Best Startup Podcasts

Podcasting has become an important tool of business to business (B2B) communication.

Podcasts are episodic digital audio files that listeners can download to enjoy on their own schedule. Podcasting services and streaming applications provide listeners with an integrated and convenient way to manage their playlists across all their playback devices for all their podcast sources.

Forbes reports that as of 2021 there were 1.75 million podcasts with over 43 million available episodes. During the pandemic there was a surge of millions of new podcasts as hundreds of millions of people were quarantined and unable to meet in person.

And because there are millions of new broadcasts, finding the best startup broadcasts for entrepreneurs isn’t something that can be done with a quick Google search of terms like “best startup podcasts Reddit” or “best business podcasts 2021.”

Where do you find the most useful podcasts for aspiring startup CEOs and investors?

As you might imagine, we recommend High Alpha’s Speaker Series Rewind. This series revisits High Alpha Speaker Events where we interview investors, entrepreneurs, and leaders across the country who run everything from B2B software companies to nightly news programs to talk about business and community, finding trusted advisors, how to get your startup on the acquisition radar, and much more.

Best Entrepreneur Podcasts

If you were to ask the makers of the best entrepreneur podcasts to give a talk on “How I built this podcast” or “How to Start a Startup Podcast,” what would they say?

The best business podcasts on Spotify all seem to know this secret to success:

Arrange your episodes by topic, not by interviewee.

If you Google “entrepreneur podcast spotify,” you aren’t going to see a long list of guest entrepreneur names. You will see multiple series of podcasts organized by listener interest. How I Built This. Masters of Scale. The $100 MBA.  Planet Money.

Take a closer look at these podcasts, and you will find that they enhance their authority with articles, founder stories, and news at other locations on their sites.

There is a well-worn formula for organizing a business podcast, consisting of intro music, the presenter introducing the show, a recorder interview, a recap by the presenter, and a repeat of the intro music as a coda.

This is fine as far as it goes, but rethinking the organization of a podcast is a good indication of original, useful content in the podcast. Consider these features in High Alpha podcasts that set them apart from all the other grains of sand on the beach:

High Alpha features investment experts, partners of High Alpha, interviewing entrepreneurship experts. Everyone on the show is an expert, from first word to last.

High Alpha starts the show with news you can use or original thoughts from the guest that you need to hear. You don’t waste even a second listening to canned theme music.

High Alpha designs and builds B2B SaaS startups, but it brings in entrepreneurial wisdom from venture capitalists involved in industries as diverse as international airports, B2B software companies, breweries, and Walmart.

On High Alpha’s Speaker Rewind, listeners can listen to Gerry Dick, the host and creator of Inside Indiana business, recently acquired by IBJ Media, speak on the joys of creating an investable business that makes money while serving the community. They can listen to Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia talk about how to own a business without it owning you. They can listen to former Walmart CMO Julie Lyle’s advice on running multi-billion dollar corporations responsibly. Aspiring SaaS entrepreneurs can learn from other High Alpha clients what they need to know to enjoy their money and their lives once they have launched successful companies.

Tech Startup Broadcast

B2B tech companies sell technology-based products and services to other businesses. This could be anything from cloud services to cloud programs to antivirus software. A simple fact about selling technology business to business is that customers don’t buy products just because the salesperson can quote specs at them. They want to buy from salespeople who can explain the value of their products. 

This is especially true when the potential customer is a startup itself. Vendors don’t want their potential customers Googling terms like “startup podcast Spotify,” “this week in startups best episodes,” “business podcasts 2020,” “best business podcasts 2020 Spotify,” and “angel podcasts” in a haphazard search for useful business information.

Vendors want their potential customers to identify with their brand through their podcasts. They want to communicate authority in their podcasts by showing that they are current with their industry. They want their podcasts to engage with industry leaders. And they want all of their podcasting efforts to be matched by a website that is kept up to date and free of errors. 

Creating this kind of podcast is an opportunity that High Alpha provides to startups. High Alpha guests establish themselves as leaders in their industries. Whether it is how to leverage networking or selling your startup, the best tech startup broadcasts fascinate, inform, and build your brand as an industry leader.