a16z Podcast

The Art and Science of Podcasting

Sriram Krishnan, Aarthi Ramamurthy, and Steph Smith

Posted March 20, 2023

It’s both easier and harder than ever to build a successful podcast. In this episode, we chat with Sriram and Aarthi from the Good Time Show, who ventured into the world of audio peak pandemic and have since interviewed the likes of Elon Musk, Calvin Harris, and Naomi Osaka.

We get their perspective on how to succeed in this competitive landscape, differentiation and the sliding scale of entertainment and information, the difference between an audience and a community, podcast analytics and how they’re changing, and even what Sriram has learned from his frontrow experience at Twitter recently.

Show Notes

00:00 – Intro

02:20 – Podcast trivia

06:07 – Starting a podcast

08:45 – Differentiating

13:10 – Information vs entertainment

18:08 – Getting off the talk track

20:40 – Growth and metrics

22:31 – Authenticity

27:10 – Secret sauce of podcasting

28:10 – Advice for new podcasters

29:58 – In-person events

32:06 – Tech as a force for good

34:50 – The next wave of social

37:23 – Creator middle class

41:16 – Podcast infrastructure

42:55 – ChatGPT

45:10 – Swapping lives with a celebrity

52:26 – Your personal monopoly