What's New: Getting booked as a podcast guest
(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)
Guesting on a podcast can drive traffic and increase revenue:
- The key to getting booked is creating an amazing offer. Don't just talk about your company; pitch a framework or philosophy.
- Get better outcomes by focusing on your expectations. A large part of how we feel is determined by our expectations vs. our reality.
- Acquired after 13 years of building. Igor Debatur's company brings in millions in ARR. He sold, and decided to keep working there.
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Your Guest Podcasting Playbook 📖
Podcasts have major reach. These tips can help you get booked as a guest!
Research
At my company, we have two products: Blaze is a marketing AI tool for founders, and Almanac is a Wiki and documentation tool for remote companies. In terms of podcasts, there are three main categories that are relevant to us: Remote work podcasts, people operations and HR podcasts, and startup podcasts.
So, I started researching podcasts in those three categories and adding them to an Airtable database:
Most podcasts that have their own website have a contact email, or at least a form to submit. I exclusively used email for my outreach, since these were all business podcasts. DMs on social media could work, too.
I'd recommend a two-pronged approach when searching: Topics and people. Topics are things like "work culture." As for people, I searched for influencers, consultants who have been on multiple podcasts, and other CEOs in this space to see which podcasts they have been on. Type their name into Spotify, filter it to podcasts, and see all the episodes they've been on.
This tells you which podcasts accept guests; sometimes, the more topic-focused podcasts do not.
With a decent amount of work, you can easily find 50-100 podcasts that fit your business!
Create an offer
Develop an offer to show what you would talk about on the podcast that would be valuable to their listeners. Unless you are doing something truly innovative, or have an incredibly popular brand that everyone loves, you can't just talk about your company. Most interview-style podcasts have a large number of people trying to get on them, so you need an exceptional offer to stand out.
One of the best things we did at Almanac was to develop and publish our company's philosophy on how remote work should be done. We called it the Modern Work Method, and it explicitly didn't mention our product. It was a set of practices, beliefs, and templates for how we thought modern remote teams should work and collaborate together.
Now, this philosophy was baked into our product, so if you believed what we said, you were probably going to like our solution. So, we used the Modern Work Method as the basis of our offer to podcasts.
Another offer that generally works involves accomplishments. If you've grown your business to $5M in two years, people want to hear that story to learn how you did it. Or, if you overcame severe anxiety, people want to know how to get those results for themselves. People are really attracted to outcomes!
Outreach
Here's a pitching hack: Include a document in your email that sells you. Here is the one I created for our CEO, Adam. It talks about who he is, what he can speak on, and why they should book him. It's great to load this with whatever social proof you have. Adam had been on a few podcasts before, so we used that.
Also, include the basics: A headshot, bio, and links to social media.
Following up
Out of the 17 podcasts that I booked for Adam, only once did the host reply to the first email. Usually, it took 2-3 emails to get into their inbox at the right time.
I usually followed up once after a week, then 14 days, then 30 days after my first email. This is a long-term playbook that can be very successful, but it's not all going to hit at once, or even within the quarter. Keep going. It will eventually pay off!
Discuss this story.
In the News 📰
from the Growth Trends newsletter
🏛 TikTok's fate in the US now lies with the Senate.
👀 This VC is investing in 30+ startups this month. #ad
👥 Meta is forcing expanded audiences for top of funnel optimization.
😶🌫️ The word "viral" has lost its meaning.
📱 More options for apps distributed in the European Union.
⏯ Playable ads drive 20x more installs than banners.
Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.
Focus on Expectations 🔎
Expectations change the reality of every situation. Two people can have the same experience, but perceive it completely differently based on their expectations.
If two people stop at a fast food chain for lunch, but one was expecting a quick meal and one was expecting a seated gourmet restaurant, they will have had the same experience, but entirely different expectations.
The expectations we have for ourselves and others are one of the biggest influences on how we feel about our lives on a day-to-day basis.
Expectations for ourselves
A large part of how we feel is determined by the relationship between our expectations and reality.
We can influence reality and outcomes, but we can’t control them. However, we can control our expectations. If it’s raining, we can’t change the fact that the dog needs to be taken for a walk. But we can adjust our expectations on getting wet.
Focusing on our expectations as a way to influence our experience forces us to focus on what’s in our control, instead of on what’s out of our control.
Expectations for others
The actions we take in our relationships are less important than the expectations of each party.
It doesn’t matter who empties the dishwasher at home, who writes the report at work, or which of our friends is in charge of making plans. What matters is that everyone has the same expectations for who is doing what, how they are supposed to be doing it, and why they are doing it.
If we can understand and align our expectations with the people around us, we can identify and rectify disagreements or confusion before they happen.
Although challenging, pausing to consider and communicate our expectations is one of the most powerful levers we have to change our every day experiences.
Prompts
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Consider the most important thing you need to do tomorrow. What are your expectations for this? Are they setting you up for success? Should you share them with anyone else?
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Do you have any recurring arguments or frustrations with someone? Are there clearly defined expectations in place?
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How can you adjust your expectations to make an improvement before the end of the day?
Check out Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg for further reading.
This post is part of Prompted, a series on here on Indie Hackers. Subscribe below to join 500+ ambitious and thoughtful folks who receive new insights and prompts each week.
Discuss this story.
🔥 Landing Page Hot Tips
by Rob Hope
Strengthen your landing page with these design, development, and conversion tips!
Add personality:
👩🎤: A portrait of the person who developed the service.
📑: The desk where your posters were illustrated.
✍️: A subtle animation of your signature.
People want to support people, and these little touches give visitors a glimpse of the human behind the landing page.
Subscribe to Rob's One Page Love newsletter for his favorite UI, design, and development finds.
Life After Acquisition 🛣
Igor Debatur is the founder of Uploadcare, a company making millions in ARR. He just sold it to a strategic partner, and is sharing his insights below.
Focus on one product
I would've never tried to run three companies at the same time, as my cofounder and I tried doing in the beginning. I don't think it's a good fit for most people, and definitely not for me.
Every time I succeeded in one business, the other two struggled. They weren't at the stage where I could've hired someone to do the work; they needed a founder to work on them every day.
I was spread too thin, and felt like I was failing all the time, even when one was doing well. The financial results were very unstable.
When we noticed that Uploadcare was taking off, I understood that I needed to focus on one product and put everything else on hold. My cofounder agreed, and we moved forward. That was hard, but it was the only option.
13 years to acquisition
Uploadcare is a developer-oriented platform for file management and content delivery. I started it in 2011. My cofounder and I were encountering problems with uploading and file management, so we decided to create an all-in-one solution that worked at scale.
It grew rapidly. 13 years later, we have clients like L'Oreal, PandaDoc, Buffer, and Zapier.
Uploadcare was acquired in January by Tiugo Technologies.
We fixed our traction and became break-even (again!) in 2023, so we were looking for ways to accelerate the growth. We were used to working with VCs: Larger investments, higher pace of growth, risky experiments, hiring tens of people at once, you name it.
But the market has changed, and if we fundraised from VCs, it would've made our cap table significantly worse. Other options were:
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Sell 100% to private equity, cash out, and ride off into the sunset.
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Sell ~80% to private equity and keep running the company.
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Get venture debt financing and accelerate our growth.
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Find a strategic investor. Usually, those investors have another business that can benefit from acquiring a product, like an integration, potential for cross-selling, or some other creative option.
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Continue growing by ourselves. But that was too slow to be interesting.
We decided to find a strategic investor, one who was interested in keeping the team. We're proud of what we've built, and we want to see how it will continue growing and evolving.
Continuing to work
I'm a gamer, so I'll put it into these terms: This was a "save game" and a "level up." We achieved something, got the results, and became a part of a larger organization with more resources and experience.
None of us were technically required to keep working for the company, but we liked the opportunity to continue scaling Uploadcare, so we still work there.
Frankly, I don't see any cons for us, considering all the parameters: The market, cap table, and the valuation. But we're still in the honeymoon period. Ask me in two years!
Acquisition tips
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Don't sell too early or too late.
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Don't set selling as your goal. Your goal should be building a healthy business.
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Agree on the strategy with all the stakeholders.
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Get M&A advisors. You will pay 3-6%, but you can get 5-25% higher valuation. They're pro sellers, while you're a first-time seller.
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Start getting ready for due diligence from day one. Your accounting, legal, compliance, etc. will all matter when you eventually sell.
Discuss this story.
The Tweetmaster's Pick 🐦
I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:
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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Alan Cassinelli, Darko, Kevin Bronander, Rob Hope, and James Fleischmann for contributing posts. —Channing
🔥 Roast My Landing Page