Love the podcost Lenny and you've completely changed my (professional) life for the better.
You asked for suggestions so here's mine:
I loved your failure corner. I think there's a lot of value in it for (starting) PM's. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Keep it as a fixed section in all your podcasts. I would have loved hearing from which experience(s) Marty Cagan has learned!
Great feedback! TBH I have a plan to include this in most episodes, but then when I'm running out of time, I end up skipping it so that I have more time to focus on the core content. that's why I skip the lightning round too occasionally. But this is a good push to try not to skip the failure corner. Thank you Bart!
On the note of time concerns for listeners, I believe there's no need for worry. The depth and richness of learning from the failure corner justifies more than a brief segment of our time. Naturally, I understand if it's the time constraints of your guests that are at play here—that's a different equation entirely.
Revisiting the topic of the failure corner in relation to the core content, it seems there's an opportunity for a deeper exploration of audience preferences. Many of us are regular listeners because we're on the lookout for innovative strategies and their real-world applications. Understanding the journey your guests have taken to master these strategies could provide significant value, perhaps even more so than extensive details on the primary topics. The stories of challenge and triumph are not only compelling but also educational for those of us developing our own expertise.
I'd love to hear a panel style pod with multiple guests. Though I know it's not your sweet spot, your network and guests is so powerful I'd love to hear a lively discussion around certain topics with different perspectives.
You asked for suggestions on making the podcast better.
I'm not sure I can suggest a better idea, but something that annoys me is the "very exciting lightning round".
The thing is, it's a predictable and move at your own pace questions round. So whilst the answers are somewhat interesting, the questions aren't exciting and changing, and you aren't forcing them to answer in 1min or less or something like that.
But I wouldn't want you to do that either.
You just need to label it something else that's more appropriate.
1. "The Insightful Recommendations Round": This emphasizes that the guests are providing valuable insights and recommendations during this segment.
2. "The Favorite Things Segment": A straightforward description that clearly conveys the content of the segment.
3. "The Personal Picks Portion": This alliterative name highlights that the guests are sharing their personal preferences.
4. "The Guest Favorites Spotlight": This name puts the focus on the guests and their favorite things.
5. "The Leisurely Recommendations Roundup": A playful twist on the "lightning round" idea, emphasizing that the guests have plenty of time to share their recommendations.
6. "The Thoughtful Suggestions Session": This name implies that the guests are putting careful consideration into their responses.
7. "The Curated Recommendations Corner": This name suggests that the guests' recommendations are carefully selected and of high quality.
8. "The Guest Favorites Showcase": Another variation that puts the spotlight on the guests and their preferred books, movies, and TV shows.
9. "The Personal Favorites Forum": This name creates the image of a space where guests can share their personal favorites with the audience.
10. "The Recommendation Reflection": This name implies that the guests are taking a moment to reflect on and share the books, movies, and shows that have impacted them.
Maybe these aren't the exact best option. But I do think the Insightful Recommendations Round is a better descriptor.
Maybe you can work on it for 10mins and see if you can find something you like enough to change the name?
It's not a lightning round to me unless it's time bound. But I wouldn't want you to force people to answer in under a minute or whatever.
It's predictable because if a someone who's going to be a guest listened to an episode, they'd know what questions you'll ask. The questions don't change and thus I don't think you can consider it "very exciting" when it's predictable.
But it's not boring. It's like a good longitudinal study, it unearths things that are important.
I love that your most recent guest I listened to suggested Tim Urban's "What's our Problem". It's a great book that I highly recommend as well.
I do want to point out that your podcast is currently the most useful I've come across.
I'm the technical co-founder of a Car dealership startup (in Australia) called Drivible. We are a tiny outfit only 2 other employees and my co-founder.
I'm regularly trying to summarise and share your podcast episodes to get the others interested in listening 🎧
Your guests often have some very insightful and valuable information. Sometimes it's been very timely as well, just as we needed it.
Other times it's about things like marketing which we are slowly planning on doing but we haven't reached Product Market Fit for, but better know how to approach it and what to expect.
Thank you for helping find, extract and share valuable insights in the field.
I like that you are experimenting with formats e.g. compilations on specific issues, going deep on a particular topic e.g. mental health. They won't always pay off but what would life be without experiments...
One line of questioning you might want to pursue is "who has influenced you the most". Bill Campbell would have come up a lot for the CEOs of the 2000s but who comes up now for those in the trenches doing the work.
As a fellow Substack writer and YouTuber, this is the post I've been waiting for!
Lenny, thank you! I haven't figured out how to scale and repurpose my existing video content in an affordable way, and this post provided a clear pathway. So specific, and that link to OpusClip is pure gold. I couldn't find them myself through Google searching and asking Gemini, thank you for including it!
Great write up thanks Lenny! Quick Q, I tried Opus Pro in the past but kinda sucked at selecting the shorts. Do you use it too? Not sure, maybe they've improved the algo since.
I use a human team to do my clips, but this tool is the best I've seen if you can't afford that. I'm not an investor, just seems like a good option. But yeah, it's not as good as a human.
Love this! Thanks for sharing. We have a Top 100 Business Mgmt according to Podkite but have so much to learn and must start commercializing. Appreciate you taking the time to share this quality info.
This was so helpful! Thank you so much for sharing. Alongside the time breakdown, it would be useful to have a breakdown of the costs of everything you mention - perhaps at different stages as you level up. Thanks again!
Good call. The main reason I didn't do that is because the various vendors would probably prefer not to have their pricing so public, as things change and flex based on the situation.
Love the podcost Lenny and you've completely changed my (professional) life for the better.
You asked for suggestions so here's mine:
I loved your failure corner. I think there's a lot of value in it for (starting) PM's. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Keep it as a fixed section in all your podcasts. I would have loved hearing from which experience(s) Marty Cagan has learned!
Great feedback! TBH I have a plan to include this in most episodes, but then when I'm running out of time, I end up skipping it so that I have more time to focus on the core content. that's why I skip the lightning round too occasionally. But this is a good push to try not to skip the failure corner. Thank you Bart!
My pleasure Lenny!
On the note of time concerns for listeners, I believe there's no need for worry. The depth and richness of learning from the failure corner justifies more than a brief segment of our time. Naturally, I understand if it's the time constraints of your guests that are at play here—that's a different equation entirely.
Revisiting the topic of the failure corner in relation to the core content, it seems there's an opportunity for a deeper exploration of audience preferences. Many of us are regular listeners because we're on the lookout for innovative strategies and their real-world applications. Understanding the journey your guests have taken to master these strategies could provide significant value, perhaps even more so than extensive details on the primary topics. The stories of challenge and triumph are not only compelling but also educational for those of us developing our own expertise.
Lenny - Huge fan! I have but only 1 suggestion:
I'd love to hear a panel style pod with multiple guests. Though I know it's not your sweet spot, your network and guests is so powerful I'd love to hear a lively discussion around certain topics with different perspectives.
Thank you for the feedback! Any specific topics you'd love to hear for a panel?
I find panels are rarely interesting, just a bunch of talking past each other, but totally open to trying this.
You asked for suggestions on making the podcast better.
I'm not sure I can suggest a better idea, but something that annoys me is the "very exciting lightning round".
The thing is, it's a predictable and move at your own pace questions round. So whilst the answers are somewhat interesting, the questions aren't exciting and changing, and you aren't forcing them to answer in 1min or less or something like that.
But I wouldn't want you to do that either.
You just need to label it something else that's more appropriate.
I just asked Claude.ai and it's suggesting:
1. "The Insightful Recommendations Round": This emphasizes that the guests are providing valuable insights and recommendations during this segment.
2. "The Favorite Things Segment": A straightforward description that clearly conveys the content of the segment.
3. "The Personal Picks Portion": This alliterative name highlights that the guests are sharing their personal preferences.
4. "The Guest Favorites Spotlight": This name puts the focus on the guests and their favorite things.
5. "The Leisurely Recommendations Roundup": A playful twist on the "lightning round" idea, emphasizing that the guests have plenty of time to share their recommendations.
6. "The Thoughtful Suggestions Session": This name implies that the guests are putting careful consideration into their responses.
7. "The Curated Recommendations Corner": This name suggests that the guests' recommendations are carefully selected and of high quality.
8. "The Guest Favorites Showcase": Another variation that puts the spotlight on the guests and their preferred books, movies, and TV shows.
9. "The Personal Favorites Forum": This name creates the image of a space where guests can share their personal favorites with the audience.
10. "The Recommendation Reflection": This name implies that the guests are taking a moment to reflect on and share the books, movies, and shows that have impacted them.
Maybe these aren't the exact best option. But I do think the Insightful Recommendations Round is a better descriptor.
Maybe you can work on it for 10mins and see if you can find something you like enough to change the name?
I really appreciate the feedback Michael! Just so I understand, the core feedback is that the lightning round is boring/not interesting?
The round isn't boring.
I like the questions.
I like the format.
I just don't like the name of it.
It's not a lightning round to me unless it's time bound. But I wouldn't want you to force people to answer in under a minute or whatever.
It's predictable because if a someone who's going to be a guest listened to an episode, they'd know what questions you'll ask. The questions don't change and thus I don't think you can consider it "very exciting" when it's predictable.
But it's not boring. It's like a good longitudinal study, it unearths things that are important.
I love that your most recent guest I listened to suggested Tim Urban's "What's our Problem". It's a great book that I highly recommend as well.
Goooooot it! You just don't like the name. Ok, let me think about this.
thank you for being honest! and for being so constructive.
I do want to point out that your podcast is currently the most useful I've come across.
I'm the technical co-founder of a Car dealership startup (in Australia) called Drivible. We are a tiny outfit only 2 other employees and my co-founder.
I'm regularly trying to summarise and share your podcast episodes to get the others interested in listening 🎧
Your guests often have some very insightful and valuable information. Sometimes it's been very timely as well, just as we needed it.
Other times it's about things like marketing which we are slowly planning on doing but we haven't reached Product Market Fit for, but better know how to approach it and what to expect.
Thank you for helping find, extract and share valuable insights in the field.
Cheers!
I like that you are experimenting with formats e.g. compilations on specific issues, going deep on a particular topic e.g. mental health. They won't always pay off but what would life be without experiments...
One line of questioning you might want to pursue is "who has influenced you the most". Bill Campbell would have come up a lot for the CEOs of the 2000s but who comes up now for those in the trenches doing the work.
Love this question. Will strongly consider adding it.
Pleasure! Could be one of the pre-interview questions.
I generally found that the "same names" come up each time which leads to interesting further conversations.
Thanks Lenny for sharing. You are a true inspiration.
I love when you summarize what the guest just said during the interview creating a sort of index of hilights during the video, congrats
As a fellow Substack writer and YouTuber, this is the post I've been waiting for!
Lenny, thank you! I haven't figured out how to scale and repurpose my existing video content in an affordable way, and this post provided a clear pathway. So specific, and that link to OpusClip is pure gold. I couldn't find them myself through Google searching and asking Gemini, thank you for including it!
Thanks Lenny! This was so helpful! About to add audio to my Substack so this was just what I needed.
This is worth the read to just learn about Opus. Game freaking changer.
Great write up thanks Lenny! Quick Q, I tried Opus Pro in the past but kinda sucked at selecting the shorts. Do you use it too? Not sure, maybe they've improved the algo since.
I use a human team to do my clips, but this tool is the best I've seen if you can't afford that. I'm not an investor, just seems like a good option. But yeah, it's not as good as a human.
Saving for whenever that day comes to start working on a podcast. Thank you for sharing, Lenny!
Congrats Lenny, such an impressive journey!
A must read for everyone looking to produce some content. Thanks Lenny!
Love this! Thanks for sharing. We have a Top 100 Business Mgmt according to Podkite but have so much to learn and must start commercializing. Appreciate you taking the time to share this quality info.
Absolutely fantastic post! Thank you for sharing all this.
Two questions -- before you had producers how long did you spend editing or working on each episode? Second, what microphone do you send to guests?
I spent about an hour watching it all, and cutting pieces, with Descript. I always had an audio editor though, to make the audio sound better.
I send them this mic:https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT2020USB-Cardioid-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00B5ZX9FM?crid=PUD3P5R2ACSP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9x8HzCYvgXMtr7SZwfOxrUv_FUqxQSRq3AGuZAUAucjsnCarZ214rvkGnBnkqwpEyxHJmNocKS9L7h3H9E7xbQraAfF8QlIjplEptaGs68zLN5O951huTWG9PpI2ToLDVIqeBXaZVPzanbtyE06wkTRMy7yhJ8f8b5u_cfJNNExr-EXIIsbTOV8Hm1WsGWsd7O-qVMEH-VWuQQTAwtRLWhxl1pyK3_op86TRWCdafoFPZMgce5NjpVmUT12r1QGx64V-6jiJMDmcL565H4MRCEptKJIpAgUfFn0aQ5b1suI.ftIeLeVlDsEAakszvSZehAiit9J8-9PuAgbadzOxteE&dib_tag=se&keywords=ars+technica+microphone&qid=1710455016&sprefix=ars+te,aps,300&sr=8-1
I use the XLR version of that mic, using a Scarlett 2i2 and it's good.
I enjoy it at least.
This was so helpful! Thank you so much for sharing. Alongside the time breakdown, it would be useful to have a breakdown of the costs of everything you mention - perhaps at different stages as you level up. Thanks again!
Good call. The main reason I didn't do that is because the various vendors would probably prefer not to have their pricing so public, as things change and flex based on the situation.