The top podcasts for business growth
If you’d have told teenage me that the medium of the future would be basically indistinguishable from talk radio, I’d have told you to get in your DeLorean and go back to 1983. Though personally, I would have bet on hologram projection wristbands, here we are, with a rapidly growing chunk of the world getting their insights and information through podcasts. With over 700.000 different podcasts and over 29 million individual episodes, this channel is a whopper and still growing fast — the last five years have seen podcast advertising revenues grow by 10x.
And with stellar 20/20 hindsight, it’s not hard to understand why. Visual media have taken over every piece of in-your-face real estate and have left the audience overstimulated and worn out. We then realised that there was one sense organ we’d almost forgotten about and that it was the perfect information delivery mechanism for our busy modern lives. The thing about audio is: it works even when you work. People who listen to podcasts do so for over 6.5h a week and use the medium to enhance other, usually more tedious experiences like commutes, cleaning or working out.
The era of multitasking has found its most perfect expression in podcasts. Everyone from long haul truckers to professional athletes can now learn anything from world history to evolutionary psychology at the touch of a button — while working. Never has it been so easy to curate and absorb your own choice of information. The world’s best thinkers are at your service 24/7, like Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Andrew Warner, and experts in anything from conversion optimization to email marketing share their insights for free through the airwaves.
One key area where podcasts can give listeners an edge is growth, entrepreneurship, and business. Top entrepreneurs and business leaders from around the world have flocked to the medium and almost every important voice in business either has appeared on someone’s podcast or has a podcast of their own.
With tens of thousands of business podcasts on every conceivable topic out there, choosing who and what to listen to can be a challenge. So my approach here is two-pronged: I bring together the big picture — the podcasts run by the billionaires, philosophers, and high-level thinkers — with the tactical — the up and coming details people, reporting live from the trenches about how they and their guests are growing their businesses as we speak. This way your podcast playlist can combine business strategy and mindset insights with on-the-ground actionable advice to give you the edge when going head to head with other entrepreneurs.
The Top Big Picture Podcasts
How I Built This with Guy Raz — NPR Podcast
This show has everything, the production value, the high calibre guests and the immense breadth of stories. They cover everything from the rise of serial entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban and Richard Branson to inspiring up and comers like Christina Tosi, the re-inventor of the birthday cake. Each episode focuses on a founder on their journey from zero to one — how they came up with it and what they had to overcome to get to the top of their business.
Who is this for?
For anyone who is curious about how the sausage is made. Or how the LinkedIn, or the Spanx or the any-global-business-you-can-imagine is made.
What episode should you start with?
Bumble — Whitney Wolfe
“At age 22, Whitney Wolfe helped launch Tinder, one of the world’s most popular dating apps. But a few years later, she left Tinder and filed a lawsuit against the business alleging sexual harassment. The ensuing attention from the media — and cyberbullying from strangers — prompted her to launch Bumble, a dating app where women make the first move. Today, the Bumble app has been downloaded close to 30 million times.”
The MFCEO Podcast with Andy Frisella
Frisella built a fitness empire across brick and mortar and online business valued at over $100M and has gained even more notoriety by inventing the 75hard challenge. A mental toughness challenge that lasts 75 days and will blast the cobwebs from your mental limitations. It’s essentially self-imposed boot camp and if you make it through, self-transcendence and nerves of steel are guaranteed. Andy is definitely not soft-spoken, doesn’t shy away from four-letter words and his podcasting flavour is very in-your-face, but that’s also what makes him charming. His guests range from Gary Vaynerchuk to Jocko Willink, and his shtick is definitely winning the mindset game, so this is not a typical business podcast. And yes, MFCEO stands for what you think it stands.
Who is this for?
Entrepreneurs who know that their mind is the most important tool they have to succeed in business. If mental toughness and grit are something you struggle with, Andy Frisella is your one-stop shop to owning the mental conversation with yourself and using that momentum to drive your business forward.
What episode should you start with?
Win The Day, with Andy Frisella — MFCEO107
“How can you train yourself to be mentally tough, accomplish critical tasks, and set goals and dreams that stretch you beyond your comfort zone into the highest levels of greatness? In this episode, bestselling author and performance coach Ben Newman rejoins the MFCEO crew and Andy Frisella shares his thoughts on everything from the practice of visualization to his favorite business tool: The Power List.”
Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman
One of the most iconic entrepreneurs in the world, founder of LinkedIn and Greylock, Reid Hoffman has a lot of experience and quite a few theories on how to achieve massive business growth. And as someone who likes to put his ideas to the test, he’s now comparing notes with some of the most accomplished business leaders in Silicon Valley and beyond, like Arianna Huffington, Kevin Systrom, Marissa Mayer and Howard Schultz. Every episode, he puts one of his theories to the test together with a guest. Are his instincts right, or can he (and we) learn something new and actionable for our own business?
Who is this for?
Business owners who want to make their own secret sauce, but aren’t squeamish about using some world-changing recipes from the thinkers and doers who revolutionised industries. Why invent the wheel twice?
What episode should you start with?
The Reid Hoffman Story — Make Everyone A Hero
“Reid Hoffman is the guest — instead of the host — in this special episode. We turn the tables and tell his story, while proving a theory that’s perfect for Reid: You can chart an epic journey to scale your business, if you make everyone a hero along the way. Our guest host is June Cohen, Executive Producer of Masters of Scale and former Executive Producer of TED.”
StartUp
Unlike your typical interview podcast, StartUp is closer to the likes of Serial than to your typical business show. It’s an audio documentary series that follows the growth of businesses in narrative form. The first season covered the growth of Gimlet Media itself — the company making the podcast, and the later seasons take a look at one business per episode. The host is Alex Blumberg, a radio and podcasting legend if there ever was one. He’s the producer of This American Life, one of the most popular radio shows in the world with over 5.6 Million listeners every week. He’s also the co-founder of one of the most popular podcasts in the world, NPR’s Planet Money. It’s even turned into a sitcom called Alex Inc. starring Zach Braff as Blumberg
Who is this for?
Entrepreneurs who like great storytelling and get a lot out of hearing a well-constructed narrative.
What episode should you start with?
Alex talks to an early Facebook insider
“Dave Morin’s love for the internet began when he was a geeky kid in Montana. By his early 20s, it had led him to Apple and then to Facebook, where he became employee number 29. He helped the company innovate, pursuing a deeply-held mission: letting people be themselves and share their lives on the internet. But when Facebook began to shift, deprioritizing user privacy, Dave left the company. And he tried to create his own social media utopia.”
The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
Shane Parrish created one of the most read and admired blogs in the world — Farnam Street. Inspired by the mental models of polymaths Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, Shane Parrish named the blog after their first business address on Farnam Street in Omaha, Nebraska. Shane is obsessed with how successful people think, so much so that he’s written the book on mental models: The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts. The Knowledge Project is a natural extension of the blog and features guests who for the most part aren’t household names, but they’re the who’s who of thinkers of our times. This is not a business podcast, it’s a thinking podcast. It will sharpen your intuitions for any area of life where decision making is important, and that all of them.
Who is this for?
People who like to think deeply, critically and enjoy challenging old assumptions and discovering new ideas.
What episode should you start with?
Naval Ravikant — The Angel Philosopher
“Naval Ravikant (@naval) is the CEO and co-founder of AngelList. He’s invested in more than 100 companies, including Uber, Twitter, Yammer, and many others. This episode covers everything from his reading habits, popular advice that he thinks is BS to innovations in education and time management.”
The Top Tactical Business Podcasts
We’ve picked the top podcasts for each area of your business, so you can use targeted insights to grow fast and leverage your wins to compound success. Featuring entrepreneurs at every stage of their development, these business shows provide nuggets of insight wherever you are in your growth journey.
The Best Podcast for B2B Growth
The B2B Growth Show
The B2B Growth Show is a daily podcast that’s oriented towards helping B2B entrepreneurs grow their businesses exponentially. Each day, the podcast airs a new interview with a B2B thought leader, covering topics like marketing strategy, content marketing, B2B strategic partnerships, account-based marketing and every innovation in B2B marketing.
What episode should you start with?
How to Design a B2B Referral Program w/ Jay Gibb
“In this episode, we talk to Jay Gibb, Founder & CEO of CloudSponge and discover how to create a B2B referral program that will set the right incentives and get leads through the door.”
The Best Podcast for SaaS Growth
The SaaStr Podcast
SaaStr is the largest community of SaaS entrepreneurs and experts in the world. Their goal is to help your business get from $0 to $100m ARR through a combination of inspiring and instructive content and the community they created. And the SaaStr podcast is where they debate the issues of the day, highlight new trends and discuss new strategies. Everyone who’s anyone in the world of SaaS has graced their airwaves and recent guests include C-level execs from Asana, Zoom, G2 Crowd and SurveyMonkey. This podcast will help you find new ways to grow revenue, incentivise new clients to subscribe and push the envelope on conversion optimisation.
What episode should you start with?
SaaStr Podcast 254 with HubSpot Founder & CEO Brian Halligan
“The age-old sales funnel has worked fine for decades…until now. Flaws are being exposed, and a new model is imminent. Why is the sales funnel alone no longer an appropriate way thinking about customers? What will emerge to supplement or replace it? HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan and NEA’s Hilarie Koplow-McAdams explore the evolution of the marketing and sales funnel you’ve been using for decades to generate traffic and convert and leads into customers.”
The Best Podcast for Sales
Sell or Die
Jeffrey Gitomer, author of the smash hit “The Little Red Book Of Selling” and social selling and LinkedIn maven, Jennifer Gluckow, take on the art and science of selling. Well known guests who excel in the world of sales, marketing and personal growth join them each week to discuss wide ranging topics from the dawn of AI in sales, how to build you email list to how to deal with rejection. The show covers concepts and ideas that will work in the case of selling professionals and entrepreneurs alike, the principles are sound.
What episode should you start with?
Self-Confidence Sells Confidence
“Today’s topic is self-confidence. Where it comes from, how to acquire it, and what results from salespeople and entrepreneurs developing a strong sense of it.”
The Best Podcast for Social Media Marketing
The Social Media Marketing Podcast with Michael Stelzner
A classic of the marketing podcast genre and one of the top 10 marketing podcasts for over half a decade.
The show is focused on business success stories and interviews with experts in social media marketing from leading brands and agencies around the world. The weekly 45-minute podcast is jam-packed with ideas on how to leverage your business’s social media presence to drive sales growth and make your brand stand out. The show is highly actionable and focuses on case studies, strategies and tactics to drive your social media followers to like, share and subscribe.
What episode should you start with?
Instagram Strategy: How to Grow a Loyal Following With Instagram — 170
“In this episode, I interview Nathan Chan, the publisher of Foundr Magazine, a digital publication designed to help entrepreneurs succeed. He’s also the host of the Foundr podcast. Nathan is also crushing it on Instagram with nearly 400,000 followers. Nathan will explore how he built a massive following for his business on Instagram. You’ll discover techniques you can employ right now for your business’ Instagram strategy.”
Needless to say, I love podcasts and I hope you like my recommendations! If you think I missed something or can think of a great addition to the list, please put it in the comments, I can never have enough podcast recommendations (I currently subscribe to 43 of them — please don’t judge).
Originally published on fundsquire.co.uk
