Ben and David cover the series of three 2004 Google acquisitions that formed the core of Google Maps as we know and love it today: Where 2 Technologies, Keyhole and ZipDash. From nearly zero adoption between the three companies at the time of acquisition to well over 1 billion users today, does Google Maps merit admission to the hallowed Acquired A+ pantheon? Tune in to find out!

Sponsors:

Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24
Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acqclaude

More Acquired!:

• Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
• Join the Slack
• Subscribe to ACQ2
• Merch Store!

© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

Links:

• Bret Taylor on “Satellite Mode”: https://twitter.com/btaylor/status/1099370126678253569?lang=en 
• Justin O’Beirne’s great pieces on Apple vs Google maps: https://www.justinobeirne.com  

Carve Outs:

• Ben: Marc Andreessen on The Moment with Brian Koppelman: https://overcast.fm/+BgXAjz54o
• David: The Expanse books: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077L6GJWW/