Conflicts of interest aside, it sounds like a poor use of time for most startups, who are presumably building something and would want to be targeted with their marketing; I'd expect only a small number to have a good potential customer base in the podcast set.
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.
I'm running a startup. We certainly do NOT need a podcast - we have a physical product, and since we're only 2 people, we don't have the time to produce a podcast, let alone the time to do a podcast well. We have a product to make, and customers to make it for. We're not even in tech - so there's very little content that I can utilize for more than one episode, or more than 20 minutes. I can tell my story, the company's value-prop, where we're at, and where we want to be in about 5 minutes tops. Probably less now that I think about it.
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?
I appreciate this idea. Podcasts have the unique quality of allowing your company culture to subtly permeate the airwaves on which they're consumed. I listen to above/board by Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis who are building Fathom Analytics. Besides discussing the business behind the product and the technical challenges, I can sense how much it means to them to bootstrap an independent business and to be a real alternative to the Google products we all loathe. This is the kind of information you can't reliably communicate through landing page copy. The human voice has subtlety no marketing text could or should ever want to express.
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.
Wow. Every comment so far here disagrees with the idea that startups should have podcasts.
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.
Absolutely, sir. It's curious how strange the HN community sometimes becomes when we enter the world of actual business -- rather than VC-fuelled entrepreneurship, FAANG employment, or the like. Not everything is engineering or YC type entrepreneurship.
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.
I increasingly use podcasts much as I use any other informational resource: selectively, and with search as a key modality.
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.
I'm definitely curating as I scan my library. The first thing I look for is the potential for insight due to a host-guest paring that I may not have seen before - or that I have and it was pretty good last time.
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.
Generally I layer podcasts on top of work that doesn't involve auditory processing, such as driving, grocery shopping, working out, laundry, etc. If you target those moments in your life when your hands and 'physical brain' are occupied, but your 'language brain' isn't, even busy folks can find time for this. It also helps to listen at a speed higher than 1.0.
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.
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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.