If you are an entrepreneur, you’re always in learning mode, and most of that learning happens as you go—making mistakes, regrouping, evaluating and reiterating. But not all the lessons have to be reactive. With the rising popularity of podcasts—spurred, in large part, by the runaway success of the podcast Serial—there are a host of informative and entertaining podcasts focused on entrepreneurship and small business.
With so many to choose from, we’ve compiled a list of seven of the best podcasts right now for startup founders and small business owners. Each one offers valuable insights into starting, running and growing a business.
- Entrepreneur on Fire: hosted and founded by John Lee Dumas, who interviews entrepreneurs to get insights and information from them to guide listeners on their entrepreneurial journey. That includes, for instance, advice about creating the right products and services for your audience, tips for boosting blog traffic or how to create an effective 60-second sales hook. Entrepreneurs talk about their failures and the lessons learned and every interview features that founder’s “Ah-Ha!” moment and the steps they took to turn that moment into success.
- ConversionCast: hosted by Tim Paige, this podcast helps marketers find measurable results to use in marketing their business and increasing revenue. Each episode features real-life case studies from seasoned marketing professionals who share tactics they’ve used to increase their numbers. And every marketer on the show gives hard data about before-and-after results.
- Stories From The Influencer Economy: hosted by Ryan Williams, an entrepreneur and marketer based in Los Angeles. This podcast features one-on-one interviews with those in the “world of influence,” and that includes creators, entrepreneurs, social media gurus, entrepreneurs and writers. The shows give valuable information about launching your product or service to the world, and gives insight into how people, businesses and brands can learn from top influencers.
- The Suitcase Entrepreneur: hosted by Natalie Sisson. Sisson has built an online business that gives her the freedom to travel and live the life she wants. She shares what she’s learned about online marketing, business and entrepreneurship twice a week. Sisson is big on figuring out the “why” behind what you do, and finding the “sweet spot”— essentially asking you to understand why you are offering what you offer and why people will want to pay for it.
- StartUp: a podcast from Gimlet Media (a startup itself). Gimlet was founded by Alex Blumberg, who spent 15 years as a producer and reporter at the public radio show “This American Life” and NPR’s “Planet Money,” a podcast he helped start during the financial crisis. His cofounder is Matthew Lieber. Startup chronicles the struggles and successes of a different business in each season, including Gimlet. Everything is on the table, from how to market your idea to angel investors to how to determine what differentiates you to your customers to how to balance startup life with regular life.
- Entrepreneur Effect: Hosted by Dush Ramachandran, this podcast highlights opportunities for entrepreneurs in digital marketing with thought-provoking interviews and discussions on strategic topics like product, positioning, pricing, packaging and promotion.
- Social Triggers Insider: This podcast was created and is hosted by Derek Halpern. He is a marketing expert and entrepreneur whose business, Social Triggers, helps entrepreneurs get more customers and partners, negotiate more effectively, price products correctly, market them and gain referrals, among other challenges. Forbes wrote that Halpern, is an “expert on how consumer psychology applies to online marketing.”
- The Slack Variety Pack: a podcast from Slack, a project management tool to get more stuff done in less time. This is a podcast about loving what you do in work and in life. Each episode highlights people following their dreams in our innovative and modern culture.