Prompt Cast
Microsoft's Acquisitions of Accompli, Sunrise, and Wunderlist: A Strategic Move Towards Mobile and Productivity
TLDR Microsoft's recent acquisitions of Accompli, Sunrise, and Wunderlist highlight their shift towards becoming a mobile first cloud first company, with a focus on creating a unified inbox experience and offering free and paid experiences across multiple devices. These acquisitions demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to improving their own products and technology, rather than solely keeping them out of the hands of competitors.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Pilot is a startup-focused accounting firm that handles all of a company's financial needs, allowing startups to focus on what makes their product better.
04:59
Microsoft acquired Accompli, Sunrise, and Wunderlist in the past 18 months, with Accompli being the main focus, as it was the first mobile app to combine mail and calendar all in one app.
11:03
Microsoft's shift to becoming a mobile first cloud first company has been well-received by consumers, and the revenue future of Microsoft lies in the growth of Office 365 and the ability to offer both free and paid experiences across multiple devices.
16:09
Microsoft's strategy with the Accompli acquisition was to create a unified inbox experience, similar to how Outlook brought together email, calendaring, and tasks into a single user experience.
21:27
Microsoft recognizes the skills and vision of the Wunderlist team and aims to take advantage of their expertise while being careful not to divert them too far from their original mission and potentially ruin the acquisition's purpose.
26:43
Microsoft recognizes the importance of having the best clients, such as Wunderlist and Outlook for iPhone and Sunrise, in order to compete in the market and provide users with the best experience.
32:11
Microsoft does not acquire companies solely to keep them out of the hands of competitors, but rather focuses on proactively and positively improving their own products and technology.
37:08
Statsig has a high data processing volume, processing 130 billion events per day, and has added important AI companies to its customer base, making it a top platform for data-driven product decisions.
42:26
The acquisitions highlight the theme that innovation is distributed globally and the location of the teams is not as important as the quality of the products.
47:46
The theme of these acquisitions is that good products rise to the top and the key to successful acquisitions is aligning organizational priorities and having strong support from leaders.
53:07
Microsoft sets goals for their acquisitions based on metrics such as user engagement and customer sentiment, rather than solely focusing on financial returns.
58:21
The host gives the acquisition of Acompli, Sunrise, and Wunderlist by Microsoft a solid A grade, citing their success in the productivity space and their ability to compete with other tech giants like Apple and Google.
Categories:
Technology
Business
