On this episode, we'll talk about a crazy new premium credit card, we'll debate double elite night hotel promotions to see if they're mattress run worthy, talk about a nice new way to use JetBlue points, and discuss how to double your rewards with a partner.

(01:15) - One reader writes in about booking their family with roundtrip business class flights to Australia for Christmas and New Years!!!

(05:00) - New JetBlue Premier Card...

Learn more about the premier card here.

(12:13) - IHG Premier offer up to 170K after $4K spend in 3 months

Learn more about the IHG Premier card here.

(13:33) - IHG overlapping promos

Learn more about the targeted double elite nights here.

(14:58) - Learn more about Double points here.

(19:10) - Marriott's overlapping promos:

Learn more about Double elite nights + 1K bonus per night here.

(25:58) - Marriott increases top-end point prices

Read our Marriott Complete Guide here.

(30:30) - CardPointers

Learn more about CardPointers here CardPointers here.

(32:48) - Book TAP Air with JetBlue points

(39:13) - More rewards

Check out our How to video for maximizing rewards with Amex referrals here.

(43:38) - More spend

(44:56) - Companion Flights

Find our How your Southwest Companion can fly 4 free | Coffee Break Ep32 here.

Find our Complete Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass here.

Find our Two for the price of one: How to get a free companion ticket | Ep218 here.

(46:10) - Find our How to Use Delta Companion Certificates Video here.

(47:33) - Free weekends

(50:50) - One reader has One Amex Platinum Card and one Amex Business Platinum Card. If they cancel or downgrade one of the cards, how does that impact their Delta lounge access for the calendar year?

The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Greg Davis-Kean, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Blake and David examine several significant developments, including TaxDome's data security incident, and the implications of China's DeepSeek AI model that caused Nvidia's stock to drop. They also dig into the White House's federal employee buyout offer that could impact IRS staffing levels and break down key findings from Accounting Today's 2025 Year Ahead survey about trends in remote work, tech spend, and AI adoption in accounting firms.

Sponsors
Keeper - http://accountingpodcast.promo/keeper
Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas
Basil - http://accountingpodcast.promo/basil

• (00:24) - Introduction and Episode Overview

Show Notes

Deepseek R1 Explained by a Retired Microsoft Engineer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3TpcHebtxM

China’s DeepSeek AI dethrones ChatGPT on App Store: Here’s what you should know

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/27/chinas-deepseek-ai-tops-chatgpt-app-store-what-you-should-know.html

TaxDome reports security incident, says no sensitive data exposed

https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/taxdome-reports-data-breach 

Reporting system error official post-mortem

https://community.taxdome.com/c/resources/reporting-system-incident-official-post-mortem-794aebba-618b-4857-8aab-debca4e644ee 

TaxDome Post from Caleb Jenkins’ LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/calebjenkins1994_so-taxdome-can-you-tell-us-more-about-activity-7288762022882594816-X9eS?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Trump administration offers roughly 2 million federal workers a buyout to resign

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-administration-offer-federal-workers-buyouts-resign-rcna189661

Trump suggests sending IRS agents to the border

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-suggests-sending-irs-agents-233900348.html

Accounting in 2025: The year ahead in numbers

https://www.accountingtoday.com/list/accounting-in-2025-the-year-ahead-in-numbers

Top 10 AI accounting tools every business needs in 2025

https://www.accountancyage.com/2025/01/24/top-10-ai-accounting-tools-every-business-needs-in-2025/

Xero's new tagline: 'Your business supercharged'

https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/xero-announces-new-tagline-your-business-supercharged

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Get in Touch

Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.

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Transcripts

The full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the top of this page

Episode 672: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Matt Mullenweg ( https://x.com/photomatt ), the founder of WordPress and Automattic. 

—

Show Notes: 

(0:00) Turning down $200M at 24

(6:04) WordPress's 1000 days of irrelevance

(9:24) Turning a small South African company into $3B

(13:40) The battle of giants - WooCommerce vs Shopify

(18:37) Matt's Villain Arc

(30:07) Auditions > Interviews

(36:04) Putting every employee on the front line

(42:56) Matt on Deepseek

—

Links:

• Automattic - https://automattic.com/ 

• WordPress - https://wordpress.com/ 

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd

—

Check Out Sam's Stuff:

• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/

• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/

• Copy That - https://copythat.com

• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth

• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/

My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Erica Goode, CPA, reveals how she built a thriving $200K accounting firm working just 15 hours a week. Discover the power of niching, efficient processes, and work-life balance in this candid discussion. Erica will share her journey from corporate burnout to entrepreneurial success, offering practical insights on pricing strategies, time management, and building authority in your niche. Whether you're considering starting your own firm or optimizing your existing practice, this webinar will inspire and equip you to reimagine what's possible in your accounting career.

(Originally recorded on October 16, 2024, on Earmark Webinars+)

Sponsor
ShareFile - https://earmarkcpe.promo/sharefile

Show Notes

The 15-Hour Accounting eBook:
https://mailchi.mp/ericagoode/15-hr-accountant-ebook

Chapters

• (02:39) - Welcome Erica to the Show

Download the Earmark CPE App
 
Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/earmark-cpe/id1562599728

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.earmarkcpe.app

Connect with Our Guest, Erica Goode

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-goode-cpa-00205616/

Connect with Blake Oliver, CPA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blaketoliver
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blaketoliver/

Some of the world’s most prominent names in technology are pledging billions to build artificial-intelligence infrastructure in the U.S. in a joint venture called Stargate. Notably missing? Microsoft. WSJ’s Tom Dotan explains how the partnership that launched the AI boom has deteriorated.

Further Reading:

- Tech Leaders Pledge up to $500 Billion in AI Investment in U.S. 

- OpenAI’s Stargate Deal Heralds Shift Away From Microsoft 

- Musk Pours Cold Water on Trump-Backed Stargate AI Project 

Further Listening:

- Artificial: The OpenAI Story 

- What's the Worst AI Can Do? This Team Is Finding Out. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We flew to Taiwan to interview TSMC Founder Morris Chang in a rare English interview. In fact, the last long-form video interview we could find was 17 years ago at the Computer History Museum… conducted by the one-and-only Jensen Huang! This episode came about after asking ourselves a version of the Jeff Bezos “regret minimization” question: what conversations would we most regret not having if the chance passed Acquired by? Dr. Chang was number one on our list, and thanks to a little help from Jensen himself, we’re so happy to make it happen.

Dr. Chang shares the stories of a few crucial moments from TSMC’s history which have only been written about in his (currently Chinese-only) memoirs, including how TSMC won Apple’s iPhone and Mac chip business and a 2009 discrepancy with NVIDIA that almost jeopardized their relationship, and the lessons he took from them. We can’t think of a better way to kick off 2025. Please enjoy!

Sponsors:

Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:

• J.P. Morgan Payments
• ServiceNow
• Fundrise

Links:

• Worldly Partners’ Multi-Decade TSMC Study
• Karina Bao’s writing

Carve Outs:

• AAA
• Defunctland
• Everything Everywhere all at Once
• Asianometry

More Acquired:

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

‍Notes:

This episode contains a paid endorsement for Fundrise. All investments can lead to loss.

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.

Most people – and definitely society as a whole – seem to have a minimum level of stress. They will never be fully at ease because after solving every problem the gaze of their anxiety shifts to the next problem, no matter how trivial it is relative to previous ones.

Thanks to my friends at Ramp -- the best expense accounting system I've seen. For more check out ramp.com/morgan.

This week on the API Intersection podcast, we spoke with Gleb Polyakov, Co-founder & CEO at Nylas, a Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) that reimagines business communication via APIs. We talked to Gleb about the pervasiveness of APIs and how you can best involve various stakeholders in your API strategy to ensure success.

Check out Nylas's communication platform here https://www.nylas.com/  -- (Psst! They're hiring)

Do you have a question you'd like answered, or a topic you want to see in a future episode? Let us know here: stoplight.io/question/

According to Christine Spang, she is secretly Canadian, being born in Toronto. She moved to Upstate New York when she was 3, and grew up there. She came from a family of engineers and entrepreneurs. After getting into an RPG game based on Lord of the Rings, she had to learn to code, run linux, and fell in love with software. In High School, she was a band geek, and was super into fantasy reading. These days she tends to focus more on hobbies that get her out and moving in the world, specifically rock climbing and plants.

Christine was working for a startup that ended up being sold to Oracle. At that point, she was considering what was next for her. The timing was fortuitous, as her friend from MIT was starting up something around extracting information from email.

This is the creation story of Nylas.

Sponsors

• Immediate
• Orbit
• Postmark
• Stytch
• Verb Data
• Webapp.io

Links

• Website: https://www.nylas.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinespang/

Register for the webinar: 

 •Is It a Fair Multiple? The Art of Making Your Offer - Wed Jan 22 - https://bit.ly/4asGoxw

After buying then exiting a 12-unit franchise portfolio, Alicia Miller became expert on how to attract private equity.

Topics in Abhi’s interview:

• Going from BCG partner to small business buyer
• Starting a holdco with 3 friends
• Their primary and secondary partner model
• Setting up contingency plans in their operating agreement
• Goal of spending more time with family
• Not taking on investors
• Quickly learning about potential industries
• Closing on a pool business in 6 weeks
• 4 add-ons in 18 months
• Acquiring 2 ShelfGenie franchise locations

References and how to contact Abhi:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Marc Nzojibwami’s episode: The Model for a 3-way Longterm Holdco

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Work with an SBA broker who focuses exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:

• Matthias Smith of Pioneer Capital Advisory

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter