We tell the story of the single greatest business ever created: Google search. From its origins as a Stanford research project called BackRub, Google became the front door to the internet. Today it’s an essential service for over half the world, and one that generates more profit than ANY other US company — more than Apple, Microsoft, or Berkshire Hathaway.But it wasn’t always so obvious. When Larry and Sergey began working on BackRub in 1996, search was a backwater industry in silicon valley. Existing search companies were eking out a living as vendors to the then-dominant “portals” like AOL and Yahoo. Google’s come-from-behind success was the result of three massive step-function leaps forward in algorithms, infrastructure and business model… some invented by Google and some borrowed (and perfected!) by them.Today, things are not so obvious once again for Google. Despite earning more profits than all of its big tech peers, its stock trades at significantly lower multiples — a $1 trillion or more discount to Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. Investors are concerned that AI will render Google’s beautiful business model obsolete, even though Google also basically invented modern AI and continues to lead on many dimensions. This episode begins a multi-part series where we dive into the full history that led us to this point. Tune in and enjoy!Sponsors:Many thanks to our fantastic Summer ‘25 Season partners:J.P. Morgan PaymentsAnthropicStatsigVercelLinks:BackRub recreationOriginal Google logoJeff Dean’s resumeWorldly Partners’ Multi-Decade Alphabet StudyEpisode sourcesRadio City Live Show:Join us July 15 at Radio City — Ticketmaster: https://acquired.fm/nycJuly 12 Central Park RunJuly 15 Pre-Show MeetupJuly 15 Afterparty at the Rockefeller Center RinkJuly 16 Encore Event with J.P. Morgan PaymentsCarve Outs:The Rehearsal with Nathan Fielder (Season 2)Your Friends and NeighborsAndor Season 2Gamecraft Season 3Steam Deck vs Switch 2 dilemmaMore Acquired:Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Full Episode
All right, David, last episode we are doing in our studios before Radio City.
Oh, that's right. How do you feel? We're about to go from like the stage of one very, very small audience of one to the very, very big stage.
Where if we make a mistake, no one will notice. Yeah. And we just rerecord it and it's like it never happened.
We should try that at Radio City. Just be like, ah, strike that. All right, let's take that again.
Yeah, hey, this is authentically acquired, you guys. This is how we do it. You're going to look at the inside. Probably not, though. All right, let's do it. Let's do it.
Who got the truth? Is it you, is it you, is it you? Who got the truth now? Is it you, is it you, is it you? Sit me down, say it straight. Another story on the way. Who got the truth?
Welcome to the summer 2025 season of Acquired, the podcast about great companies and the stories and playbooks behind them. I'm Ben Gilbert. I'm David Rosenthal. And we are your hosts. Artificial intelligence is the story of our time. It is definitively the next trillion-dollar technology wave after PCs, the internet, and mobile.
And to understand AI, you have to understand the company most responsible for its technical foundation and the wave that came before it, Google. This episode begins our multi-part Google saga. Finally, as I'm sure many of you out there are saying right now, Google has been the front door to the entire internet for 25 years now, a quarter century. But it wasn't always this way. No, it was not.
Back in 1998, when Google was founded, there were a dozen other search engines that already existed. And there were a variety of different business models, most of which were not very interesting. Yeah, none of which were very interesting. Yes. So today, we will try to answer the question, why did Google work?
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