Acquired
Season 2, Episode 7: PowerPoint
Every company has a story.
Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them.
Show Notes
Acquired returns with a classic, delving into Microsoft’s first acquisition ever: Forethought Inc, the makers of PowerPoint. Hate it or love it, you can’t deny the combined companies’ impact: by the early 90’s PowerPoint had transformed the way businesses, educators and governments communicate, ensuring job security for pointy-haired Dilbert bosses everywhere.
Sponsors:
WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Intapp: https://bit.ly/intappceleste
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25
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Links:
Robert Gaskins’ definitive history of building PowerPoint: Sweating Bullets
Absolute Powerpoint by Ian Parker
Carve Outs:
Ben: Mindfulness in Plain English and discussion on Hacker News
David: The Birds have landed…
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