Archives

Average Joe, Educator, Astronaut

Joe Acaba, U.S. astronaut, talks about his time in the Marine Corps and Peace Corps, his previous missions to space, and his background as a high school and middle school educator. HWHAP Episode 10.

International Space Station #2: Research

Dr. Tara Ruttley, Associate Program Scientist for the Space Station, talks about the kinds of scientific research we’re doing and learning aboard the orbiting complex. Ruttley discusses why the research is important for us here on the Earth and for sending humans into deep space. HWHAP Episode 9.

Hurricane Harvey Update

Well as you probably know, southeast Texas was just slammed with the furious winds and torrential downpour of Hurricane Harvey. A lot of Houstonians were affected by the storm and the 40+ inches of rain that came with it. Here is a quick update of what has happened here in Houston. We’ll be back with a full episode next week.

Exploring the Cosmos with Styx

Glenn Lutz and John Connolly, exploration experts at NASA, chat with Tommy Shaw and Lawrence Gowan from the band Styx about human exploration of the solar system. They discuss the challenges of sending humans into deep space and draw parallels to live music performances. HWHAP Episode 8.

Total Eclipse Over America

Dr. Mark Matney, Space Debris Scientist and Astronomer, talks about the science and history of eclipses. He also describes the total solar eclipse that will sweep over the U.S. on August 21, 2017, and how to safely view it. HWHAP Episode 7.

Episode 43: The Square IPO

Unicorns and ratchets and lawsuits, oh my! Our heroes dive into the history of Jack Dorsey’s famous “other” company, Square. Was the Square IPO a canary in the coal mine signaling doom & gloom for the so-called unicorn companies of the early 2010’s, or a mispriced and misunderstood diamond in the rough? Acquired weighs in.

Sponsors:

More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC

Topics Covered Include:

  • Square’s deep origins in the early 90’s in St. Louis, MO with the initial meeting of its co-founders, Jack Dorsey & Jim McKelvey
  • McKelvey’s side glass blowing business and the “inspiration” for Square that came much later in the late 2000’s
  • The complicated involvement of Washington University (in St. Louis) professor Robert Morley, who had worked for years developing payment card reading technology
  • The company’s early meeting with Scott Forstall at Apple, and its “significant” impact on the its name and design
  • The real disruptive innovation of Square and its business model (hint: not just building a mobile card reader)
  • Square’s massive payments deal with Starbucks in 2012 and its impact on the company
  • The evolution of Square’s business from a simple card reader to cloud-based Point of Sale (PoS) system and entire suite of merchant tools & business management services
  • The drama leading up to Square’s IPO (including at Jack Dorsey’s “other” company, Twitter), dynamics and narratives affecting its pricing, the effect of IPO “ratchets”, and the company’s performance over the ~2 years since 

The Carve Out:

The Most Awesome Podcast from Space

Jack “2fish” Fischer, NASA Astronaut, talks about life on the International Space Station… while on board the International Space Station. This podcast was recorded during a live event on Aug 10, 2017. HWHAP Episode 6.

Episode 42: Opsware (with special guest Michel Feaster)

Acquired dives into the legendary acquisition of Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen’s “second act” software company Opsware, from a perspective never before heard—HP’s side of the story! Our heroes are joined by Michel Feaster, who led both the acquisition for HP and then the Opsware product as part of the integrated company afterward under Ben Horowitz. Today the tables have turned: Michel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Seattle-based startup Usermind, and Ben Horowitz sits on her board on behalf of A16Z. This episode is not one to miss!   

Sponsors:

 

More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC

Topics covered include: 

  • Opsware’s early history and origins as Loudcloud, the “second act” of internet wunderkind Marc Andreessen and Netscape product manager Ben Horowitz
  • Ben’s first person telling of the Loudcloud/Opsware history in The Hard Thing about Hard Things, as well as the great Wired “period piece” covering Loudcloud’s launch in August 2000
  • The importance of timing, and Loudcloud’s too-early vision of—essentially—AWS before AWS (including eerie parallels between the metaphor Andreessen used to describe Loudcloud during the company’s first press briefing, and Jeff Bezos’s description of AWS at YC nearly a decade later)
  • Creation of the “Opsware” tool inside of Loudcloud to automate deploying and configuring servers within Loudcloud’s data centers
  • Loudcloud’s meteoric rise, crash following the burst of the internet bubble, and hard pivot as a public company into Opsware—now an enterprise software company selling datacenter tools 
  • Michel’s role in HP’s evaluation of the company as an acquisition target, and process leading to its $1.6B acquisition in July 2007
  • Integration of the company into HP’s culture and sales channel
  • The creation of Ben & Marc’s “third act”, the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and what it’s like for Michel now having Ben as an investor on her board at Usermind 

  The Carve Out: 

Astronaut Training

Randy “Komrade” Bresnik talks about what astronauts have to study, know and endure to be successful in space. Bresnik recalls his astronaut training experiences and moments of his previous spaceflight. HWHAP Episode 5.

Space Food

Dr. Takiyah Sirmons, food scientist, talks about space food: what it is, how its packaged, and what happens to an astronauts palate after living in space for several months. HWHAP Episode 4.