Hot Takes:

The Carve Out:


More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

Jaksot(212)

FTX (with Sam Bankman-Fried & Mario Gabriele)

FTX (with Sam Bankman-Fried & Mario Gabriele)

Note: This episode was published on Dec 14, 2021, approximately a year before FTX’s subsequent meltdown. The apparent negligence, fraud and self-dealing at FTX has given us much to reflect on after we...

15 Joulu 20211h 37min

7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer

7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer

You've heard us talk about him every episode for the past two years... but until now most of you have never actually heard us talk to him! We've remastered our first, canonical interview with Hamilton...

8 Joulu 20211h 4min

Not Boring (with Packy McCormick)

Not Boring (with Packy McCormick)

When does a creator become a company? Who says that media companies — or venture firms — have to be organizations? How high is the ceiling on one person + the internet? Acquired has the answers and th...

3 Joulu 20212h 48min

Complexity Investing & Semiconductors (with NZS Capital)

Complexity Investing & Semiconductors (with NZS Capital)

Of our 65+ sources for the TSMC episode, one stood above the rest: a wonderful Knowledge Project episode with Brinton Johns and Jon Bathgate of NZS Capital laying out the state of the semiconductor ma...

3 Marras 20211h 44min

Standard Oil Part II

Standard Oil Part II

We bring the epic saga of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller to a close (for now) with two of history's greatest second acts: Rockefeller's pioneering of modern philanthropy (and really modern life ...

18 Loka 20212h 23min

Michael Mauboussin Master Class — Moats, Skill, Luck, Decision Making and a Whole Lot More

Michael Mauboussin Master Class — Moats, Skill, Luck, Decision Making and a Whole Lot More

We sit down with the one & only Michael Mauboussin to dive deep into his incredible body of work: untangling skill and luck, measuring moats, persistence of returns in venture capital, decision making...

5 Loka 20211h 25min

Standard Oil Part I

Standard Oil Part I

It's time. We dive into the *original* American capitalist mega winner, Standard Oil, and its legendary founder John D. Rockefeller. This company and man almost defy characterization -- Elon, Bezos, G...

22 Syys 20212h 15min

TSMC

TSMC

It's time. We dive into the unbelievable history behind the quietest technology giant of them all — and as of recording the world's 9th (!) most valuable company — the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturi...

7 Syys 20212h 35min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
mimmit-sijoittaa
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-rahapodi
pomojen-suusta
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rss-rahamania
rss-draivi
herrasmieshakkerit
rss-myyntikoulu
rss-sami-miettinen-neuvottelija
rahapuhetta
inderespodi
salkunrakentaja-podi
juristipodi
rss-lahtijat
rss-bisnesta-bebeja
rss-seuraava-potilas
rss-set-for-life-sijoita-ja-vaurastu
rss-rahataito-podcast