Startups should consider starting their own podcasts
accelerateokanagan.com
accelerateokanagan.com
There way be like a lifestyle/influencer founder angle for certain people that could get you the attention of similarly minded VCs, personally I think thats a lame strategy.
Honestly, I don't get why everyone is hopping on the podcast bandwagon. It makes no sense - just because someone has something interesting to say once doesn't mean they have something interesting to say every week going forward, especially if they aren't someone with a wealth of experience over multiple decades.
One of my neighbors produces a podcast for fun, and it's admittedly low budget and not his primary focus, he just enjoys it. I went on once to talk about my experience in AI, and I realized that I'm incredibly awkward on camera and can't often speak clearly enough to get a point across efficiently, so going on once and seeing myself fumble around spectacularly was definitely a learning experience, and probably good for me.
What freaked me out, though, is how people reacted to it. The episode probably had 20-30 views on YT or whatever platform he posted it on, but some of the responses, (both written and short-form video) were outright disgusting. This got me thinking - why do people care so much about what 2 random people are talking about, especially when those 2 people have no deep expertise on such a subject? Do people have nothing better to do with their time? Do people not have the ability to discern between a low-budget setup with 2 guys just talking about their experience versus someone who has spent decades in a particular industry or sector? And if they do, why react so strongly?
Seeking "engagement" is cancerous.
Just in case the content didn't give it away that this is just a weird ad.
If this is a window into the soul of a business, then it's a competitive advantage in a world of brands eager to be perceived as authentic. There's still lots of room for manipulation, but it becomes harder to fake when you're recording a show.
I don't think every startup needs a podcast, but my startup has a podcast and actually it's been great for us. Many people in our industry actually recognise us as the people who do The Reinsurance Podcast rather than the people who write the reinsurance software.
Our podcast has definitely helped establish us as an authority in the reinsurance industry. I believe our podcast was actually the #1 podcast in Bermuda at one point.
Podcasts are incredibly powerful, when done well. How else can you connect with:
1. Over time, all key industry players in your niche.
2. Their customers.
3. Potential large customers. (You're not pitching them; you're gaining insights for your audience, and giving them a platform. Potential work can come later if it makes sense for them.)
4. Academic thought leaders. (Tons of them. Many of them love the chance to finally talk about the niche.)
5. And yes, investors.
6. Potential high-value employees. You get to learn from them at the very least.
7. You name it.
Try doing this with cold reachouts or networking -- it's doable, but typically takes quite a bit more time, and potentially some assets. And podcasts build trust, and typically take the form of a real human conversation about a niche topic.
Relationships are the lifeblood of any business, and podcasts are a wonderful way to initiate and cultivate real human relationships. They can be a refreshing change from all this automation and technology.
Essentially it's when insurance companies buy insurance on the policies they sell.
The typical follow-up question to this [overly] simplistic explanation is
"…So who insures the reinsurance deals? How many levels of insurance are there?"
And the answer to that question… is best learned on The Reinsurance Podcast.
:D
Some podcast apps (Podcast Republic, in my experience) feature a comprehensive search over all known podcast episodes, by both title and description (of the channel and individual episodes). Searching for an obscure reference to turn up related episodes is quite useful.
That's not actually my principle app (I prefer the FS/OSS AntennaPod), but it is useful functionality.
Otherwise, there are podcasts I subscribe to and listen to most episodes, others that I'll pick and choose at, some that I just check out a few episodes on. What I typically do is go through and curate a set of episodes that look like they'll be interesting, putting them on my listen queue and/or downloading those to play later.
As with anything, there's much that's low-quality and/or not of interest. That doesn't mean that the good stuff isn't really good, though.
(Listening to David Runciman right now, who's had a numbere of serial podcasts, one of which I'd discovered through a comment here on HN a month or so back. His discussions of political philosophy and its history are excellent. Relevant, without being painfully topical.)
(And I think TFA's premise is ... ridiculous on its face. Podcasts are appropriate in some cases, completely not in others.)
Instead, sometimes you come across short articles or snippets of videos or snippets of audio, where a podcast is mentioned. Or someone might link you to a specific timestamp in an episode.
And that’s how you discover one or two podcasts that you really really like, and you decide to listen to more episodes from those podcasts.
If it's a news-driven podcast, I'll look for topical content I've been interested in lately.
After that, it's just what every topic I'm interested in at the moment.
I would also recommend very liberal use of the pause button. If the conversation is bubbling specific thoughts up in your head and those thoughts seem more interesting than the conversation - PAUSE IT. Nothing will be more relevant than your own insight on the topic. Once you've synthesized the thought, unpause and see how your thoughts compare to the podcasters. This is probably my favorite thing about the medium.
Some people can do this during nearly all of their working time due to the nature of their work - welders, truck drivers, landscapers, etc. IE, not thought laborers. I think it's something of an untapped market for audio content to focus on these folks.
Makes a lot of sense in some professions though.
Back when I was commuting I would start my working day by summarizing the podcast that I had just listened to in a text document - good way to sort of boot up my brain in the morning, without coffee.
Adam Regusea’s podcast [0] I think is a great example. He’ll leave pauses in and (because of the listener-questions format) will reiterate context pretty often. (“So, [name], you asked if it’s good to [verb]… while when I [verb]…”)
[0] https://feeds.megaphone.fm/adamraguseapodcast (RSS podcast feed, not HTML)
On the other end of that scale are very information-dense podcasts that have transcripts. I like those a lot because I find I can read the transcript after listening (or vice versa) and I get more information retention than either just listening or just reading.
My example for this is Alie Ward's 'Ologies' wherein she interviews doctors and scientists about their work, there are many excellent transcripts available [0], including this one: [1]
[0]: https://www.alieward.com/ologies-extras
[1]: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5998d8226f4ca3396027a...
Bonus example, Gastropod:
we soon realized these interviews had a lot of gold nuggets which we had to share with the world, so we started publishing these on youtube [2]
since then it's naturally evolved into a podcast series and we think this initiative actually made a big difference for us. ymmv
[1]: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7077280...
I don't know. It doesn't seem like a good reason to start a podcast. But if you have the time and motivation to do a podcast, and make it a good podcast for your listeners, I guess it could be a nice side effect.
The better way to go at it would be to note down the problems beforehand, find an expert and plan an episode around them.
Otherwise I think not.