Most days, I spend at least two hours in my car, and the obvious question that nags away at me is how I’m meant to appease my guilt about my impact on the climate while sitting in traffic, watching the fuel gauge edge south. I tell myself it’s temporary, that one day I’ll be more organised, live closer to everything and glide about on an e-bike with a virtuous smile and a double decaf matcha latte in hand. For now, though, I drive. A lot.
One unexpected upside of all this windshield time is that it gives me space to think, to talk and mostly to listen. For years, listening meant Radio New Zealand. It was my default setting for news, current affairs and the comforting sense that someone cleverer than me was explaining the world. Lately, though, I’ve found myself drifting. Perhaps it’s just that no one can quite live up to my very real and entirely one-sided crush on the inimitable Kim Hill. Or perhaps the world has become noisier, and I’ve become fussier. Either way, the radio has been getting less of my attention.
Instead, I’ve fallen, somewhat predictably, into podcasts. I have a fairly eclectic rotation. There’s short-form content from The Economist and the New York Times when I want to feel informed without trying too hard. There’s the infotainment end of the spectrum, courtesy of Professor Scott Galloway, when I’m in the mood for certainty delivered at volume and with lots of expletives. And then there’s Acquired.
For those who haven’t come across it, Acquired is a podcast that’s been around for more than ten years, made by two West Coast US guys, Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal. Their format is resolutely long form. Not long in the way most podcasts are long, but truly, almost comically long. They dive deeply into highly durable businesses, producing episodes that run for four, five and sometimes well over ten hours. They’ve covered companies like Hermès, Google, Coca-Cola and Rolex with a level of detail that makes you wonder whether anyone inside those organisations knows this much about themselves.
A few months ago, I was at a conference in Las Vegas. By sheer serendipity, the Acquired team were there too. After their main stage presentation, they held a small social function where listeners could come along, say hello and generally loiter awkwardly. Being something of a fanboy, and pretending otherwise only briefly, I took the opportunity to introduce myself to Ben and David.
This article is really a reflection on that meeting and the thoughts it kicked loose. Acquired is a highly successful podcast and a highly successful business. They have millions of listeners for every episode and sponsors with names large enough to make your eyebrows lift, most notably JPMorgan. What struck me in talking to them wasn’t just that they’d maintained the tempo and quality of what they do over a decade, but that they’d actually improved it. More than that, they’re still in business together, still best of friends, and still genuinely excited by the work.
That constancy is even more surprising when you consider the world they both inhabit and commentate on. Every episode is a front-row seat to venture capital logic, to blitzscaling, to growth at all costs, to mergers, acquisitions and liquidity events spoken about as if they’re natural laws rather than choices. They analyse businesses where success is measured in headcount growth, geographic sprawl and ever-larger funding rounds. And yet, somehow, they’ve resisted applying that same playbook to themselves. Unusual, unexpected, refreshing, and something to be deeply respected.
Like many experiences that resonate, it made me think about my own business. Cactus is over 30 years old now. It’s still owned by the same three people it always has been. We like to think, and firmly believe, that over that time we’ve held a line. A line around quality, around consistency, around not settling for second best, and around doing business in a way you’re proud of when you look back on it, even if at the time it feels harder than the alternatives.
What makes Ben and David’s story compelling is not just that they talk about durable businesses, but that they’ve built one themselves, almost accidentally. Acquired hasn’t chased growth for its own sake. They haven’t rushed to staff up, to productise everything or to squeeze every last dollar out of the audience. There’s some contract help with editing, production and sponsorships, but at its heart it’s still the two individuals whose names are on the tin, turning up, doing the work and caring deeply about the outcome.
Heading home from the conference, back into my familiar routine of traffic and podcasts, I found myself thinking again about that initial guilt-ridden question in the car. How do I justify the time, the fuel, the emissions? I don’t have a neat answer. But I do know that some of the best thinking I do happens in that space, listening to people who’ve chosen to go deep rather than wide, to stick together rather than cash out, and to hold the line even when every incentive points the other way.
So tomorrow morning I’ll get back in the car, sigh quietly at the dashboard, and press play. If I’m going to spend two hours a day driving, I might as well keep the company of people who remind me that longevity, integrity and a bit of stubborn restraint still count. Even if it takes ten hours to make the point.
I have wondered, for a long time, when you will touch on the subject of long drives. We cannot be everything to all people , all causes, all realities. I would suggest that this time in your capsule enables you to do the effective work you obviously do. Everything in balance.