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Season 2, Episode 2: Raising a Seed Round with Against Gravity CEO Nick Fajt

We launch mini-series on Acquired with a subject near & dear to our heroes’ hearts: startup fundraising! This has been one of our most-requested new topics, and we’re excited to kick things off with makers of the popular Rec Room social VR app, Against Gravity, which raised one of Seattle’s hottest venture rounds in recent history: a $4m seed led by Sequoia Capital in 2016. CEO Nick Fajt joins to tell the story from company inception to building and shipping the initial product, fundraising as a first-time CEO, what they’ve been able to accomplish with the capital and their vision for the future. We had a blast touching on many classic Acquired themes for the first time “in-action” with a young, growing company, and hope you all enjoy the discussion as much as we did. Let us know what you think in the Slack!

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Infamous Meteorites

Dr. Duck Mittlefehldt, Planetary Scientist, talks about some curious findings in meteorites and the adventures endured to procure them. HWHAP Episode 30.

The National Lab in Space

Patrick O’Neill, Marketing and Communications Manager at CASIS, talks about the part of the International Space Station designated as a U.S. National Laboratory, what that means, and how CASIS manages research from all over the world that could ultimately benefit humankind. HWHAP Episode 29.

Season 2, Episode 1: Zappos (with Alfred Lin)

Former Zappos Chairman & COO (and current Partner at Sequoia Capital) Alfred Lin joins our heroes to kick off Season 2 with a classic: Amazon’s 2009 acquisition of the internet’s quirkiest online retailer for $1.2B in stock. How did three Harvard undergrads go from delivering pizza to their dorm to delivering happiness to the world — and become in the process one of the few companies ever to compete successfully head-to-head against Amazon in commerce? Tune in to find out! 

Note: Unfortunately the quality of David and Alfred’s audio tracks in this episode were significantly impacted by a processor issue on David’s computer, which we didn’t discover until after recording. We’ve worked hard to fix in post-production, but it’s still far from perfect. Still, the content from Alfred is so good, we felt we had to put this episode out there even though the audio quality isn’t up to par. We hope you’ll give it a listen regardless, and we’re working on getting a transcript made ASAP as well. 

-Ben & David

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3 Weeks in a Capsule

Jessica Vos, Crew Systems Engineer, talks about how astronauts will operate in the Orion capsule for deep-space missions that can go up to 3 weeks: like how they’ll eat, sleep, exercise, work, and if needed, be prepared for the worst. HWHAP Episode 28.

The Search for Life

Dr. Aaron Burton and Dr. Marc Fries, Planetary Scientists, talk about searching for organic material in meteorites from around the solar system. They share what we’re finding that helps us understand the fundamentals of life here on Earth and possibly the universe. HWHAP Episode 27.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Bill Foster, Ground Controller in Mission Control Houston, talks about how space communication networks work and what they will look like for missions into deep space. HWHAP Episode 26.

A Rocket on a Rocket

Wahab Alshahin, Guidance, Navigation and Control Engineer, talks about what a launch abort system is, how it works, and why it’s necessary to send humans to space. HWHAP Episode 25

Space Habitat

Lisa Spence, Flight Analogs Project Manager, and Dr. Paul Haugen, HERA Operations Engineer, talk about the space habitat analog here in Texas. They talk about what it’s like inside, what crewmembers do on missions, and how to sign up to participate in this study. HWHAP Episode 24.

Episode 51: 2017 Holiday Special

Acquired cozies up to the fire and looks back on the year in tech. How wildly off were we on last year’s predictions? What does the next year have in store? Most importantly, what price will Bitcoin be trading at in December 2018??? Pour yourself a glass of your favorite holiday beverage and kick back with us.

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