The Top 5 Podcasts for (Cleantech) Entrepreneurs

Listening to a lot of podcasts over the past few years, I’ve come to realize they can be a remarkable resource for entrepreneurs. They offer a direct channel to accomplished experts, innovators, and thought leaders so you can stay current on market trends and discover new secrets to success. Here are five of my favorites.

1 | Masters of Scale

Host: Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), LinkedIn Co-founder & Greylock Partner

Format: Edited interviews, post-production commentary | 30–60 minute episodes

Produced by: WaitWhat Productions

Description: This young podcast — fifteen episodes in after launching in May 2017 — has quickly scaled up my charts to become my personal favorite entrepreneurship podcast. Masters of Scale digs into the key elements that enable a startup to grow from a baby to a beast in just a few short years. Each episode focuses on a hypothesis posed by Hoffman about a specific topic critical to scaling a startup. He tests each hypothesis by discussing it in depth with a true entrepreneurial master. Guests thus far have included Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt, Sheryl Sandberg, Reed Hastings, and Peter Thiel, among others.

Why you should listen: Hoffman definitely delivers on the promise made by the podcast’s well-chosen title. He is obsessed with the process of scaling startups and often speaks of the “escape velocity” needed to not only beat the competition, but break free of it altogether. Hoffman is particularly skilled at translating the fascinating anecdotes told by his very high-caliber guests into structured “must-dos” for his audience of entrepreneurs. Although Hoffman and most of his guests have built consumer-facing software products, I still find the lessons uncovered in Masters of Scale to be deeply relevant to cleantech startups (including hardware) and all entrepreneurs seeking to scale up their businesses. Plus, the production is top-notch; interviews are well edited and nicely garnished with quirky sound effects.

2 | The Tim Ferriss Show

Host: Tim Ferris (@tferriss) — author, entrepreneur, experimenter

Format: Long-form interviews, 2–3 hour episodes

Produced by: Tim Ferriss

Description: In this weekly podcast, Tim Ferriss, a 40 year-old jack-of-all-trades, interviews world-class performers to deconstruct their secrets to success. Not exclusive to entrepreneurship or even business, Ferriss extends his mic and his mind to artists, scientists, journalists, investors, chess masters, you name it… the only common thread is that his subjects all truly excel at their craft. Ferriss takes his time with each interview and excels at getting his subjects to open up and spill the beans about what makes them tick — their motivations and their fears, their strategies and their techniques, their childhood memories and their visions of the future.

Why you should listen: Ferriss himself, is on a constant quest for personal growth. He is a scientist of life hacks and is willing to experiment on himself. If he’s intrigued by a new trend in health, fitness, finance, or travel (just to name a few of his interests), he will conduct an experiment, documenting his process, observations, and results in a journal, and then report back to his followers. And Ferriss is definitely open minded; he’s experimented with techniques ranging from meditation to micro-dosing. Being a startup founder is really hard. If you’re an entrepreneur who sometimes has trouble sleeping, focusing, managing time, or staying motivated — challenges anyone who is not a perfect human may encounter — consider letting The Tim Ferriss Show be your window into a realm of invaluable ideas and techniques from world-class performers.

3 | The Energy Gang, The Interchange, and Watt It Takes (aka “The GTM Trifecta”)

Ok, I’m cheating a little here and cramming three of my favorite energy industry podcasts into one slot. I’m allowed to do that, though, because I am the music maker and I am the dreamer of dreams!

3a | The Energy Gang

Hosts: Stephen Lacey (@Stphn_Lacey), editor-in-chief of Greentech Media; Jigar Shah (@JIgarShahDC), founder of Sun Edison & president of Generate Capital; Katherine Hamilton (@CleanGridView), Chair of 38 North Solutions

Format: Weekly roundtable discussions

Produced by: Greentech Media

Description: Don’t come here looking for Ferrissian advice on meditation and micro-dosing. The Energy Gang is a weekly podcast that discusses and debates current topics across energy, cleantech, and the environment, and the three hosts are often joined by a guest with particular expertise on the topic at hand. Can the Trump administration save coal? Will Tesla be the first company to successfully market solar roof tiles? Are electric airplanes really a thing? Tune in to The Energy Gang to find out.

Why you should listen: This podcast is a one-stop-shop for staying up to speed on the energy industry. The hosts offer a holistic and very well-informed perspective: Stephen Lacey is a sharp and objective journalist, Katherine Hamilton is a glass-half-full policy expert, and Jigar Shah plays the role of the all-knowing, contrarian entrepreneur-turned-investor. I’ve been a dedicated listener since the beginning, and almost five years later and more than 100 episodes deep, this podcast has attracted a cult-like following of cleantech nerds that I’m hoping any day now will agree to refer to themselves as #EnergyGangsters. Let’s get it trending, people.

3b | The Interchange

Hosts: Stephen Lacey (@Stphn_Lacey), editor-in-chief of Greentech Media and Shayle Kann (@shaylekann), senior advisor at Greentech Media

Format: Deep-dive analysis and conversations

Produced by: Greentech Media

Description: Stephen Lacey is joined by his buddy Shayle Kann on The Interchange, a show that dives deep into the weeds of important energy industry topics, uncovering the nuances that are often overlooked.

Why you should listen: If The Energy Gang is not enough to satisfy your energy-nerd craving, well this is the show for you. Lacey and Kann are extremely bright and — more importantly — excellent communicators with the ability to clearly articulate complex issues in policy, markets, and to some extent technology. When needed, they’ll bring in an expert to weigh in with additional insights. I also need to give The Interchange a special shout-out for having an awesome original theme song that’s reminiscent of a 1950s Dick Dale-style surf tune.

3c | Watt It Takes

Hosts: Shayle Kann (@shaylekann), senior advisor at Greentech Media and Emily Kirsch (@emilykirsch), founder & CEO of Powerhouse

Format: Monthly, live-recorded interviews

Produced by: Greentech Media & Powerhouse

Description: Watt It Takes is a new podcast launched in partnership by GTM and Powerhouse, the Oakland-based co-working space and seed fund for solar software startups. Each episode delivers an in-depth interview with a successful clean energy entrepreneur, providing a first-hand account of the many obstacles encountered along the path to success. Shayle Kann introduces each episode and then hands it off to Emily Kirsch, who leads the interview. This podcast is currently distributed through The Interchange feed, so as long as you’re subscribed to that show you’ll get the monthly release of Watt It Takes. And Kirsch and her Powerhouse team know how to throw a party, so if you’re in the Bay Area you should buy a ticket and watch the live taping. Yes, there’s beer.

Why you should listen: Focusing a podcast on “successful clean energy entrepreneurs” is no easy task — they’re not the most abundant resource. Few and far between they may be, and this podcast is where they go to tell their story. So, tune in to Watt It Takes to find out what it takes to build a successful clean energy company, and hear why Andrew Birch is a dolphin, Dan Shugar is a wolf, and Nancy Pfund is a cat.

4 | Start-Up

Hosts: Lisa Chow (@lisaechow) & Alex Blumberg (@abexlumberg)

Format: Documentary style

Produced by: Gimlet Media

Description: When Start-Up debuted in 2014, it was quickly heralded as groundbreaking. This may come as little surprise considering its creator, Alex Blumberg, spent 15 years as a producer for This American Life where he honed his skills studying under master storyteller Ira Glass. The first season of Start-Up is about Blumberg’s quest to launch his new podcast production company. That’s right, the Start-Up podcast is about a podcast startup (whoa… meta). Each season is a little different in format, but the unifying theme is a deeply human and personal expose of entrepreneurs at their best and worst.

Why you should listen: Episode 1 follows Blumberg on his quest to raise seed funding for his new company, which he was calling (at the time) the American Podcasting Corporation. He gets a big opportunity to pitch super-angel Chris Sacca as they walk down a street in L.A., but Blumberg, a seasoned story-teller and master of audience engagement, stutters and stumbles through a flop of a pitch. Sacca then schools him on how to pitch an investor and gives him another try. Listen to the first episode and find out what happens next… and I guarantee you won’t stop until you’ve binged through the entire first season. In my opinion the first season will never be matched, but there’s still a lot of value and entertainment in the six seasons that follow and I’m excited to check out Season 7 when its released.

5 | The Pitch

Host: Josh Muccio (@joshmuccio)

Format: Entrepreneurs pitching investors

Produced by: Gimlet Media

Description: As its title suggests, The Pitch lets you eavesdrop on entrepreneurs pitching to angel investors and seed-stage venture funds. You get to hear not only how the investors respond to the entrepreneur, but also what they say behind closed doors after the entrepreneur leaves the room. Each week, this Shark Tank-esque podcast features a single startup seeking the funding it needs to scale up the business. A handful of investors — Jillian Manus (Structure Capital), Phil Nadel (Forefront Venture Partners), Dan Gulati (Comcast Ventures), and occasionally James Altucher — ask questions and offer up advice, criticism, and every now and then… money.

Why you should listen: I’ve been a fan of The Pitch since its first season when it was a rough-cut indie podcast. Less than a year ago host Josh Muccio joined forces with Gimlet Media (who knew podcast M&A was a thing?), and the show has gotten even better. Despite not being specifically about cleantech, The Pitch made my list because it offers an unfiltered view of what investors are looking for and how they make investment decisions. These are important lessons for entrepreneurs, especially when you often only have a few minutes to make a compelling case. One potential criticism of The Pitch is that very few deals actually get done. But I suppose that’s also what makes it real.

BONUS | Planet Earth II: Jungles

I’m cheating… again. Not a podcast, but hear me out!

Narrator: Sir David Attenborough

Format: Documentary film

Produced by: BBC

Description: Planet Earth II is the sequel to Planet Earth, the award-winning nature documentary series released in 2006. Ten years later, Planet Earth II was released, unveiling six new episodes that leverage cutting-edge A/V production technology developed since the original series, including 4K resolution and aerial drone recording. The six episodes — Islands, Mountains, Jungles, Deserts, Grasslands, and Cities — offer absolutely stunning footage accompanied by Sir David Attenborough’s perfect narration that highlights the beauty, mystery, magic, and hardships of the natural world — a world with some surprising similarities to the world of entrepreneurship.

Why you should watch: Everybody should watch every episode of Planet Earth II, but pay particular attention to the Jungles episode. It oozes with entrepreneurial undertones — at least in my head, it does. The degree of competition and innovation taking place in the world’s jungles makes Silicon Valley look like a utility company. But the stakes are much higher in this very crowded and fragmented market; to succeed is to survive. The strategy is find food, don’t be food, and reproduce. Simple, but not easy. Each player must develop its own, differentiated solution. Draco lizards live in the treetops, but they need a quicker, better way to get from tree to tree. Six-story walk-ups are no fun. So how do they do it? They fly.

It’s also important to protect your position in the market. Railroad worms are poisonous, and being poisonous is a pretty good defense, but only if your competitors know you’re poisonous. So railroad worms send a very strong signal to the “market” by turning on their bright red and green headlights. Any oncoming traffic is sure to steer clear.

Take a break from your usual media consumption this weekend and watch Planet Earth II: Jungles. It’s a humbling experience. And it just might inspire you think more creatively about how you approach the market.

Podcasts are cheap to produce and easy to distribute, which is why they’re a great medium for wide ranges of topics that can be tailored for mass appeal or targeted at niche audiences (advertisers are finally starting to realize their unique value). But buyers beware: the very low barriers to entry also means there’s no shortage of mediocre content out there. The good ones, though, are fantastic and free. You can’t beat that deal.

I hope my list of the best podcasts for (cleantech) entrepreneurs was helpful. What did I miss? Please send me your suggestions! @mediumpauly