Eight Essential Podcast Episodes for Any Budding Entrepreneur
From CEO trials and tribulations to expert psychological analysis’ of human behavior, these podcasts are sure to inspire.
Podcasts have been increasing in popularity over the years and nowadays there is more demand than ever—not to mention, more offerings. Whether you’re looking for business advice, productivity tips, success stories, tech news, or mindless entertainment for when you’re washing the dishes, there’s a podcast for everyone.
For finding entrepreneurial inspiration, there are few better resources than a good podcast. While experience is key in the business world, podcasts give you access to a treasure trove of knowledge from experts who have first-hand experience in your area of interest.
However, with thousands of new episodes released every day, it’s hard to filter with which podcasts are worth your precious time.
From lessons by the uber-successful CEOs of our everyday favorite brands to the psychology of human satisfaction to interviews with inspirational tech icons, here is a roundup of podcasts (and episodes) that are sure to be entertaining, inspiring, and productive for any budding entrepreneur.
How I Built This
Any budding entrepreneur should add this podcast to their repertoire. Host Guy Raz interviews uber-successful entrepreneurs to learn about the challenges and lessons they’re learned from their unique endeavors.
In addition, every single episode ends featuring a story on a budding entrepreneur who is just getting started on their company journey called “How You Built That.” Anyone can apply to be on this quick segment, so this may be a great launching point for your personal business.
“Do you think your success is because of hard work or luck?” — Guy Raz, to every entrepreneur he interviews on HIBT
1. Wikipedia: Jimmy Wales
Ever wonder how Wikipedia stays alive despite running no ads? Everyone has used Wikipedia before, but unlike most major companies, few people its origin story. Despite being the 5th-most frequented website worldwide, Wikipedia is still completely not-for-profit.
Throughout the episode, Wales does a wonderful job of explaining the philosophy, financials, and politics of making such a huge brand free. His techniques to incentivize open-source contributions, and his insights on how detrimental advertisements would be for Wikipedia’s mantra, will help you better understand to incentive, motivation, and money.
2. Slack & Flikr: Stewart Butterfield
If you enjoy plot twists, this is the podcast episode for you. Stewart Butterfield was a philosophy-major-turned-tech-geek who wanted to make a video game. He tried twice, failed twice, and both times, came out the other end with a multi-million dollar tech company in Slack & Flikr.
Butterfield tells an exciting story spotted with many nuggets of great advice for budding entrepreneurs. His experiences of pivoting failed videogames into uber-successful tech businesses make him an expert at giving advice for balancing when to persevere through the challenges of a start-up, and when to embrace your failures and pivot your company to cut your losses.
3. Airbnb — Joe Gebbia
Did you know that the idea of Airbnb was conceived because Joe Gebbia and his friends didn’t have enough money to pay rent? They rented out their couch when a convention in-town booked up all the hotel space, and BOOM! the entrepreneurial wheels started whirling.
For anyone trying to disrupt an industry, learn how Airbnb managed to navigate the taboo of inviting strangers into your house, to made it a common practice. Gebbia is an engaging storyteller who also iterates how he believes Airbnb positively contributes to community and travel.
4. Dave’s Killer Bread — Dave Dahl
Unlike the other companies on this list, Dave’s Killer Bread isn’t a multi-billion dollar company… in fact, it is possible you haven’t heard of it before,
However, Dave’s unique storytelling is actually one of the most interesting founding stories. Dave recounts his early-life experience in jail, and then describes how those experiences shaped how he built his company. Dave’s Killer Bread is huge on hiring
A great podcast on second chances and making the best out of the opportunities you’ve given, I highly recommend this podcast for business owners who are struggling with their own challenges.
Hidden Brain
If you’re curious about the how and why of human behavior, this is the podcast for you. It explores the interworkings of the brain, but on a psychological level rather than a molecular-biological level.
Since happy customers are key for any business, and marketing/human interaction is essentially the result of human psychology hard at work, understanding behavior is key for any budding entrepreneur. While some episodes are definitely more scientific or philosophical, there are some episodes that explore business-centric topics.
1. BS Jobs
Contrary to what you may think, if you asked which jobs make employees feel the most unimportant or useless, the answer isn’t fast-food workers or other service workers who make minimum wage. More frequently, it’s actually people working cushy office jobs, such as administration, education, and law.
This episode iterates how important it is for employees to believe that their work is being useful, and how that belief correlates directly with their efforts and self-worth. It provides great insights on how to intrinsically motivate your employees, and minimize the amount of redundant/unnecessary work being done.
2. I Buy, Therefore I Am
Do our favorite brands make up who we are? The best brands out there are more than just a logo. Have you ever noticed how Apple has a cult following of tech-savy individuals who think its a personal insult when people don’t like Apple? How basketball players “must” to own Nike basketball shoes? How designer purses are not so much functional need, but rather a status and a fashion statement?
This episode outlines the psychological effects of brands, and what makes us adopt brands. Any business owner knows how important a brand is. You can only get a strong customer base with a strong brand. Finding a way to engrain your brand into some sort of culture, is a lesson any business owner should learn.
Behind the Tech
Hosted by Kevin Scott, the CTO of Microsoft, Behind the Tech is (unsurprisingly) a much more tech-focused podcast. However, it provides great insights into such a quickly changing industry.
In this podcast, Kevin Scott talks to a variety of trailblazers in the tech world, from entrepreneurs to leading researchers, to pioneers in the tech industry. For anyone dabbling in the tech industry, it is worth a listen.
1. Sam Altman — Entrepreneurial prodigy, Y Combinator President and Open AI CEO
If you’re a budding entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard of Y Combinator. If you haven't, it’s a startup accelerator that helped Stripe, Airbnb, Instacart, Dropbox, Twitch, and many other businesses.
As the Y Combinator president, Sam Altman has insights as to the inner workings of Y-Combinator. With his firsthand entrepreneurial experience, he gives great advice about the importance of starting a venture that you’re dedicated to, instead of using them as stepping stones. He’s a huge advocate for democratizing tech, and his insights as to what he thinks the future will hold are really fascinating.
“If you’re doing anything interesting, you’re going to have a lot of haters, and you may as well say the thing you actually believe.” — Sam Altman
2. Danielle Feinberg — Pixar’s Academy Award-winning Computer Scientist
This one would probably be more geared towards anyone interested in technology, but I think anyone could appreciate Danielle Feinberg’s tenacity, childhood drive, and absolute dedication to pushing the tech and art worlds forward.
For anyone interested in the Animation, Graphic Arts, or the intersection of Computer Science and Art, this is a great episode for you. From convincing her profs to mentor her, to pushing through the barriers of women in tech, Danielle Feinberg describes how grit got her a position as the Director of Photography at Pixar Animation Studio, and how she uses those experiences to mentor younger girls pursuing computer science.
Note: I have no affiliations with any of these podcasts. All opinions come from personal listening experiences.
