6 must-follow podcasts for all startup enthusiasts

Are you struggling to take a leap of faith and kickstart your entrepreneurial journey? Or have you already started building the next big innovation? Are you often on a lookout for inspirational content, but do not have time to read biographies or case studies? Yes, no, maybe?

Well, here is a list of some podcasts that will help you understand how the best-known companies of the world built impactful products, hustling, failing and growing, all together. Some of these podcasts I picked after seeing rave reviews on Twitter. These curated stories made me realize how everyone talks about the success of a leader or their idea but not about the failures that helped them reach their pinnacle.

Here is to deriving learnings from failures, celebrating innovations, and building the future.

1. The Tim Ferris Show

The Tim Ferris Show is the first of its kind business podcast hosted by Timothy Ferris, an American author, and angel investor. It is the first podcast to cross 100 million downloads on Apple Podcasts, and have been selected as the Best Apple Podcast for three consecutive years.

The podcast has featured Richard Branson of Virgin Group, Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Peter Thiel of Palantir amongst many others.

All the episodes are available for streaming on Tim’s website.

2. Building Pakistan with Benje Williams

This podcast is essentially an interview series with Pakistan’s seasoned entrepreneurs. It explores the journey of these nation builders and how their ideas empowered local communities in a conversation moderated by CEO Amal Academy, Benje Williams. The first season was released in November 2017 and features eight interviews with change-makers such as Dr. Amjad Saqib of Akhuwat Foundation, Salim Ghauri of NetSol, and Syed Babar Ali of LUMS, to name a few.

You can hear the complete season on SoundCloud.

3. How I Built This with Guy Raz

In this podcast, journalist and radio host, Guy Raz engages innovators and entrepreneurs of world’s most popular companies in conversations exploring the movements they have built. The podcast has featured the journey of the likes of Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn Airbnb, Buzzfeed, Lyft, Kickstarter to name a few.

The podcasts are available on National Public Radio.

4. Startistan by Pakistan Podcast Company

Pakistan Podcast Company is aiming to be a hub of all conversations that are Pakistani. Their first podcast series, Startistan discover the ride of Pakistani startup founders and how they built products that are impacting local communities and reaching out to a global audience. The podcast has featured Jaan Pakistan, Women’s Digital League, ProCheck, Sehat Kahani and others.

The podcast can be streamed on SoundCloud.

5. Masters of Scale

Co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman hosts this award-winning podcast featuring the growth ride of companies going from zero to billions. Hoffman tests his business theories featuring growth leaders from major companies such as Facebook, PayPal, Starbucks, Uber, Dropbox, Slack and similar others who have cracked the formula.

The podcast is available for streaming on its official website.

6. The Knowledge Project

This podcast is hosted by Shane Parrish, Founder of Farnam Street Media that focuses on instilling better decision-making capabilities in people by using mental models to work smarter and not harder. The podcast touches diverse themes such as leadership, future-proofing, persuasion and similar concepts to help listeners expand their mind and plan their life.

All the episodes are available on Farnam Street.