All the Hacks

Lenny's Podcast · Dec 18

Launching and growing a podcast | Chris Hutchins (All the Hacks, Wealthfront, Google)

Hutchins built it in about 18 months to nearly 100 weekly episodes, ranking around the top 30 to 40 of business podcasts. Each episode took about 10 hours, and he spent about $1,000 on Overcast ads for hundreds of subscribers.

Tips

• Launch with several episodes at once to spike the Apple charts▶ 31:59A friend with a big social following hit number two overall among all podcasts for a week or two; Chris reached top 10 in business and immediately used it to pitch guests on his dream list.
• Use a podcast as a reason to invite smart people for an hour▶ 23:00Morgan Housel, author of Psychology of Money, agreed to be an early guest.
• Only start a podcast you would do for free for months▶ 24:24Chris committed to just eight interviews as season one and was fine with not doing a season two.
• Pick a topic by watching what makes people lean in▶ 40:15Chris dropped a parenting podcast idea, then landed on All the Hacks in two days after Kevin Rose asked him to record an announcement for his show; the domain was available.
• Use cheap Overcast ads to test your podcast's description, art and content▶ 1:03:10Benchmark expected about 50 subscriptions from 1,000 taps; Chris got 7, signalling weak content. A 2 percent expected click-through rate that comes in at 0.5 percent signals a weak topic or cover.
• Expect paid podcast listener acquisition to cost three to ten dollars▶ 1:03:05Chris spent about a thousand dollars on Overcast ads and got hundreds of subscribers, not thousands.
• Aim to be one person's favorite, not everyone's okay show▶ 34:00In a survey at about 50 episodes, every episode but one was someone's favorite; Tim Ferriss says 20 percent loved an episode that 80 percent did not.
• Put your podcast pitch in every email signature▶ 1:05:05A customer service rep at a floor mat company replied thanking him for the podcast and became a listener.
• Build a small audience before launching your podcast▶ 44:20Chris's dormant MailChimp life updates list of 1,100 people became part of his launch push.
• Use Descript and hire help to cut per-episode time▶ 28:20Hiring a research assistant took Chris from about 10 hours per episode to about 3 hours of his own time.