Technology has changed the way we take in information. Industry leaders have always recommended for innovators and prospective business owners to read, and read a lot, something that you see being offered as advice in startup accelerators.
While reading is still a more than a useful resource, our amount of availability has decreased. While there are more business books than ever before, entrepreneurs spend more and more time commuting, traveling, and in the office than ever before. Yet, the need for continual education never ceases.
As markets grow, business owners can always learn something new or develop a new skill. Thankfully, technological developments have placed a library of knowledge in the palm of our hands—podcasts.
Think about any possible subject and there is now probably a podcast about it. With more than 500,000 active podcasts on Apple Podcasts and 700,000 on Spotify, you are bound to find a show for you. Whether the audio clip is 20 minutes or two hours long, podcasts are perfect for multitaskers, allowing the entrepreneur to be about their business while learning more about business. The plethora of business-related podcasts available to everyone touch on different subjects, ranging from general advice, to interviews with industry experts, and even real-time pitching.
Here are eight podcasts every entrepreneur should be listening to.
The Tim Ferriss Show
Hosted by the businessman from whom it gets its name, the Tim Ferriss Show has been declared a “best of” apple podcast three years in a row. Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Fortune agree that Ferriss’ almost bidiurnal show is one of the best entrepreneurship podcasts available. The host is a famous angel investor, known for investing in startups like Shopify and TaskRabbit while advising the pre-seed money phase of Uber.
Though he has retired from Silicon Valley, Ferriss continues to advise startups through his podcast. Through the interviewing of over 300 renowned people from all types of industries—including Maria Sharapova, Rick Rubi, and LeBron James—the show gives listeners a look into the tactics needed in every entrepreneur’s workday.
Youpreneur
British businessman Chris Ducker is the host of Youpreneur. Ducker is the founder and CEO of Virtual Staff Finder, the company he created 10 years ago to help others achieve what he did himself—work virtually and recruit a staff that can do the same. In 2014, Ducker founded Youpreneur with the mission to help those in the business community understand the importance of personal branding. While the business has branched into memberships, books, and events, the Youpreneur podcast remains a free resource for entrepreneurs who need guidance.
Freakonomics Radio
Inspired by the Stephen J. Dubner co-authored book of the same name, Freakonomics explains human behavior through the lens of economics. Dubner, the host, got the idea for the book after interviewing University of Chicago economics professor Steven Levitt for a New York Times article.
The men extended their two-hour appointment over three days and the article that came from it reached such success that they were offered a book deal. Five years later, Dubner launched the weekly podcast. While it is not an advice podcast, listening to Freakonomics Radio is extremely educational, and it will teach the entrepreneur to understand the economic way of thinking.
Girlboss Radio
Hosted by Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, the Girlboss Radio is a weekly podcast featuring businesswomen. In her early 20s, Amoruso created a highly profitable business from her apartment by simply selling vintage clothing through eBay. In just a few months, her little project blew up, eventually turning into a company with over 200 employees and yearly revenue of 100 million dollars.
Now Amoruso uses her experience and charisma to bring listening entrepreneurs the content they need. With the help of invited guests like designer Clare Vivier, movie producer Amy Pascal, Cadillac CMO Melissa Grady, and former CCO of Hearst Joanna Coles, Amoruso teaches her audience how to become successful no matter the industry.
How I Built This
Published by NPR on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, How I Built takes listeners behind the scenes of the history of many well-known companies. Through the show host, Guy Raz has somewhat redefined for many what an entrepreneur is. Thanks to his thorough interviewing, Raz reveals who the entrepreneurs were when they began their journey, showing their humanity, their struggles, and their failures. With decades of journalism under his belt, the host has now interviewed the likes of Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales, once youngest female millionaire and Spanx founder Sarah Blakely, and Ben and Jerry themselves.
Masters of Scale
Every week the Masters of Scale podcast shows listeners how companies can go from zero to hero. The show is hosted by internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author Reid Hoffman. With a net worth of $2 billion, Hoffman is one of the LinkedIn co-founders, was one of the first PayPal employees, and is now an investor and partner at Greylock Partners. Through conversations with his gender-balanced guests, Hoffman tests theories and brings in-depth insight into business operating, scaling, and growing. Some of his past guests include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Google CTO Megan Smith.
Akimbo
Named after the ancient word meaning arch of bend, Akimbo invites listeners to bend culture. The show’s host is marketing entrepreneur extraordinaire Seth Godin, who is known for founding Yoyodyne—a permission marketing venture—, selling it to Yahoo for $30 million and becoming the latter’s VP of direct marketing. He has also written several bestselling books and a renowned blog. While Godin is known for marketing, Akimbo is more than that. Its objective is to help the listener, businessperson or not, to think outside of the box and change culture with their work.
Dealmakers Podcast
Since 2018, the Dealmakers podcast has been a platform to shine the spotlight over new entrepreneurs that are changing the game all around the world. With hundreds of episodes and 200+ guests, the M&A show has been able to show the audience how successful fundraising and selling is done.
Over 1M listeners have downloaded the show focusing on founders who have raised over $50M for their ventures or sold their companies for over $100M (and in many cases over $1B). Tune in every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday to hear success stories like those of Chang Wen Lai and his $400 million express delivery firm serving South East Asia, or Jill Layfield and her journey from waitress to CEO of a $90 million fashion brand.
