What is one podcast that every startup leader should listen to and why?
To help startup leaders benefit from the insights and experiences of their veterans, we asked successful startup founders and business leaders this question for their best recommendations. From A Walk in My Stilettos With Makini Smith to Startup by Alex Blumberg, there are several podcasts that are highly recommended as great sources of inspiration and knowledge that every startup leader should benefit from.
Here are 10 top podcasts startup leaders should follow:
- A Walk in My Stilettos With Makini Smith
- The Slice’d Podcast
- The Inbound Success Podcast With Kathleen Booth
- Marketing Made Simple With Dr. J.J. Peterson
- The Startup Chat Hosted by Steli and Hiten
- How I Built This With Guy Raz
- The Acquired Podcast
- Startup Therapy
- Mixergy
- The Tim Ferriss Show
- Startup by Alex Blumberg
A Walk in My Stilettos With Makini Smith
If you are a woman in the business world, the “A Walk in My Stilettos” podcast is a great listen. Last year, I had the privilege of serving as a guest on the show and Makini Smith was such a positive inspiration to be speaking with. She is on a mission to share stories of resilient female entrepreneurs and show her millions of listeners how to achieve goals to walk in their greatness.
Rachel Roff, Urban Skin Rx
The Slice’d Podcast
The Slice’d Podcast takes a slice of founder stories from humble beginnings to billion-dollar exits. Join host, Michael Gallagher, every Monday to learn more about inspiring founders and actionable tips for your entrepreneurial journey.
The Inbound Success Podcast With Kathleen Booth
I have been a longtime listener of Kathleen Booth’s Inbound Success Podcast. Kathleen pushes aside marketing fluff and really gets her guests to provide actionable insights on how to maximize your marketing strategy. While nearly all of the marketing tactics are for online marketing, and most are for inbound tactics, there is still enough great content there to keep me coming back episode after episode. I have used her tactics to grow my user base and grow my LinkedIn followers. I have even hired some of the vendors featured on her show to help with my company’s marketing. I feel her advice is sound and her show is certainly worth a listen.
David Wachs, Handwrytten
Marketing Made Simple With Dr. J.J. Peterson
Marketing Made Simple with Dr. J.J. Peterson is a spin-off from Business Made Simple [formerly Building a Storybrand] with Donald Miller. Every startup leader must be familiar with the fundamentals of marketing so they can stay relevant, no matter what is happening in the world or in their business. It’s easy to get caught up in the details of our respective niche and industries, so focusing on the key elements to success and hearing from experts in dynamic fields helps to sharpen the proverbial saw as well as keep the inspiration fresh and flowing.
Tommy Chang, Homelister
The Startup Chat Hosted by Steli and Hiten
One podcast that I think every startup leader should listen to is “The Startup Chat” hosted by Steli & Hiten. First of all, they are both incredibly smart and charismatic hosts who can carry on a conversation with anyone. Also, Steli is the founder of Close, which is a popular CRM tool. Hiten has founded multiple startups including KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg.
What you’ll get from this podcast is a deep dive into topics like customer development, growth hacking, fundraising, sales and marketing strategy, etc. These guys are experts in the field of startups and have been through it all. They know what works, and they know what doesn’t because they’re not talking about theories, they’re sharing real-world experiences and their advice is always spot-on and really makes you think about how you could be doing things better in your own business.
Shaun Connell, Connell Media
How I Built This With Guy Raz
This is a podcast about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists and their stories about the movements they built. Guy Raz’s level of curiosity is contagious as he dives into some of the world’s best known companies. As an entrepreneur myself, I often find myself gaining new insights from the stories of other founders that leave me inspired. It also helps me to visualize what I want my business to look like and what it takes to get there.
There are over 439 episodes to choose from so you never run out of different founding stories. One of my favorites is “Serial Entrepreneur by Gary Vaynerchuk”. There are new episodes on Mondays and Thursdays for free on NPR.
Darin Tuttle, Tuttle Ventures LLC
The Acquired Podcast
Startup leaders should listen to the Acquired podcast for entrepreneurial inspiration. Acquired is a podcast hosted by two successful entrepreneurs and investors who tell in-depth stories about the origins of world-famous companies. These stories highlight the resilience and ingenuity of company leaders across the decades. Startup leaders could benefit from hearing the details of success paths taken by some of the greatest entrepreneurs who have ever lived. The Acquired podcast can offer significant entrepreneurial insights for startup leaders.
Sean Doherty, Box Genie
Startup Therapy
This podcast talks about the real ins-and-outs of building a startup, without any of the fairytale elements. Building a business isn’t easy, and things often go wrong. The hosts of this podcast are both entrepreneurs, and the episodes feature tons of advice and insight for other founders. This podcast does a great job of talking candidly about the real work and challenges that come with building a company.
Rachel Reid, Subtl Beauty
Mixergy
Mixergy gets right to the point in every episode. It teaches everything you need to launch, fund, and scale your startup to major revenue and successful exit. Top notch guests include VCs, leaders from Y Combinator and other startup accelerators, and C-Suite execs at high-profile startups. It’s a range of B2B and B2C across a variety of industries, from software to services, and I get actionable insight for my own startup from every episode.
Ryan Draving, Muhlenhaupt + Company
The Tim Ferriss Show
The Tim Ferris show has been a favorite podcast of mine for years and remains one of my go to places for great entrepreneurial insights. Tim’s personality is one of an avid learner obsessed with distilling greatness in others down to the repeatable mechanisms we can implement in our own lives. Being one of the best connected in the self help world also carries with it the inherent perks of access to the top minds in the world, and having access to that on such an intimate level is such an advantage to every startup leader looking for that extra edge.
Michael Burghoffer, PicoSolutions
Startup by Alex Blumberg
This all-in rollercoaster of an audio diary chronicles the early stages of setting up a podcast company and its first major ‘product’ – the Startup podcast itself. While it’s eventually a riveting story of success, host and CEO of Gimlet Media Alex Blumberg doesn’t hold back on the bumps in the road, talking about everything that goes into creating a successful company, warts and all. From burnout, anxiety and fluffing an elevator pitch with Silicon Valley investment kingpin Chris Sacca, to failing on creating a diverse workplace, this is a must-listen.
Hugo Douglas-Deane, Shop Greenr Ltd
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