Top 12 Podcasts for Entrepreneurs

To thrive in the fast-moving world of entrepreneurship, you need to understand market trends and innovations. Successful entrepreneurs recognize that change is the only constant and that it’s crucial to keep learning and growing to remain ahead of the competition. But how to keep up? Startup founders often find themselves swamped with day-to-day tasks, leaving little time to think about the larger picture.

Podcasts offer an effective solution to this problem. You can listen to a podcast anywhere: while commuting, working out, doing chores, or even showering. Ease of consumption makes podcasts an attractive option for entrepreneurs who are always on the move.

Business-focused podcasts discuss current events and cover various topics in entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, and strategy. Listening to other successful business owners and thought leaders discuss their journey and their vision can provide valuable insights, not only from their successes but also their mistakes.

As of April 2022, there are over 2 million podcasts and 64 million podcast episodes. Where do you start exploring such a vast catalog? To help, we’ve curated a list of the top podcasts for entrepreneurs. You can access and play these podcasts through the podcast websites, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. We’ll cover:

• BizChix
• Black Entrepreneur Blueprint
• Entrepreneurs on Fire
• The Gary Vee Audio Experience
• HBR Ideacast
• How I Built This
• The Journal
• Your First Million
• She Did it Her Way
• Side Hustle Pro
• StartUp(Gimlet)
• The Tim Ferriss Show

Top 12 podcasts for entrepreneurs

BizChix

Natalie Eckdahl’s award-winning podcast BizChix focuses on amplifying the impact of women entrepreneurs. Its 500+ episodes share actionable strategies for profit and growth and specific goals for women entrepreneurs. Eckdahl addresses topics like business capital, strategy, company structure, leadership styles, and entrepreneurial mindset through discussions with numerous industry thought leaders and influencers. Inc. Magazine recognizes it as ‘One of the Top 5 Must-Listen-To Business Podcasts.’

Black Entrepreneur Blueprint

Black Entrepreneur Blueprint is a weekly podcast with over 400 episodes created by and designed for African-American entrepreneurs. Hosted by Jay Jones, ‘a serial entrepreneur’, this podcast covers in-depth interviews with successful Black entrepreneurs like Dr. Dennis Kimbro, best-selling author of the book Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice; and George C. Fraser, founder of FraserNet, Inc. Black Entrepreneur Blueprint offers both success stories and lessons from failures.

Entrepreneurs on Fire

Entrepreneurs on Fire is an award-winning daily podcast founded and hosted by John Lee Dumas, author of The Common Path to Uncommon Success. It provides innovative game plans and actionable tools to ‘fire up’ your entrepreneurial journey. A deep library of over 3,000 episodes includes interviews with entrepreneurs Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, and Tim Ferriss. Chances are this is one you’ll discuss with your fellow entrepreneurs; the podcast is downloaded over one million times every month.

The Gary Vee Audio Experience

The GaryVee Audio Experience features Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur, investor, vlogger, and public speaker. This podcast consists of daily episodes focused on digital marketing and business. Recurring segments include #skGaryVeeShow and excerpts from the host’s DAILYVEE documentary video series.

HBR Ideacast

HBR Ideacast is one of the three Harvard Business Review Originals podcasts produced and hosted by the publication’s editorial staff. It features leading thinkers who discuss their views on current affairs and how they are likely to impact business.

Currently hosted by HBR senior editors Alison Beard and Curt Nickisch, HBR Ideacast has published over 850 episodes (each under 30 minutes in length) during its 17-year run. It explores the world of business and its intersections with politics, race and gender dynamics, mental well-being, and more. If you’re interested in interdisciplinary approaches to business and management, this is arguably the best business podcast for you. Its provenance ensures a brainy approach to all subjects.

How I Built This

How I Built This dives deep into stories behind some of the world’s best-known startups. Award-winning reporter and podcast creator Guy Raz creates a narrative journey about innovators and entrepreneurs and the impact they’ve had on the world.

Started in 2016, the How I Built This podcast has covered numerous entrepreneurial endeavors in over 400+ podcast episodes. In 2020, Guy Raz published a book based on the insights of this podcast. Many public radio stations broadcast this podcast as part of their on-air programming.

The Journal

A co-production from Gimlet and The Wall Street Journal, The Journal is a podcast about ‘money, business and power’ that addresses important current affairs stories through the lens of business. Started in 2019, The Journal delivers short episodes (under 20 minutes) to get you up-to-speed on issues around the world. It’s hosted by Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson; Linebaugh has worked for The Wall Street Journal for over 15 years, and Knutson worked for over four years in the newsroom, where he was once a regular contributor to the publication’s quirky A-hed features.

Your First Million

Learn how to build value and grow your business with Your First Million, a podcast that teaches you how to make your first million or find your first million customers. Host Arlan Hamilton, the founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital, has raised over $10 million and has invested in more than 180 companies led by people of color, women, and/or LGBTQ+. She has also invited successful entrepreneurs onto her show like Tara Reed, founder of Apps Without Code, and Leanne Pittsford, founder of Lesbians Who Tech.

She Did it Her Way

The She Did it Her Way podcast offers practical advice to people who want to pursue unconventional life paths and ‘do it their way.’ Targeted toward budding entrepreneurs, SDiHW answers questions about starting a business, featuring actionable tips and hacks that can help small business owners scale their companies fast. Host Amanda Boleyn started She Did it Her Way in 2015, amassing nearly 500 episodes in the ensuing years, including interviews with women who have ‘done it their way’ like online and social media marketing expert Amy Porterfield and business coach Julie Solomon.

Side Hustle Pro

Side Hustle Pro features black women entrepreneurs who have scaled their side hustles into profitable businesses. The podcast is hosted by entrepreneur Nicaila Matthews Okome, who shares weekly strategies for fledgling entrepreneurs to start small and get a business going. With almost 300 episodes, Side Hustle Pro presents interviews with prominent black women entrepreneurs to inspire action among listeners. Notable interviewees on the podcast include Myelleik Teele of CurlBox, venture capitalist Jessica O. Matthews, Maya Elious of Built to Impact, and Petrushka Bazin Larsen of Sugar Hill Creamery.

StartUp (Gimlet)

StartUp Podcast is Gimlet’s documentary series showcasing what it’s like to start a business. Started in 2014, StartUp Podcast has won a Gracie Award and the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. Host Alex Blumberg, co-founder and CEO of Gimlet Media, documents the stories of different start-up companies, starting with Gimlet’s story in the first season. Other profiled companies include Dating Ring, StartupBus, Success Academy, and Backstage Capital. This podcast has been adapted into an ABC sitcom called Alex, Inc. starting Zach Braff.

The Tim Ferriss Show

The Tim Ferriss Show is arguably the most famous business podcast on the internet. It was the first business and interview podcast to pass 100 million downloads, and today it has surpassed 700 million downloads. Host Tim Ferriss is a business advisor, early-stage tech investor, and bestselling author of The 4-hour workweek.

In each episode, Ferriss interviews prominent guests from diverse fields and deconstructs their lives to offer tactics that are likely to help listeners succeed. Insights derived from interviews range from time-management tricks and productivity routines to favorite books and exercise habits. Ferriss has had many highly regarded artists on his show, like Hugh Jackman, Neil Gaiman, LeBron James, and Dr. Jane Goodall.

Some other great podcasts

Beyond the dozen podcasts listed above are others that offer a plethora of advice from industry leaders and successful entrepreneurs about their entrepreneurial journey. They include:

• Masters of Scale by Reid Hoffman provides valuable tips about how to scale your business exponentially
• This Week in Startups by Jason Calcanis and Molly Wood discusses the top trends and hottest topics in business and tech
• Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn also brings industry leaders from diverse industries to converse about online business, passive income streams, and business growth
• School of Greatness by Lewis Howes provides insightful ideas about self-development, entrepreneurship, and general issues like health and relationships
• Mixergy by Andrew Warner features interviews with over 1,800 startup founders who talk about their journey

(Last Updated on February 26, 2024)

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