Chase Center + Summer Update

"Three hundred and seventeen thousand new subscribers or followers" joined Acquired after the Wall Street Journal profile ran in May, catapulting the show to the number one podcast on both Spotify and Apple charts. That is the headline from this summer update episode, where Ben and David catch up after a six-week hiatus to discuss the aftermath of that piece, their upcoming live show at the Chase Center, and a few structural changes to the show.

The Wall Street Journal Effect

The Wall Street Journal profile, written by Ben Cohen, was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. It became the number one podcast on both major platforms, and the staying power of that top ranking created a self-fulfilling cycle: being featured prominently in the browse tab drove continuous discovery. The result was 317,000 new subscribers or followers since the piece went live. For context, the show's estimated listener base was about 500,000 people coming into the year. Ben and David are careful not to over-claim a lesson here. As Ben put it, "I had always sort of been of this belief, especially when I'm working with startups, like don't count on a single press article being trajectory changing for you. That's generally true, except when it isn't." They did not pitch the story; it came to them. The hosts note that the WSJ audience is the ideal demographic for the show, and that the growth was amplified b