Lessons Learned After Producing 50 Episodes And How I Built Momentum with a Business Podcast

When I launched my podcast, I had a clear vision: Bring on smart founders and operators. Lift their voices. Draw out insights my audience could actually use.

It just took a while to get there.

To be clear, I know I'm not on the Joe Rogan journey to make millions as a podcaster. It seemed like a great marketing tool that fits with my mission to collaborate with others and not market or sell in a way that feels fluffy or sales-y. Lift others' voices while also getting some eyeballs on what I do, seemed like the perfect plan. And I'm honestly fascinated by journey to business ownership stories.

The Early Days: No guests, just grit

I started the way I start most things: a structured process and plan, while launching early so I don't spend too much time "perfecting" and not enough time "doing".

I built out the initial tech stack that I needed: recording software and a hosting platform, and produced an intro episode explaining the concept. I also wrote a guest quick guide, including sample questions, and put it on my website as a non-indexed page. I also wrote a blog about my vision for the podcast and why I started it. Being a woman, a blond one at that, I am used to being second-guessed, so I made sure I had my ish together. Buttoned up, but untested, I launched when I was still a little nervous. Like I recommend my clients do when they launch, I shared it with business friends first. Collaborators I’d worked with for years, people I thought would be excited to be a part of this.

But when I asked them to come on? I got a lot of: “What’s this about?” Which felt like: “Did you even read what I sent you?” With the exception of one person, nobody wanted to be the first guest. So I shelved the idea for a while. You can't exactly have a podcast with only one episode! Gotta be honest, that process sucked. Building a new business is hard and when the people you thought would be in your corner aren't, it hits extra hard.

But the format kept calling me back. A podcast felt more human than a blog post, and more useful than a video. Something you could listen to while driving, walking, or trying to escape Slack. Something that could create reach and build relationships without requiring me to show up on camera every day. So I started recording solo episodes. Just me, sharing insights. Sales coaching moments, GTM pivots, growth-stage hard truths. I repurposed blog ideas, client stories (anonymized). Doing things my signature way - hitting the trail, getting ideas, and making voice memos when I got a lightbulb moment. And starting with the first episode, I was getting way more listens than eyeballs on my blog..

The Pivot (back) to Interviews

The plan was always to feature other voices. I just had to prove the show had legs.

So I waited until I had 10 episodes, enough to show commitment, not just a shiny idea. And there was strategy behind that of course. Research shows that 90% of shows only make it past 3 episodes and 84% make it past their 10th. I wrote about that early process here.

That blog post did better than my average, and got more eyeballs on the show. IT wasn't "instant success", but the attention was good for the show, and brought us to where we are today.

The turning point?

Someone in my network messaged me and said, “I’m a founder—would you be interested in having me on your show? ”YES!" That moment gave me the validation I needed. Despite those early nay-sayers someone saw value it the platform I was building.

What followed was some trial and error. The show was consistently out=performing the blog, so I focused my energy there. I used an AI tool to take the RSS feed and repurpose it to other content, including blogs. But then the blog posts cannibalized the show downloads, so I stopped blogging for a bit while I figured it out.

That first guest didn't open any floodgates, which is fine, viral posts are more curse than blessing. What it did was open up the show to a slightly larger audience - I got another volunteer not long after. And then I started asking regularly, got to a point where half my episodes were interviews. And I noticed that producing an interview was a lot easier. No writing in advance other than questions. And with the organic flow of a conversation, less editing needed. And only one take. The process I developed that includes a sneak peek of the episode in a deeper dive blog is somewhat unique. And readers like the special treat they get a few days in advance of the episode being published.

Long story short, the weekly episodes are all interviews now, with a solo episode dropped every once in a while, when I have something important or empathy-driven to say. And I'll often do those as bonus episodes (two in one week).

As we sit now at 50 episodes, the show's got some legs. Past guests refer new ones. People are showing up more prepared. One even said she’d listened to a few episodes before coming on (something I never heard early on.) And the ripple effect is starting to show up in conversations: “Oh, I guested on her show.” “She interviewed me, too.” I', even getting asked "How's the podcast?" instead of "How's your practice going?" (A different challenge for a different day because my main gig isn't podcast host.)

These are the signals that show you you it’s working. And as an early-stage founder, those help more than you know. And since the last podcast journey post did so well, I'm writing again. It's my philosophy to reach a hand down and help the person coming up the ladder behind me. Joe Rogan might have 1,000 episodes but there are some who have zero. And my journey can help them more than the person with seemingly untouchable success.

Lessons from 50 Episodes

• Don’t wait for perfect: I launched the show before it was the version I had envisioned. And especially since I'd been rejected by potential guests, I definitely didn't feel "perfect" or even ready.

• Treat solo episodes like a conversation: So I didn't preach to people for a solid 15-20 minutes, I asked thought-provoking questions to draw in the listener.

• With a guest, it's not the same as a conversation: It took me only one interview to learn this. I treated it like a conversation and spoke WAY too much. Took forever to edit that one by the way. Let the guest shine.

• Light editing: AI tools (my main one is Riverside.fm) will let you edit pretty quickly - you set up your preferences and then run that edit on new recordings. I will also go through the entire transcript once because the AI misses things. I'm aiming for authentic but not rambling.

• Structure builds trust: Every guest gets a custom set of questions in advance. The process is tight. It makes people feel safe, and it shows. And I think they like the blog post too. I like the fact that the interview generates the idea and some of the content, less of a work effort for me.

• Some people won’t promote: This surprised me. I’ve had guests share lunch pics on LinkedIn but not their own podcast episode. (To be clear, there are "your job" tips in the Guest Quick Guide.) A few didn’t even “like” the post that promoted it. I get that I come from a marketing and PR background, but still.

That last one hit a nerve, gotta be honest. The time and energy it takes to prep, record, and promote a guest episode? It’s not small. And when a guest doesn’t share, it doesn’t just slow the episode, it slows the flywheel I built. I wish I could tell in advance who wouldn’t play the game. Because those are not the people I want to uplift. I'm looking for collaborators here!

What I’d Do Differently

• Push through the early awkward: The collaborators who ghosted me? Not my people. If I had a time machine I'd go back and tell myself that it's a good idea, and to just push through rejection and find willing collaborators sooner.

• Build the companion blog sooner: The interview + blog model has been a standout. My readers get clarity, my guests get context, and I get to reinforce my revenue leadership strategies with real conversations.

• Use video from the get-go: To be fair, I was happy to show up without any makeup. But, even though it's an audio format, I wish I had recorded video all along. LinkedIn posts with videos perform better, which means more eyeballs on the post to promote the show.

• Ask for reviews: I ask in the outro, but who listens that far? I have now added it to the automated follow-up after someone guests.

• Set guest expectations: In addition to the information in the Guest Quick Guide, I’ve now added a pre-written prompt to every guest follow-up email. Encouraging them to use their favorite GPT to help promote the episode. It’s part of an automated flow in Wix. If you’re going to scale, you’ve got to set the system up right.

How I’m Scaling Now

We’re not winging it anymore. The podcast has a name, a rhythm, and a growing archive. I’ve just trained a custom GPT to act as a podcast producer, no longer using my business' GPT to also do the podcast work. The aim is to have more polished output and less editing. Even though the GPT helps me research and write custom questions, there has been a lot of arguing and editing to get them just right. Same with generating blog topic ideas for the transcript. It’s no longer just “my side project.” It’s a major part of my content engine. and it's opening up conversations to complete strangers who probably wouldn't have taken a call from me otherwise. It fits so well into my value-driven, give-to-get mentality.

And it’s also leading somewhere new.

I’m quietly testing something called The Green Room which is an an invite-only space for early-stage builders working on the slow path. The first people I invited? Podcast guests! Because I already know them. And they already know I’m not a flake. Despite an intro post with several thousand impressions, this is a slow-build too. I will do what I always do and will tell you all about it when it's ready for the big time.

If you're a tech founder, builder or investor, check it out. I've got some cool stuff planned.

What This Means for You

If you’re thinking about launching a podcast, or any long game, you don’t need a million downloads or influencer status. (Seriously, I've had some viral posts and they feel good in the moment but do nothing to move your business forward. In fact, you could argue they do more harm than good. False hope. Audience outside ideal clients. Potential to derail focus.)

What you need to launch:

• A point of view

• A process

• And the willingness to keep going when it’s quiet (this was the hardest part)

It’s not the viral moment that gets you noticed. It’s the body of work that gets you trusted.

What's Next?

If you have a story to tell, but this all sounds like a lot of work, join me and I'll help you tell it. Read about the guest experience here, and if you're sold, there's a scheduling link at the bottom.

And of course, I'm not just a podcast host - I'm a revenue builder with a podcast. And I'm a much better revenue strategist than podcast host! If any of our themes resonate with you, let's have a quick call to see if I can help you reach your next level of growth.

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Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $2MM - $20MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.