If you want your startup to thrive, it helps to learn from the successes and failures of others before you. Podcasts can be a great resource to learn what works and what doesn’t, plus there’s no media hotter for this kind of information delivery right now.
As a result, more mentors, entrepreneurs, founders and investors are either appearing on the most popular podcasts, or starting their own. It’s never been easier to learn business best-practices thanks to the doom of startup podcasts, we’ve gone ahead and curated a list of the 50 best startup podcasts for those interested to tune into.
50 Startup Podcasts:
1. The Tim Ferriss Show
One of the most successful podcasts of all time, the influential best-selling author, Tim Ferriss says that during “Each episode, I deconstruct world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, sports, business, art, etc.) to extract the tactics and tools you can use”.
Prior guests include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ed Catmull (President of Pixar), Tony Robbins, Peter Thiel, Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn) and Chris Sacca (Lowercase capital). Each episode is filled with inspiring anecdotes and actionable takeaways anyone interested in startups will find valuable.
2. Lean Startup
The Lean Startup Company, founded by Eric Ries, Heather McGough and Melissa Moore, produces educational webcasts, training programs, and their flagship annual Lean Startup Conference for innovators and entrepreneurs. Their weekly startup podcasts originate as webcasts with live chat audience feedback and questions and speakers from all sectors of business, but with a firm focus on founders and startup culture.
3. Startup
Season 1 of this podcast by Alex Blumberg revealed how he started his own podcast company called Gimlet Media. Previously, Blumberg was a producer on This American Life and a reporter for NPR's Planet Money so he specializes in honest and personal narratives and stories about startup culture. This is one of the best startup podcasts out there.
4. Product Hunt
Each week Product Hunt founder, Ryan Hoover sits down with a founder, investor, or other startup experts to talk about the long road from product idea to production.
Hoover is an expert growth marketer and product expert, and as a result he has great relationships with genuine startup experts, making this a terrific podcast to listen to.
5. 500 Startups Podcast
This popular podcast is an offshoot of the seed fund and accelerator by the same name that’s invested in over 1000 companies in more than 50 countries over the course of the past four years. The podcast highlights the fund’s many mentors, investors and founders sharing tips and narratives about successful startups.
6. Dorm Room Tycoon
British designer, journalist and founder William Channer sets out to interview some of the most influential innovators on the planet. His weekly guest list is impressive, with thinkers and writers such as Malcolm Gladwell and founders such as Kissmetric’s Hiten Shah and GitHub’s Chris Wanstrath holding forth on a wide range of subjects.
7. The Tropical MBA
This startup podcast hosted by Dan Andrews focuses on entrepreneurs who have devised lifestyle businesses that allow them to capitalize on location independence, geo-arbitrage, bootstrapping, passive income and similar concepts. That said, the topic list is wide-ranging and there are inspirational guests and segments for founders of all kinds.
8. This Week in Startups
Twice a week, entrepreneur turned investor Jason Calacanis interviews some of the most influential names in the North American entrepreneur and startup communities. Over the years he's interviewed everyone from Mark Cuban to Travis Kalanick (co-founder of Uber) to Steve Huffman (co-founder and CEO of Redditt) and rounds out the programming with regular news roundtables and “Ask Jason” segments.
9. Mixergy
Launched by entrepreneur Andrew Warner, this isn't your run-of-the-mill chatty podcast. While there are interviews, the real genius behind Mixergy is that it gets founders from companies like Wikipedia or Groupon to teach courses. You can access all of this content by paid subscription, but some of it – including hundreds of interviews with established entrepreneurs and experts such as Tim Ferriss and Trip Adler – is also freely available.
10. Startups For The Rest of Us
This brilliant startup podcast hosted by software entrepreneurs Mike Taber and Rob Walling focuses on helping developers, designers and entrepreneurs launch software products. They also run an online startup school called Micropreneur Academy, and host MicroConf, an annual conference for self-funded startups.
11. Launch: The Audio Documentary of a Startup
Not strictly speaking a startup podcast series, this 2.5-hour audio documentary features Rob Walling from Startups for the Rest of Us and developer Derrick Reimer telling the story of Drip, their email marketing startup, from inception to launch.
12. The Growth Show
This regular podcast was created by Hubspot and is hosted by Mike Volpe, the company’s CMO. It focuses on driving growth – growing a business, growing a movement, growing an idea and growing a team. Volpe gets great guests: Google’s Managing Director, Todd Rowe; Jonah Peretti, founder of BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post, and Basecamp CEO Jason Fried among others.
13. Entrepreneur On Fire
John Lee Dumas posts daily podcasts in which guests – such as Tim Ferriss, Barbara Corcoran and Seth Godin – offer a story of failure; later, the conversation moves onto successes and the steps required to get there. Check their Top Ten list for a manageable intro to Dumas’ staggering inventory of 1100 episodes, making it one of the biggest startup podcasts out there. EOFire also offers a monthly membership that includes access to the entire interview library, as well as online courses and other resources for founders and innovators.
14. Hack The Entrepreneur
Jon Nastor is co-founder of VelocityPage and a motivating marketing consultant and entrepreneur. During his tri-weekly podcast Nastor shares hacks and information for building a successful business, as well as interviewing fascinating folks like best-selling author and “mommy blogger” Heather B. Armstrong.
15. Build & Launch
The Build & Launch podcast is recorded by Justin Jackson, who also co-hosts Product People (see below). With the help of selected guests, he documents the process of building new digital products – from e-books to software to apps – every week. Jackson also looks at broader concepts of interest (secret sauce, cult of personality, marketing myths) to the startup community.
16. Product People.TV
Developers and consultants Kyle Fox and Justin Jackson host this periodic podcast focused on SaaS (software as a service) business strategies, product marketing and unusual web-based projects such Jason Zook’s iwearyourshirt.com.
17. The Gently Mad
Host Adam Clark promises honest, meaningful conversation about things that matter – life, business and entrepreneurship – three times a week. Like Gary Vee, Clark loves to take questions from his audience and addresses them solo on his Friday show.
Monday and Wednesday, Clark chats with guests like fellow podcasters Jon Nastor and Andrew Warner. We particularly love Clark’s accompanying info and link-packed website that highlights each podcast segment’s best bits.
18. Zero to Scale
Hosted by Greg Hickman, founder of Mobile Marketing Engine, a mobile marketing agency and education company for small businesses, and Justin McGill of the digital marketing agency Upswing Interactive, Zero to Scale dives deep into the day-to-day operations of these two bootstrapped founders as they attempt to scale their businesses. Weekly, they assess their real life successes and failures, in addition to chatting with guests on a long list of topics.
19. Rocketship
Weekly, co-hosts Michael Sacca, Joelle Steiniger and Matt Goldman interview entrepreneurs and founders to discuss startup and growth strategies. They can get technical and detailed (startups in Southeast Asia, the power of invitation-only SaaS onboarding flow), but also regularly sit down with many of the usual suspects: Neil Patel from crazyegg, Marti Wolf from Mailchimp and Buzzfeed’s Cap Watkins.
20. The #AskGaryVee Show
This is the audio version of well-known speaker, author, social media influencer and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk’s popular YouTube channel for founders and marketing types. The episodes are Q&A-based from audience tweets and emails. Episodes range from one minute to an hour - a burst of wisdom from just one question, or an episode where Vaynerchuk answers 24 questions in a lightning round.
21. Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner
This service from one of the world’s leading business schools, offers 3000 free videos and podcasts featuring interviews with entrepreneurship and innovation thought leaders such as John Collison from Stripe, Ben Horowitz from Andreessen Horowitz and Ed Catmull from Disney/Pixar.
22. Bootstrapped with Kids
This self-styled “real life business podcast for grownups” is hosted by Scott Yewell and Brecht Palombo. Focusing on practical information for living life while starting up, the pair dive into their own experiences as founders and entrepreneurs. Guests are a semi-regular occurrence, but this startup podcast is largely conversational note-comparing.
23. Zenfounder
From the ubiquitous bootstrapping expert Rob Walling (Startups for the Rest of Us, Launch) and his clinical psychologist wife Sherry Walling comes a podcast with a mission: to help startup founders and their families stay sane and healthy while launching a business or product. Especially insightful is their seven-part Co-founders series on how to find, work or live with a co-founder.
24. Techzing
Developer/musician Justin Vincent and entrepreneur Jason Roberts host this bi-weekly podcast, interviewing guests on one show and discussing their own and everyone else’s startups on the second. Their style is informal and candid on-air and off (they have their own wiki and also give away all their podcasting technical secrets on their homepage).
25. I Love Marketing
Founder of Genius Network and Piranha Marketing Joe Polish and author/speaker Dean Jackson claim to have been having killer conversations about marketing for over 15 years.
Thier once a week podcast offers candid talk about new marketing ideas, direct mail ideas, lead generation, lead conversion, getting referrals, stick strategies, email marketing, psychology, books, people and productivity. Cleverly, they have packaged edited transcripts of their first 50 episodes as a book for sale. Watch for similar synergistic offerings coming up on multiple platforms.
26. Seth Godin’s Startup School
Marketing and business guru Seth Godin weighs in weekly with excerpts from his course for new entrepreneurs hosted by Earwolf. He tackles things like cash flow and tactics, raising money and making ideas travel – it’s a master class in bootstrapping startups.
27. A16z
This is the podcasting home of the legendary Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm run by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. They offer smart, high-end content, such as a Q & A with Oprah Winfrey, interviews with the likes of investor Charlie Munger or New York Times tech writer John Markoff, and a discussion of the role of academia in startup culture.
28. Planet Money
This bi-weekly NPR podcast, Planet Money dispenses wisdom about the economy. As far as pure startup podcasts go, Planet Money is more focused on more global economic happenings. But the insider information on a wide range of economic and business topics is helpful.
29. Built to Sell Radio
Hosted by John Warrilow, the creator of The Value Builder System and author of The Automatic Customer, this podcast invites entrepreneurs to tell their stories, not just about how they got started but what happened when they cashed out as well.
30. Startup School Radio
This podcast is powered by The Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Hosted by Aaron Harris, a partner in the American seed accelerator fund Y Combinator, and featuring the tech minds of Silicon Valley, the show offers stories and practical advice from founders of early-stage startup tech companies and success-focused investors.
31. Collective Wisdom for Tech Startups
Founder Collective is a seed-stage venture capital fund that has invested in companies like Uber, Buzzfeed, MakerBot, HotelTonight, SeatGeek and PillPack. Their Collective Wisdom is a podcast designed to highlight the unique attributes that make exceptional tech companies exceptional.
32. Seedcamp
This new startup podcast is from the Seedcamp Acceleration Fund in London, England. It’s a great way to get a feel for the European startup scene. Host Carlos Espinal and other core staff interview mentors, venture capitalists and angels as well as the European founders who are part this growing network.
33. The Full Ratchet
Angel investor Nick Moran started this podcast in 2014 because he found it “difficult to get clear and transparent information on startup investing and fundraising.” He interviews investor experts on everything from angel best practices to crowdfunding to portfolio and pitch strategies. Moran makes no assumptions about his audience, covering the basics in a detailed way, that some startup podcasts don’t.
34. Foundation
The Foundation is a close community of entrepreneurs from over 40 countries who view entrepreneurship as a path of transformation. Founders of the network have devised a six-month intensive training program that teaches entrepreneurs how to start a business fast. Check out their Starting from Nothing podcast hosted by Andy Drish and Dane Maxwell, who wish the startup podcast had been around when they were starting up.
35. She Did It Her Way
Relative to all the male voices out there, female-driven and hosted podcasts are kind of rare. Airing Mondays, SDIHW focuses on inviting top female entrepreneurs to share their stories of challenge and success. Guest submissions are welcome and subscribers get a handy advice guide of tips for women on top.
36. #girlboss Radio
Founder of Nasty Gal Fashion and author of the bestselling #girlboss, Sophia Amoruso hosts this new podcast for female entrepreneurs. Her initial guest was actor Charlize Theron and Amoruso is promising future interviews with all kinds of celebrity “girl bosses” in the creative, business and cultural arenas.
37. Reboot
Executive coach Jerry Colonna (formerly with JPMorgan Partners) hosts entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs talking about the joys and sorrows of startup leadership. It’s part of a larger coaching, peer group and training program that straddles founder communities in New York, Boulder, CO and San Francisco and emphasizes humanitarian concepts such as mindfulness, gratitude and compassion.
38. Traction
Hosted by Jay Acunzo for the seed investment and advisory firm nextview, Traction is an efficient startup podcast (less chit chat) about all the creative, clever and unusual ways entrepreneurs scrap their way to early results. As startup podcasts go, this one has great production values too.
39. Re/code Decode
Hosted by journalist Kara Fisher, who is also executive editor of the tech and analysis site Recode News and co-producer of the annual Code Conference, this podcast scews towards tech and media. But it offers lots of stories, tips and inspiration for founders and startups of all stripes.
40. The Kalzumeus Podcast
Engineer and developer Patrick McKenzie and Keith Perhac host this occasional podcast when they’re not blogging about marketing, software development and SaaS startups at Kalzumeus Software. Topics covered include angel investing, product launching and consulting.
41. Bootstrapped Web
Online consultants and serial founders Brian Casel and Jordan Gal host this weekly startup podcast. Their premise: “to share the lessons we learn by doing, and learn from the things that others are doing, to help us all get ahead as we bootstrap our businesses online”. Recent topics have included the value of mastermind groups, personal organization aids and long-term travel with guest Brecht Palombo.
42. Founder’s Journey Podcast
This weekly podcast from Josh Pigford, software designer and founder of the SaaS analytics platform Baremetrics, seems to have run out of steam in favour of the company’s much more regular blog posts, but the 13 or so archived episodes about Pigford’s experience with bootstrapping remain a useful audio resource.
43. Entreprogrammers
Hosted serially by Josh Earl, John Sonmez, Derick Bailey, and Charles Max Wood, this is a self-proclaimed podcast for “developerneurs.” Episodes dovetail neatly with detailed blog posts on practical aspects of startup culture.
44. Startup Slingshot
Product manager and customer acquisition strategist William Griggs has hosted 100 plus episodes featuring successful entrepreneurs and executives. He puts an emphasis on well-researched and presented actionable insights, rather than banter and storytelling.
45. Startup Grind
Startup Grind is an independent startup network, actively educating, inspiring and connecting 215,000 founders in over 185 cities. Originally based in Silicon Valley, they now support startup ecosystems in 70 countries through monthly events, media, and partnerships with organizations like Google for Entrepreneurs. The podcast re-purposes those live events and lectures on a weekly basis.
46. RogueStartups
Hosted by bootstrapped startup founders and consultants Dave Rodenbaugh and Craig Hewitt, this podcast features interviews with experts in the fields of sales, marketing, product development, productized services, WordPress and SaaS. There’s a coinciding blog, as well as tools and tips for subscribers to the service.
47. Nights and Weekends Podcast
Craig Hewitt and Ken Wallace created this podcast for people with families, mortgages and responsibilities, who might not be able to quit their day jobs, but still want to bootstrap a viable web business with limited time and resources. Lots of additional emailed resources for those who sign up to this startup podcast.
48. Duct Tape Marketing Podcast
Part of consultant John Jantsch’s mini-empire of marketing systems and consulting networks, this weekly podcast is part of a vast catalogue of resources for small business owners and entrepreneurs. You can sign up for webinars, e-books and training/networking events, but anyone can listen to the show.
49. 33 Voices
This staff-curated selection of interviews with founders and entrepreneurs compiles a wealth of information and insight into startup culture. Founded by former wealth manager Moe Abdou, 33 voices is a clearinghouse of business information – the podcast series of over 1000 interviews is just one aspect of its content – presentations, essays, coaching and Q&As with industry leaders round out the slate of resources.
50. This Is Product Management
While most startup podcasts focus on business tips, this startup podcast is all about how to design, and build amazing products that are actually worth going into business to create. It's a must-listen to startup podcast for those interested in building or improving anything digital.
The most succesful companies, whether they are startups or Fortune 500 businesses, know that a key to developing a succesful company is building and nurturing a community of loyal customers.
One way to do that is to creative live expereinces that unite emplyoees, product and customers in one place. For a complete guide on marketing events like these, download our free ebook by clicking the button below.