Episode 27: Special—A Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz
Acquired16 Dec 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 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC

Avsnitt(214)

WhatsApp

WhatsApp

We kick off Season 6 with a long-awaited Acquired Classic: Facebook’s $22B purchase of WhatsApp in 2014, which still ranks as the largest acquisition of a private VC-backed startup in history. Yet des...

29 Jan 20201h 53min

The Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (with Eric Ries)

The Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (with Eric Ries)

Season 5, Episode 10: The Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (with Eric Ries) Acquired closes out Season 5 and 2019 with a radical look into both the past and future decades of startup comp...

30 Dec 20191h 26min

Convoy (with CEO Dan Lewis)

Convoy (with CEO Dan Lewis)

Coming to you live from the University of Washington, Ben and David are joined by hundreds of awesome Seattle listeners (and a few non-Seattle listeners!) to cover the meteoric rise of trucking indust...

19 Dec 20191h 42min

TikTok

TikTok

We take Acquired to the Old Town Road to cover the amazing story behind the biggest global sensation of 2019 — and the highest valued private startup in the world — TikTok. How did a mid-30 year old U...

9 Dec 20191h 43min

Disney, Plus

Disney, Plus

The Flywheel is strong with this one. We dive deep into the origins of one of the boldest business strategy decisions of our time: Disney CEO Bob Iger’s attempt to buck the Innovator’s Dilemma - and f...

25 Nov 20192h 19min

The WeWork “Acquisition” (with Dan Primack)

The WeWork “Acquisition” (with Dan Primack)

It’s an IPO, it’s a bailout, it’s an... acquisition? We’re joined by the one and only Dan Primack from Axios to recount the epic saga of the We Company in all its tragic glory. How did this business s...

25 Okt 20191h 41min

Season 5, Episode 5: Atari (with Nolan Bushnell)

Season 5, Episode 5: Atari (with Nolan Bushnell)

We’re joined by the legendary Nolan Bushnell, founder not only of Atari, but also the only person ever to hire Steve Jobs, the recipient of Sequoia Capital’s first-ever investment, and the creator of ...

15 Okt 20191h 42min

Sequoia Capital (Part 1)

Sequoia Capital (Part 1)

Acquired dives into the history behind storied venture firm Sequoia Capital and its legendary founder, Don Valentine. Part 1 tells Don’s story, starting from humble beginnings born to uneducated paren...

26 Sep 20191h 53min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
rss-svart-marknad
rss-jossan-nina
rss-borsens-finest
badfluence
svd-tech-brief
uppgang-och-fall
bathina-en-podcast
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
rss-dagen-med-di
lastbilspodden
tabberaset
avanzapodden
fill-or-kill
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
24fragor
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
bilar-med-sladd
dynastin