In the summer of 2004 podcasting was invented and I was lucky to witness it first hand as a subscriber to Adam Curry’s blog (Adam invented podcasting with Dave Winer). I still remember downloading iPodder, which was the first app to automatically download new podcasts episodes from my laptop to my iPad. Podcasting actually led to the start of Tudou.com (and even Twitter!) and in 2014 I wrote a blog post about it: https://www.marc.cn/2014/08/10-years-of-podcasting-adam-curry-and-the-beginning-of-tudou-and-twitter.html. Interesting is that in the last paragraph of that post I wrote that podcasting never really became mainstream. Well guess what, it finally became mainstream about 15 years after it was invented. Almost everyone I know now listens to podcasts regularly and the best way to keep up with most subjects is to listen to podcasts.
There is so much good content out there that it’s impossible to listen to all podcasts that I want to listen to. I now probably listen at least 1-2 hours per day to podcasts every single day. I do that while running, while walking, while skiing, while driving, or simply when I am doing the dishes or when I am cooking. Every single moment where I don’t have to think about something I put on a podcast. I normally listen at 1.5-1.75 times the normal speed, but depending on the topic and the podcast I also listen to some at twice the normal speed. But despite that I still miss a lot of great content. I have not figured out how to solve that yet. I actually considered hiring someone to listen to podcasts for me and make summaries with time stamps. Maybe it might even be a business idea to do this for the top 100 blogs and sell subscriptions?
I have a list of favorite podcasts that I try to listen to each time they are published and several that I only listen to when I think the content is interesting. Below is the list of the main podcasts that I try to listen to every week:
Peter McCormack’s podcast in which he interviews experts in the Bitcoin field (note: only Bitcoin, no altcoins or non-Bitcoin projects). If you want to really understand Bitcoin and want to keep up with the latest news in the space this is one of the very best podcasts out there. I listen to almost every episode.
Originally I ignored it because of the cheesy title, but once I checked out a few episodes I was hooked. This podcast is more about investing in general, but I tend to only listen to their crypto-related episodes. There are some real gems in this feed. I now probably listen to about half the episodes.
One of the first podcasts that I listened to religiously. However because there is so much good other content now I started listening to it more selectively. I now maybe catch only about 1 out of every 4 episodes and often stop listening after 15 minutes if the interview is not what I had expected. That being said, I learned a ton from Tim over the years. Without him I would have not gotten into psychedelics (his podcasts changed my mind on it and because of that I started reading Michael Pollan’s book). The same for intermittent fasting and many health related topics.
I first learned about Peter Attia through the Time Ferriss show, and if I remember it correctly Peter actually started podcasting because of Tim. I actually pay $15 per month to listen to Peter’s podcast, it’s an ultra-deep dive into maximizing health, longevity, fasting etc. Fascinating topics that I would normally not learn a lot about. Peter is a great interviewer. I listen to about half the episodes, but if I would have more time I would listen to all of them. Some are hard to understand at first but by doing a bit of research on the side you can gain incredible insights into health and healthcare.
This is the podcast of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and it has the occasional brilliant podcast, but most I now tend to skip. They now also start posting some Clubhouse recordings (despite the fact that Clubhouse does not allow recording their sessions, but I guess if you are the biggest investor you have special privileges). Check out their feed, there are probably a few older episodes that might interest you.
Exponential View with Azeem Azhar
Azeem has an excellent weekly (paid) newsletter that I subscribe to and I also listen to his podcasts regularly. Not all of the subjects interest me, but I always check them when a new one comes out. Wide ranging topics from AI to longevity, and from COVID to deep dives on some of the leading companies in the world.
Anthony Pompliano built a huge audience over the past couple of years and he is not only a good sales man, but also a decent interviewer. I don’t listen to most of his podcasts, but 2-3 times a month he has an interesting guest or topic and then I put it on my playlist. Topics are very wide ranging, so not just about crypto and decentralization.
This one should get a special mention, because it is an incredible 9-episode interview with Michael Saylor. This is a must-listen-to series if you really want to understand Bitcoin and why it will completely change the world. Michael is the CEO of Microstrategy and he went through the Bitcoin rabbit hole last year and his company is now one of the largest BTC holders in the world (close to 100,000 Bitcoin, so about $6 billion at current prices). He uses history to weave an incredible story about money, economics and Bitcoin. It’s quite a journey, but it’s well worth listening to (total time investment about 12 hours).
Others
I used to listen to Joe Rogan as well regularly, but since he moved to Spotify last November I have no heard any of his podcasts anymore. It’s a pity he sold out (I understand it of course), but I don’t like switching to a different podcast player so I likely won’t hear his podcasts anymore.
I do listen to some YouTube videocasts as well, I actually started to pay for YouTube Premium specifically for that (no ads and you can keep listening even if you close the screen). And I listen to (or watch) RealVision videos regularly. RealVision is a paid subscription, but their crypto videos are free to watch.
Next to that I listen to a number of sailing podcasts (The Quarterdeck, On The Wind Sailing, Out The Gate Sailing), but more during the summer than during winter. To keep up with what’s happening in psychedelics I listen to Psychedelics Today. And of course there are a number of Dutch podcasts that I listen to, mostly about Bitcoin (Cryptocast, Satoshi Radio, De Bitcoin Show and Hup Bitcoin).
Podcasts have changed my life, if you don’t listen to them yet you should give it a try. There is so much good content out there, you can also just listen to the news or find some drama series to follow. There are many good ‘best of’ podcasts articles out there. Check out this one from Esquire for example, or this one from Forbes. If you have suggestion for podcasts that I should not miss, please let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
Enjoy the show(s)!