Podcast Hosting Techniques

the odds of success in podcasting are so low right now. tons of supply. discoverability sucks. ad market is softer. so why am I the schmuck who’s relaunching his podcast next week & how do I plan to make it a win? here’s the breakdown: 1. innovate on format longform interviews & cohosted shows are so crowded. i don’t want to play where there’s hyper competition. im going to own the bite-sized (15 min) solo show in my niche (entrepreneurship) 2. make it a win even if you don’t go mainstream first, anchor your show in a valuable niche. B2B advertisers are willing to pay me high CPMs to get in front of founders even if I don’t hit 7-figure downloads per month. second, monetize beyond ads. I use my pod as a top of funnel for all of my businesses that have customer values worth way more than I could ever charge an advertiser. third, find wins beyond money. my pod allows me to memorialize the founder journey so that I can revisit it 50 years from now. plus, I hope to create a culture of founders documenting their business building process as a way of educating the next generation. 3. leverage YouTube & shorts for distribution podcast discovery & sharing sucks. the only way to build a great top of funnel & grow downloads is by making it a vodcast from day 1. this has been huge for shows ranging from mfm to lex fridman to dwarkesh. 4. experiment constantly & lean into short-form the cliche of “a tweet became an email became an essay became a book” has truth. I view every X post or IG video as a cheap experiment to test an idea before putting greater effort into it. i also remind myself constantly that im close-minded to the mission of my podcast (to increase the odds of a founder’s success), but im open-minded to the way in which that mission is fulfilled. hope this helps & sub to my pod (link below) to watch me execute on this plan in real-time. new episode of founder’s journal comes out 3/3!

This is how I've helped big brands launch podcasts that currently have 10 million+ subs without a celebrity host. Creators think they only need star power in the long run, but my framework works without it. In reality, your host needs one core trait, and it's not followers, a big budget, or virality. The best hosts aren't the most agreeable or the most knowledgeable. They're just the most curious. Look at successful business podcasts: Ranveer Allahbadia:  Questions conventional wisdom in every BeerBiceps Media World Private Limited episode. Raj Shamani:  Figuring Out on YouTube challenges guests to share their real entrepreneurship struggles. Here's the framework learned from then and used: 1. Start with the listener journey Map out their current beliefs, fears, and aspirations. Your content should bridge this gap. 2. Design your conversation arc The opening should challenge a common assumption. The middle must explore unexpected angles and then land on actionable insights. 3. Host selection strategy We didn't chase industry experts but instead found someone who: - Asks questions like a 5-year-old - Highlights all the inconsistencies - Steers away from obvious questions 4. Production Approach We recorded 3 episodes before launching only to - Get feedback from target listeners - Iterate on format and flow That's how we created a podcast that isn't about the host or the guest. It's about creating intriguing moments to keep listeners entertained. But most branded podcasts fail because They're platforms instead of solutions. Focus on serving your audience, not showing your expertise. So, what's your favorite podcast and why? #podcast #marketing #influencer #brandbuilding

Podcasting is brutal. Most shows never get off the ground. Last week, Ben and I hit episode 35 and approached 10k downloads. Here are 7 counterintuitive lessons I wish I knew when starting out: 1/ Be okay with the worst-case scenario Podcast growth is notoriously difficult, so being excited about the worst-case scenario removes the pressure and makes the process enjoyable. Even if nobody listens, we still get to: ↳ Have deep conversations about topics we're passionate about ↳ Improve our public speaking and conversation skills ↳ Learn something new from every single guest ↳ Build deeper relationships with interesting people 2/ Choose your metrics carefully They shape every decision you make. As Charlie Munger said, "Show me the incentives, and I'll show you the outcomes." We only track two things: ↳ Are we having fun? ↳ Are we being consistent? That's it. No download targets. No subscriber goals. No pressure to hit arbitrary numbers. By focusing on enjoyment and consistency, we've built something sustainable that keeps getting better. 3/ Less is more We started trying to cover everything in each episode. Big mistake. The result? - Superficial questions - Rushed conversations - Constant pressure to "move on" - Missing the best insights Now we pick ONE topic to go deep on and let the conversation flow naturally. The magic happens in the unexpected tangents and follow-up questions. You can't plan those. 4/ Find your unique style Don't copy other shows. In the beginning, we tried to sound like a "proper" interview podcast. The result? Stiff, awkward conversations that felt like job interviews. We realized we wanted to create the feeling of friends chatting over coffee. No high-stakes interviews. No rigid structures. Just authentic conversations where everyone (including us) can be themselves. 5/ Create for yourself first Our best episodes? Not the ones we thought would perform well. They're the ones where WE learned the most. When we finished recording thinking "Wow, that was fascinating!" Trust your taste. The audience will follow. 6/ Double down on what you enjoy Want consistency? Focus on the parts you love. Delegate everything else. We love having the conversations and curating the guest, so we delegated everything else. This creates a virtuous cycle: Energy → Consistency → Growth → More Energy 7/ Find a great co-creator Having Ben Erez as a co-host made all the difference: ↳ Built-in accountability when life gets busy ↳ Someone to learn from and bounce ideas off ↳ More energy and fun in every episode ↳ Shared excitement about growth ↳ Different perspectives that make conversations richer ↳ Someone to celebrate the wins with What did you learn from your creative projects this year?

I'm not Joe Rogan, but we have built a nice little niche in B2B marketing. Today we crossed 250,000 downloads of the Exit Five podcast. And to think I quit this podcast twice. ... and almost didn't go all in with Exit Five as a business. Today the E5 podcast is: 1. Popular among B2B marketers 2. A top source of new members for our subscription product 3. A top revenue channel for the business (podcast advertising) Here are some of my favorite podcasting tips: 1. Consistency matters most. There's no better growth hack for podcasting than forgetting about the numbers and showing up every week. Commit to a publishing schedule. No amount of emails or video clips or social posts will drive more growth an consistency. 2. Go deeper and ask better questions. One thing that drives me nuts with some podcast hosts is they don't ask the follow up questions! You need to go deeper. When your guest tells you something like "we increased our revenue by 20%" don't just smile and say cool - ask them how! but how did you do that? what tools did you use? what was the process? When you know your audience as a host you need to own getting the right answers for listeners. I have trained my brain now to go and ask the follow up question because I know that someone in their car or out on a walk is going to want to know the answer. Your job as the host is to get the right content for your listeners. Go deeper. Ask better questions. 3. You need a decent enough audio / video setup, but it's not what will drive the initial growth. It's the content. It's understanding the audience. It's bringing on interesting guests. 4. You will learn as you go. Launch and learn. I believe this for all channels of course - but have felt this with the podcast. I can look back and see what episodes were popular, what guests were popular, which conversations I enjoyed or didn't and then each month adjust the content and process on the fly. 5. I still think you can be successful with an interview style podcast - but you have to commit to the craft of being a podcast host. You have to prep. Research. Do hours of interviews. Listen to the cringe sound of your own voice. Get feedback. Repeat. I've been hosting a podcast for 9 years now dating back to 2014. Between podcasts and webinars I'd bet I've done 500 interviews of this kind over that time period. So maybe that's the real growth hack here... PS. Yes, most of my real life friends think this is super dorky, and I don't care anymore :) it seems to be working. "Wait you have a podcast??"

Over the past 18mo, I’ve been a guest on over 200 podcasts and we’ve gotten more than 500 LIVE attendees every week on my live video podcast, “UnF*ck Your Startup”. Here are 6 things I wish I knew before I started podcasting: 1. Use a Run of Show Have to credit Christopher Merrill with this one. Your audience will have a better experience if you know what you’re going to talk about and stick to segments over pre-determined time slots. Don't wing it. 2. Have a unique point of view OR amazing delivery OR amazing production. You’ll listen to LeBron talk about basketball all day long, no matter what the quality is. Think comedians for amazing delivery - or my favorite, Founders w/ David Senra. For production, think “Serial”. Make sure you have one of the three, or you’re going NOWHERE. 3. Constantly ask “WHY ARE THEY STILL LISTENING?” Your mindset needs to be that you WIN and LOSE attention second-by-second. That mentality shift help you go from a conversation to delivering incredible value. People have infinite options. Make content so good they stick. 4. Get a great mic and lights. Get a decent background. Nobody wants to listen to someone talking from a bedroom. My office is a 10x10 prison cell than John Eley made look sweet with $1k worth of stuff from Home Depot. You can get away with a $200 webcam, but make sure to have good lighting and a great mic. NO ONE wants more Zoom-looking Videos. 5. Try to ladder up guests. Always try to invite people that have 10% more status than your highest status guests. I’m trying to do that more this year. 6. Have incredible patience. Sam Parr told us that it took literally YEARS for them to build their My First Million audience. He said it was terrible. They were BEGGING for subscribes, and have made over 700 episodes. You have to ask yourself … are you really that committed? TAKEAWAY Podcasting isn’t for the faint of heart. If you wouldn’t enjoy it as a hobby, you probably shouldn’t start. Because realistically you’ll be lucky if you get anything out of it. But just like posting on LinkedIn … The real reason to start podcasting ISN’T downloads, leads, or deals. You start to be one day closer to finding your voice. Because in 2025, finding your voice is your one true superpower. P.S. You can binge my "UnF*ck Your Startup” podcast here: https://lnkd.in/gST8sTwQ

So you want a logistics podcast? Cool. Here’s the part nobody tells you. “There’s no straight line from listener to customer.” On CargoRex, we have one of the most comprehensive database of all the podcasters and creators in logistics which amounts to a little over a hundred active voices/publications. Some might see that number and choose to never pick up a mic. That shouldn’t happen. If anything, I want to encourage more people in logistics and supply chain to find their voice. Its not “there are too many podcasts!” It’s that there’s not enough of them willing to do it for the long haul to get better at it while also doing it the right reasons. So if you want to start and avoid being part of the 90% of all podcasts that never make it past 10 episodes, here are some tips: 💡Your ROI at first should be insights from smart people. That’s the only way your audience will give your show a chance in a more competitive attention marketplace. ROI can be learning from customers and building brand trust. Don’t even think about sponsors at this stage, if sponsors are even right for your show at all. Gaining insights from customers to retain and possibly gain new business is THE metric you should care about at this stage. 💡Curiosity beats corporate. A genuinely curious host > scripted talking points. That’s how you get conversations people replay and choose to tune in again. 💡Treat the show as collateral. Episodes power clips, posts, and YouTube search—great for discovery and sales enablement, not just downloads. 💡Budget like a grown-up. A couple hundred bucks an episode can work. Skip the multi-camera circus until the content proves itself. Otherwise the finance team is putting your show on the chopping block before you can ever prove ROI. 💡Your distribution of the show is forever the most challenging aspect. Recording is easy. Finding people to interview is easy. Distribution (social/email/blogs/white papers) is hard and will only get more challenging as our attention spans are pulled in every direction. This is why you need to focus your effort on actual takeaways for the audience, not “three cameras and vibes” as Grace Sharkey 🚛🤖❤️ would say. 💡Measure influence, not vanity. Track meetings booked, pipeline influenced, and content reuse—then decide if you should scale up to more epsiodes. Add “how did you hear about us” to every high intent website form—make it a free text field that’s required so you can measure the show’s impact, or lack there of. As an industry, we’re still only scratching the surface with content in logistics. Don’t let the number of podcasts scare you away! Your voice is unique and in a sea of sameness, using your voice can be a powerful way to stand out. If you want to learn more from two people who actually live and breathe this stuff, check out the latest Everything is Logistics podcast episode where Grace and I break this topic down even more along with other fun logistics topics.

Most podcasts die by episode 7. Here’s how to THRIVE all the way to 100. I’ve launched podcasts for founders, brands and myself. Some worked. Some didn’t. These 11 lessons are what kept the good ones alive. 1) Our first platform looked good. But it told us nothing. ↳ We couldn’t see what content landed or where listeners dropped off. ↳ Megaphone changed that instantly. Clean setup. Clear insights. ↳ A good platform helps you grow, not just publish. 2) Your mic is your first impression. Make it count. ↳ If your sound is bad, people bounce fast. ↳ Squadcast gave us studio-level audio without tech headaches. ↳ Good audio also shows your guest you’re serious. 3) People judge your show before they hit play. ↳ Our first logo looked like a student project. ↳ Canva turned me into a designer in 30 mins! ↳ Visuals are the first layer of trust. Don’t skip it. 4) I wasted money chasing the best gear. Don’t do that. ↳ A solid mic, headphones and decent lighting are all you need. ↳ Fancy kit doesn’t make better content. ↳ Reliable gear = confidence on the mic. 5) I found our first 10 guests in my DMs. ↳ Your network already knows your voice. Start there. ↳ I emailed a few podcast hosts too. Most said yes. ↳ Good conversations start in familiar places. 6) I thought consistency was about discipline. It wasn’t. ↳ I didn’t need more willpower. I needed better systems. ↳ Templates, shared docs and Google Sheets removed all friction. ↳ When the backend flows, so do the interviews. 7) Editing nearly made me quit by episode 4. ↳ I was stuck in perfection mode, tweaking waveforms at midnight. ↳ Descript and a pro editor gave me my evenings back. ↳ Outsourcing isn’t cheating. It’s how I scaled. 8) We turn every episode into 10+ pieces of content. ↳ Reels, audiograms, carousels Canva makes it quick. ↳ Guests get assets too, so they actually share. ↳ This is how one episode lasts all month. 9) Our top-performing episode almost got binned. ↳ Downloads were flat, but it kept getting shared in DMs. ↳ We listened to the feedback and leaned into that topic. ↳ Early patterns > early numbers. 10) Guesting on other shows grew our audience faster than anything else. ↳ No ads. No funnels. Just honest conversations. ↳ It built trust fast and sharpened our own positioning. ↳ Borrowed audiences are the shortcut no one talks about. 11) Having 15 episodes banked saved me from failure twice. ↳ Launches are exciting. Burnout is real. ↳ Guests trust you more when you’re prepared. ↳ Momentum comes from rhythm, not hype. Every mistake above? I’ve made it. Every win? Earned through trial, error and staying in the game. 👇 Yes or No: Have I saved you from at least one of these mistakes? ♻️ Repost to save someone from a 7-episode burnout 👣 Follow me, Kobi Omenaka, for sharp insights on podcasting, content and trust

I’ve interviewed nearly 400 startup founders on my podcast. My 6 biggest struggles as a new podcaster in 2014 were: 1. No audience. 2. No clear niche. 3. No editing skills. 4. Lack of confidence. 5. Hard to book guests. 6. Zero revenue and no plan. If you’re a podcaster with the same struggles, here’s my advice: 1. Publish content regularly for a year, even without listeners. 2. Ask for listener feedback to fine-tune content and discover your niche. 3. Master basic podcast editing; done is better than perfect. 4. Put yourself out there and embrace mistakes; it's how you'll improve. 5. Invite lots of guests; expect lots of no's, but some will say yes. 6. Forget about revenue at first - create value, and money will follow. What else do you struggle with? I’ll do my best to offer helpful advice if I can.

I made mistakes when I started podcasting. Many of them are on this list. My lesson was to build with intention, edit with care and publish with purpose. 7 Podcasting Pitfalls (and how to avoid them) 1. No Clear Purpose If you can’t clearly say why your podcast exists, your listener will feel it. Confusion shows up fast, and it costs attention. 2. Chasing Downloads Instead of Connection Early numbers are tempting. But growth without resonance rarely lasts. One connected listener beats a hundred passive ones. 3. Inconsistent Publishing Random releases break trust. Consistency matters less in frequency and more in reliability. 4. Too Much Talking, Not Enough Listening Rambling, over-explaining, or filling every silence pushes people away. Space is part of good storytelling. 5. Ignoring Sound Quality Listeners forgive imperfect ideas before they forgive poor audio. Clean sound signals care. 6. No Clear Episode Structure Hitting record without a plan leaves the listener lost. A simple arc creates momentum and keeps people listening. 7. Forgetting the Listener Journey Episodes are not standalone moments. They are chapters. When there is no direction, there is no reason to return.

I hear this all the time: “I want to start a podcast.” I know the excitement. I’ve been there. About five years ago, I started a podcast with 70+ episodes over two years, all while earning my degree. Each episode required about 8 hours of work — prepping, interviewing, editing, promoting… the full production. It was a massive undertaking. So what was my ROI? 🤝 Meaningful connections 🎤 Better speaking + interviewing skills 💼 A solid credibility marker (especially as a student on the hunt for a job) But here’s the truth: I didn’t earn a cent from it. And yet, there's still this assumption that podcasting is an obvious revenue driver. So when founders or thought-leaders tell me they want to start one, I always ask: 👉 What ROI are you expecting, and is a podcast actually the best way to get there? Here’s something often overlooked: Podcasting is saturated AF. Millions of shows exist, and less than 1% make meaningful revenue. If you’re doing it for your business, you need a clear purpose and a strategy. Otherwise, it becomes a time sink, not a growth channel. Another consideration: Tracking impact is incredibly hard. Even if your podcast does help you get clients, partnerships, or opportunities, it’s almost impossible to tie those results back to a specific episode (especially without expensive tracking tools). Podcasting rarely gives you clean “you posted this → this happened” data, and trying to track it properly becomes its own resource-heavy task. So you end up pouring time, money, and energy into a channel where: 1️⃣ The market is crowded 2️⃣ The ROI is murky 3️⃣ The workload is way heavier than people expect Meanwhile, there are faster, lighter ways to build brand, trust, and visibility, and in my experience, they’re far more likely to show up in your bottom line in a measurable way. In the same amount of time it takes to produce one podcast episode, you could: • Write 2–3 LinkedIn posts • Film and edit 3 short thought-leadership videos • Be a guest on someone else’s podcast • Write a guest article or publication piece All of these can create real impact, without the multi-hour production cycle of a weekly show. 💸 ⏳ Podcasting is powerful. Start a podcast if you have a clear niche, a real market gap, a solid strategy, and an audience that actually listens to podcasts — not because “everyone else is doing it.” #startups #smallbusiness #podcasting #nonprofit #businessstrategy #marketing