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Hear that? That’s the sound of innumerable business podcasts flooding the digital airwaves with an abundance of opinions, information, and… hmm… value? There’s the rub — with the huge number of podcasts out there, it can be challenging to sift through the quantity to find the verified, value-driven quality.
Compounding this is the fact that web creators and product makers are pretty time deficient these days — you have to be discerning about where you spend your precious minutes/hours. But fret not! We’ve selected a choice list of business podcasts with the help of a handful of Freemius partners.
But first:
Why Solopreneurs and Indie-Developers Can Benefit from Business Podcasts
In the competitive world of entrepreneurship, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. And one of the most effective ways to gain valuable insights and stay motivated is by tuning into business podcasts tailored specifically for solopreneurs, bootstrappers, and indie devs.
In this article, we’ll explore nine excellent business podcasts that provide a wealth of knowledge, actionable advice, and inspiration for individuals navigating the challenges of building successful software product businesses (in public).
Let’s plug in!
9 Top Business Podcasts for Indie Devs, Bootstrappers, & Lifestyle Product Makers
plugin.fm
Having launched in June 2023, plugin.fm is a place for bootstrappers, makers, and entrepreneurs who see their passion as so much more than just careers. This value-first business podcast aims to inspire, entertain, and educate indie developers and software product makers by diving into discussions with industry experts. In each episode, plugin.fm explores their perspectives and firsthand learnings to share actionable tips and insights to help solopreneurs launch and grow their software product businesses.
By doing so, the creators of plugin.fm hope to give back to the makers’ community in a significant way. Drawing upon the extensive experience and deep understanding of successful product creators means they can provide practical insights that can be applied to any digital product business.
Meet Your Host
From holding various eCommerce positions to authoring web tutorials for website owners and developers, Patrick Rauland has some serious credentials and the energy to match them. He’s a do-er with a strong hands-on background in eCommerce and software product marketing who’s able to steer conversations expertly, all while injecting them with his own informed tips, practices, and infectious brand of enthusiasm. Suffice to say, this writer is a big fan!
Episode Highlights
- Matt Mederios on How Solopreneurs Can Leverage Podcasting for Brand Building and Business Growth
- Miriam Schwab on Partnerships and the Power of Collaboration for Success
Quick disclaimer: plugin.fm is brought to you by Freemius, the publisher of the article you’re reading right now 🤠
Matt Report
Matt Report is one of the most popular business podcasts in the WordPress space. Hosted by WP luminary Matt Medeiros, the podcast features consultants, bootstrappers, and business owners who are establishing/growing their businesses in today’s highly competitive web market.
Matt and his guests delve deeply into operational and scaling methods, examining the successes and challenges they’ve had on their entrepreneurial journeys. Drawing from his background in sales and marketing, Matt understands the intricacies of business development and uses his unique perspective to bring a level of authenticity and honesty to his business podcast.
Meet the Host
Matt’s a well-known figure in the WordPress world and has distinguished himself as a news podcaster, evangelist, and plugin creator. Since stepping into WordPress, Matt has filled many roles. He continues to create plugins for Slocum Studios, was an account executive for Pagely, and recently stepped out of his role as Director of Podcaster Success and General Manager at Castos. Matt’s also a regular podcast host on Southcoast.fm and covers weekly WordPress news on The WP Minute podcast. In February, Matt joined Rocketgenius – the company behind Gravity Forms – as a WordPress Community Evangelist.
Episode Highlights
The Bootstrapped Founder
The Bootstrapped Founder, hosted by Arvid Kahl, is a business podcast that focuses on the journey of — you guessed it — bootstrapped entrepreneurs. Arvid interviews founders who’ve successfully built and grown their businesses without external funding. The podcast explores the challenges and strategies employed by indie devs and software product makers, offering valuable insights for those looking to start and scale a bootstrapped business and build an audience, all while building in public.
Meet the Host
Arvid Kahl champions bootstrapping as a valuable, wealth-generating approach to running a company. One of his biggest achievements is documenting the journey of founding, managing, and ultimately selling FeedbackPanda within a two-year timeframe. In the years of running FeedbackPanda, Arvid overcame challenges and enjoyed the successes of helming a self-funded company — his business podcast shares those learnings to encourage other entrepreneurs to see bootstrapping as a viable option for a lucrative career.
Episode Highlights
- How to Build in Public Without Revealing Too Much
- 3 Low-Hanging Fruit to Massively Improve Your Twitter Presence
Startups For the Rest of Us
Hosted by Rob Walling, Startups For the Rest of Us provides practical advice and strategies to help developers, designers, and entrepreneurs launch products successfully. Rob covers a wide range of topics on his business podcast, including product development, marketing, and customer acquisition to help product makers on their journeys to success (no matter if you’ve built your fifth product or you’re thinking about your first).
Meet the Host
With close to two decades of experience starting, growing, and mentoring startups, Rob shares his experiences so that product makers like yourself can avoid the mistakes he (and his business podcast guests) have made along the way. He’s built and sold multiple SaaS companies and invested in over 55 startups, including WP Engine, CartHook, and SparkToro. It’s worth mentioning that Rob is behind MicroConf, the world’s largest community of bootstrapped B2B SaaS founders, and TinySeed, a year-long, remote accelerator designed for SaaS founders.
Rob has also flexed his business brain as the author of Start Small, Stay Small, a book on how to bootstrap a startup.
Episode Highlights
- Explaining SaaS Metrics to a Child
- When to Hire Your First Manager + What You Should Be Focused On (A Rob Solo Adventure)
Rogue Startups
Rogue Startups, hosted by Craig Hewitt and formerly Dave Rodenbaugh, focuses on … actually, they say it best:
Never before in history has it been easier for talented individuals to escape the confines of the rat race society and go down their own path. Our hope is to inspire and educate you on how successful startup entrepreneurs have done that. This is no pie-in-the-sky podcast with esoteric BS about business, Make Money Online schemes, and any other “flash in the pan” type business. This is for people just like you and me who know there must be a better way, and want to find it.
Craig’s business podcast delves into topics such as scaling, team building, and customer retention. With candid conversations and expert insights, Rogue Startups guides entrepreneurs looking to pursue their passions and build sustainable businesses in the bootstrapping ecosystem.
Meet the Hosts
Craig Hewitt has a background in engineering and technical sales and he’s launched a six-figure business. Showcasing his broad experience in the business podcast realm, Craig is the founder of PodcastMotor and Castos, the latter being a podcast hosting solution integrated with their Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin.
His counterpart, Dave Rodenbaugh, has since stepped away from the business podcast after over 8 years, but I feel he’s brought a ton to the endeavor and should be mentioned. Dave’s been a bootstrapper since 2009 and has more than 20 years of experience creating and scaling businesses. He has a background in freelance consulting, project management, lead development, and customer support.
Episode Highlights
WP Product Talk
Co-hosts Matt Cromwell (GiveWP/StellarWP) and Katie Keith (Barn2 Media) discuss the challenges and successes of being a WordPress product owner in the WP Product Talk business podcast. Every Wednesday, this dynamic duo touches on topics like team expansion, product marketing, positioning yourself for an acquisition, etc. They’re no strangers to the plugin.fm podcast and have shared their insights and experiences with their listeners in plugin.fm’s season one.
Meet the Hosts
Katie Keith is the CEO and co-founder of Barn2 Plugins, a small but powerful WordPress and WooCommerce plugin company that she runs from Majorca, Spain, with her husband, Andy. Thanks to her entrepreneurial journey of running a successful company remotely, she is highly regarded as an authority in business development and marketing.
Marketing and entrepreneurship expert Matt Cromwell is a co-founder of GiveWP, a platform that has raised more than $250,000,000 in donations. He exited the company and joined the juggernaut hosting company Liquid Web, where he now serves as Senior Director of Customer Experience.
Episode Highlights
My First Million
Hosted by Shaan Puri and Sam Parr, My First Million is one of the top-ranked business podcasts in the world. The hosts explore the journeys of business builders who are creating large, meaningful companies to showcase opportunities and share how entrepreneurs can make the most of them. In their own words: “Basically, we’re your research team who spoon-feeds you interesting business insights that you’d normally have to pay for”.
Meet the Hosts
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and trailblazer in business media. In 2016, he established The Hustle, a business news media firm that began in his kitchen with only $12 as startup capital. Under his leadership, the company grew exponentially and raked in revenue in the eight-figure range. Notably, Sam was pivotal in popularizing newsletters, a concept that had few believers at the time.
On top of being a respected investor and entrepreneur, Shaan is something of a Twitter celebrity, having raised $2.5 million in 11 days from one tweet. In his own words: “I do deep-dives on nerdy business stuff and go viral on Twitter sometimes. I start companies: 3 failed, 2 sold, and 1 is still going”.
Episode Highlights
- The 3 Cheat Codes Startups Use to Print Cash
- Companies of One that Make Millions
Do the Woo
Launched in 2016, Do the Woo is an inclusive business podcast, driven and supported by the WordPress and WooCommerce communities. With a mission to amplify the voices and skills of WooCommerce and WordPress builders worldwide, Do the Woo provides developers, agencies, freelancers, and other creators with a distinct platform to share their experiences, successes, and remarkable journeys within the ecosystem. In addition and behind the scenes, Do the Woo connects builders and educates businesses new to the WordPress and Woo ecosystems.
Meet the Host
Bob Dunn — known around the web as BobWP — is a former design and marketing agency owner who has dedicated the last fourteen years of his career to helping people get to grips with WordPress. Bob is the brains behind this WordPress/WooCommerce business podcast and is dedicated to helping the community via mini-tutorials, a blog, and interviewing experts who are passionate about open-web and open source.
Episode Highlights
HBR IdeaCast
HBR IdeaCast is a business podcast from Harvard Business Review, featuring revealing interviews with business and management experts that delve into the latest thinking on leadership, management, marketing, etc. Hosted by Alison Beard and Curt Nickisch, guests such as CEOs, academics, and entrepreneurs share the obstacles they’ve overcome as well as the learnings they’ve taken from them. It’s ‘finger on the pulse’ stuff that’s informed by some of the world’s leading business minds and should be required listening for anyone who wants to keep up to speed with the latest happenings in the business world.
Meet the Hosts
Alison Beard is an executive editor at Harvard Business Review and has worked as a reporter and editor at the Financial Times in the past.
Curt Nickisch is a senior editor at Harvard Business Review and has previous college and work experience to back it up. He earned an MBA from Boston University and has previously reported for NPR, Marketplace, and Fast Company.
Episode Highlights
- What the Best Leaders Know — and What Skills They Develop
- Why Entrepreneurs Don’t Need Venture Capital to Scale
A Final Word on the Lasting Benefits of Continuous Learning for Product Makers and Solopreneurs
And that’s it — I hope you’ve bookmarked what you’ll be listening to when you enjoy your next cup of coffee or evening ‘wind down’ glass of wine 😉 There’s no doubt that business podcasts have become an invaluable resource for product makers and solopreneurs to navigate the complexities of bootstrapping in the public eye.
The nine podcasts I’ve highlighted cover a wide range of topics and offer unique perspectives, actionable tips, and inspiring stories to help you grow and succeed in your journey. All that’s left to do is plug in, press play, and absorb the sage advice of people who’ve been through what you’re going through on their roads to entrepreneurial success.
