And can't that be a little more important than the gravy?". At the very least, it’s comforting to know that everyone makes mistakes, and despite those setbacks, some will find a way to succeed. When Spotify announced the acquisition of Gimlet in February (terms were undisclosed but the $200 million price tag was widely reported), it made plenty of sense. Online stores such as Apple's app store usually charge developers a fee for purchases made on their platforms. Blumberg finishes the show six months later, in September. Related: Every Entrepreneur Should Listen to These 10 Podcasts. It's been over five years since Alex Blumberg, of radio program "This American Life," awkwardly pitched venture capitalist Chris Sacca about an idea for a new podcasting company, and recorded the experience for the world to hear. On … Listeners are gobbling up content like never before, and for good reason. People in sales and marketing were part of the broader Spotify organization. The Guardian Small Business Network's confessions events bring entrepreneurs together to share the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. Spotify has been around for quite some time now and there is no denying that it is one of the most popular music and podcast streaming service out there. Learn the art of branding through Coco Chanel, the never-say-die story behind Estée Lauder and Julia Child’s creative thinking in the face of naysayers. Streams are counted in Spotify for Podcasters when a podcast’s streamed for over 60 seconds. Every Little Thing (ELT) is here to answer all of your burning questions. This long-running series began as an exploration of the internet and technology, but it covers so much more. If you’re among the 205 million people who listen to Spotify, you might have picked up on the buzz surrounding one of the platform’s newest audio offerings, The Michelle Obama Podcast. Listen to The Business podcast on Spotify. Consumers were showing Spotify the way. Thanks to a new partnership with some of Indonesia’s biggest podcasters, eight of the top-streamed shows in Indonesia (Podcast Raditya Dika (PORD), Do You See What I See, PODKESMAS, Rapot, Menjadi Manusia, Podcast Bagi Horror, Box2Box Football Podcast, and Podcast Suara Puan) are now available exclusively on Spotify—marking the first round of Spotify Exclusive Podcasts in Southeast Asia. Got a confidential news tip? As an outside observer, this friction was masked by the continuous rollout of entertaining content, like fictional shows "Sandra" and "The Horror of Dolores Roach," the investigative series "Crimetown" and the deeply personal narratives of "Heavyweight." You hear him fumble and bomb at times in a way that’s both disarming and refreshing. Spotify acquired Gimlet Media, a podcast producer and network, for around $230 million and also bought Anchor, a startup that makes it easier for people to record and distribute their own podcasts. The Google team took advantage of Spotify’s Audio and Display ads to introduce the new show and drive listeners to stream it. Running a business rarely runs smoothly, but a cool head and self-belief can turn adversity into advantage. ", "What started as four or five episodes chronicling my attempt to start a company grew into five years of programming," Blumberg said. "I had Alex on speaker and he was like, 'I don't know if we should do this deal.' Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle start podcast on Spotify The Duke and Duchess of Sussex promise "different perspectives" and interviews with "amazing people" in a new podcast series Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have signed a deal with streaming service Spotify to produce and host podcasts. What started off as an audacious effort to create a podcasting company ended over five years later with a $200 million acquisition. Join. A year ago, Spotify made an expensive bet, shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars to get into the podcast business. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. This podcast is like a start-up soap opera, and the lessons learned are a good reminder for any entrepreneur. Seed investors in Gimlet made 15 times their money back while Series A investors generated a fivefold return, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the terms were private. Seven months after selling Gimlet to Spotify, the creators of the “Startup” podcast published a three-episode series about the process. Each episode features the stories of business-savvy women who battled sexism all the way to the top, and the overall impact is both thought provoking and inspiring. Former first lady Michelle Obama’s new Spotify-exclusive show, simply titled “The Michelle Obama Podcast,” had released its first episode - an interview with President Barack Obama. This is a hint of Spotify’s vision for podcasts. Podcasts feel intimate, relatable and are perfect for anyone looking to delve into topics without having to set aside time to read or watch videos. Spotify’s Head of Global Ads Business and Platform Jay Richman Talks New Spotify Podcast Ads January 8, 2020 Jay Richman, Spotify VP, Head of Global Ads Business and Platform, has spent his career at the intersection of digital media and ad tech. … In the end, Lieber and Blumberg both made the flight to Stockholm to meet with Ek, who in the discussion asked the pair the hypothetical question, "What would you do if I gave you $1 billion?" HQ Trivia was a daily trivia game in which the host asked a series of increasingly difficult multiple-choice questions. Host Alex Blumberg is the co-founder and CEO of Gimlet, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019. A global audio streaming service that allows users to listen to music and podcasts, Spotify has revolutionised the already-volatile and dynamic world of music distribution. Starts measure any listener who clicks on a podcast episode. On Tuesday, Apple said it would allow podcast creators to sell monthly subscriptions from within the Podcasts app. Discover. If you enjoy provocative and hilarious commentary in bite-size chunks, then you need The Hottest Take in your life. As the final episode winds down, you get the emotional realization from Blumberg and Rafsanjani that, while their lives are about to materially improve (to put it mildly), there's sadness in handing over the thing they'd built, and then showing up for work as employees. The podcast follows the start-up as it catches fires with investors, who throw obscene amounts of cash at the founders. Anastasiia Krivenok | Getty Images, Discover the franchise that’s right for you by answering some quick questions about. This article is part of our Business Strategies series, an insight and analysis into the makeup and model of some of the world's most successful startups. Blumberg, who is known for his work on This American Life and Planet Money, offers a frank and honest window into how difficult it is to build your vision from the ground up. Have you … One of Blumberg's spur-of-the-moment responses was that he would hire Jad Abumrad, the creator of popular show "Radiolab." © 2021 CNBC LLC. On Friday, "Startup" aired the concluding episode of its final season. Obama’s podcast is part of Spotify’s aggressive expansion into spoken audio streaming, and this trend looks like it will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. In the first episode of the final season, Lieber was asked how he felt about Blumberg when things were at their worst. It features entrepreneurs in need of venture funding as they pitch to a live panel of investors. Billed as "a show where real entrepreneurs pitch to real investors − for real money," each episode aims to capture the essence of what happens when entrepreneurs pitch investors. The first season of "Startup" even formed the basis of an ABC comedy, "Alex Inc.," with Zach Braff playing the CEO, who was renamed Alex Schuman for the 2018 TV version. The service will start next week and will provide access to songs and podcasts directly within the Facebook app. Business News Digital Media Spotify unveils its podcast monetisation tools By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 28 April 2021. Amanda de Cadenet, CEO of digital media company Girlgaze, adapted her Lifetime talk show, The Conversation, into a Spotify podcast in 2019. Spotify planned to start charging a five per cent fee for subscriptions starting in 2023. The podcast "Startup" wraps up by pulling back the curtain on what was happening inside the Brooklyn-based company when Spotify approached last year. Spotify users who opened the app on July 29 were met with a notification of a noteworthy new podcast. There’s no minimum time limit to be counted as a start on Spotify. StartUp Podcast By Gimlet. But then that year stretched towards two," and it became clear the show would lose money. Email addresses had been moved over. There was no reason to suspect internal strife or that the business was on such shaky ground. It’s both funny and incredibly moving to listen in as people delve into past experiences and thorny relationships. Gimlet co-founders Matt Lieber (left) and Alex Blumberg, Spotify CEO on its goal to be the world's leading audio platform. It was mid-November when he got the call, and Lieber was preparing to cook Thanksgiving dinner for 20 people at his house in New York. And do dogs still say "woof" in other languages? A podcast miniseries It’s one thing to imagine the future of audio, quite another to actually build it. In Q2 2020 42% of podcast listeners used Spotify, 10 points ahead of Apple in second place. If you’re a fan of ABC's hit TV series Shark Tank, this podcast is right up your alley. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. The series shines a light on founders who achieved success while grappling with mental health problems. Related: 5 Podcasts Every Entrepreneur Should Download Today. Here's what Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told CNBC's Jim Cramer the day of the Gimlet deal: "It's really about expanding our mission from just being about music to being about all of audio and being the world's leading audio platform.". "It's the only way I know how to process this experience," Taylor told Blumberg, after the CEO pondered out loud why he wasn't the one recording. Whether you want to learn something new, be more productive, or make more money, the Entrepreneur Store has something for everyone: Copyright © 2021 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Simmons and his friends debate, defend and dole out laughs along with controversial opinions on a pressing topic of the day. The show is wrapping up because "we have now graduated from being a start-up," said CEO Alex Blumberg, at the conclusion of the series. Spotify announced the purchase of Gimlet on the same day it acquired Anchor, a podcasting technology provider, underscoring the company's effort to move beyond music and "become both the premier producer of podcasts and the leading platform for podcast creators.". We get to listen to her banter with her husband, former President Barack Obama, and we can relate as we hear her confess how the pandemic, race relations and the current political strife have left her struggling with low-grade depression. Spotify announced the acquisition of The Ringer, a media company with a fledgling podcast operation. Every Entrepreneur Should Listen to These 10 Podcasts, 5 Podcasts Every Entrepreneur Should Download Today, 15 Social Media Podcasts to Take Your Skills to the Next Level, This is the Most Important Apple Watch Metric for Entrepreneurs, How Steve Jobs' #1 Design Principle Can Transform Your Daily Life, This Yogi, Mystic and Founder Explains How to Become One With Everything, Understand Your Destiny and Live a Long Life, These 7 Authors Share Personal Stories to Better Your Lifestyle, 8 U.S. Cities and Towns That Will Pay You To Move There and Work Remote in 2021. As entrepreneurs, it behooves us to take note: Spoken audio is hotter than ever. This podcast offers unfiltered coverage of the tricky intersection between sports, politics and culture, particularly when it comes to race and gender. Blumberg, who was narrating the show, said, "In the swirl of anxiety about Gimlet's future, we were becoming caricatures to each other." The business is still nascent but growing rapidly, with podcast ad revenue expected to increase 42% this year to $678.7 million, according to data from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. That means never letting up and relentlessly going after our dreams and goals. Blumberg and co-founder Matt Lieber were fighting. The podcasting business had suddenly become crowded. As the host of one of the most popular podcasts in the world, Joe Rogan has become a generational voice for “regular guys.” Rogan, a comedian, actor and mixed martial arts commentator, draws an eclectic collection of guests to his podcast, everyone from Oxford scholars and MIT bioengineers to culture drivers such as the marketing entrepreneur Hotep Jesus and the rapper turned radio host Charlamagne tha God. Heavyweight’s host Jonathan Goldstein attempts to help people confront their major life regrets and unravel personal mysteries that have left them baffled or unfulfilled. It takes on many of the annoyances and troubles of the modern age, and episodes can vary between serious investigative journalism and lighthearted discussions. Podcasts feel intimate, relatable and are perfect for anyone looking to delve into topics without having to set aside time to read or watch videos. So, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for some new audio offerings, here are 11 of the most unique and interesting Spotify podcasts for anyone wanting to expand their listening library. Have you ever wondered who we have to blame for pants? As noted by the WSJ, apart from subscriptions, Spotify seeks to generate revenue from podcasts via advertising, a strategy highlighted by its $235 million acquisition in November of Megaphone, a company that provides hosting and ad-insertion capabilities for publishers and targeted ad sales for brand partners. Each episode features honest conversations and techniques to deal with these problems. Far more shows were competing for the same listeners and same ad dollars, forcing content creators to lower the costs they charged advertisers or leave inventory unfilled. Hear lessons from inside the world’s most popul Season 3 of Start Canada Podcast features interviews with start-up founders, innovators, and thought leaders from the heart of Canada who are challenging the status quo, scaling their business, and bringing new ideas to life! Listen to the podcasts of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global, peer-to-peer network of 12,000+ influential business owners. "I was sitting in an Airbnb that three of us had, like, scrunched ourselves into, so that we spent as little money as possible" Lieber said in the second episode. By early 2018, Gimlet's audience was plateauing and the company was struggling to lure advertisers, a particularly problematic scenario because it had poured money into heavily produced shows that were now destined to lose money. Perks were much better. The Joe Rogan Experience, which currently has more than 1,500 episodes, will soon become a Spotify exclusive. A Spotify spokesperson declined to comment and Gimlet's founders weren't available for an interview. "When we greenlit the project, we estimated it would take a year of production time. Behind the Scenes at “Shark Tank” With Mike Stephens, Our Secret Weapon. The show, which launched in April 2018, blew past its budget and took much longer to produce than expected. Flying to Sweden to meet with Ek the week of Thanksgiving would complicate his gravy-making plans. There was also family drama for Blumberg, whose wife, Nazanin Rafsanjani, joined the company in 2015, leaving behind a position as a producer for MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. They also used pre-roll and mid-roll podcast ads that appeared within Business podcasts like The Pitch, ReplyAll, and Startup. Whether you are familiar with the HQ Trivia app or not, this nine-episode podcast is a brilliantly told, binge-worthy story about a crazy, colossal mess of a company that was once an internet sensation. You can listen to the full series here or wherever you get your podcasts. It wrapped up, not because Blumberg's company, Gimlet Media, is closing or downsizing, but because it's now a division of music-streaming service Spotify, which acquired Gimlet earlier this year for $200 million. Apple and Spotify have recently added podcast subscription tools to their list of products Back to video In just three short years, podcasts have quadrupled. Spotify is now the leading destination platform for podcast users. If you’re unsure where to start, begin with the episode “When Astronauts Come Home,” which looks at what astronauts get up to when they return to earth. We want to hear from you. De Cadenet believes that as women navigate the ever-evolving social paradigms that shape our cultural discourse, there’s a need for clear, candid and powerful voices to help society move forward. Joined by guests from music, business, and tech, Spotify’s Gustav Söderström delves into the art and science of product strategy and development. "At some point, all this work started to make no sense to Matt," Blumberg said. Simmons is a sportswriter, author, talk show host and the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website The Ringer. Entrepreneur Effect. One can also bundle the same under the best audio streaming platform as per the current market. Spotify reportedly has no plans to remove the episode. Through the show's tech-support hotline, hosts PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman examine memes, connected pop culture, scammers and the extent to which social media is spying on you. Since 2014, the show has provided a fly-on-the-wall view of fights between Gimlet's co-founders, employee burnout, uncomfortable conversations about diversity and sensitive meetings with potential investors. But while the money train seemed to be barreling along at top speed, attracting millions of players per game, the app was plagued with problems, and within two years it was all but kaput. Lieber, the business guy, saw the costs adding up, and he was losing patience with Blumberg, the product visionary. In another scene, Lieber was with a small team at Cannes trying to close a big advertiser deal that had been in the works for a year. The episode, which became the first for a series called "Startup," was A+ entertainment, filled with humor, drama and tension. The Hottest Take is Bill Simmons’ newest project, where he and his friends discuss and debate juicy hot topics to infuse laughter into your workout or morning commute. Things had changed as expected. Play on Spotify Host Flore Lichtman is lighthearted, insightful and provocative as she seeks to answer these and other burning questions for ELT, which is a spin-off/continuation of another recently ended podcast called Surprisingly Awesome. Every Little Thing. By contextually reaching listeners as they tuned into relevant podcasts, Google was able to connect with a deeply engaged audience that was in the mood to hear Business … Hill brings her unique perspective to the podcast as she interviews some of the most compelling figures in news, pop culture, politics and sports. "My least generous thought," Lieber said, "was that Alex is a child who doesn't want to grow up and just wants to, like, make art projects and doesn't care to understand the responsibility of building and running a company that has creativity at the center of it but has a lot of other stuff around it that makes it all work.". "Five years during which we launched our start-up, grew our start-up and have now graduated from being a start-up.". He even relayed that concern to Sheila Spence, Spotify's vice president of corporate development. At this point, using the Spotify to stream podcasts isn’t revolutionary, but they might start a revolution anyways. With more people looking for binge-worthy media to take their minds off the state of, well, everything, the former First Lady’s podcast is the kind of feel-good, comforting thing many are looking for. The last two episodes provide intimate details on the dealmaking process. One specific point of tension involved the development of a documentary miniseries called "The Habitat," about a crew of volunteers spending a year together on a remote mountain in Hawaii, simluating what life would be like on Mars and sending audio back to the producer. A podcast title can help the listener anticipate the content and purpose of your … Podcast production and related revenue will now be recognized under ad-supported. The Conversation podcast features one-on-one, often raw and honest discussions on relevant topics with female activists, actresses, writers, politicians, filmmakers and feminists. Explore. This podcast cuts through the toxic environment so pervasive in the startup world and gets to the heart of mental health issues that are often hidden from view. Hosted by Josh Muccio, the idea is to put listeners in the shoes of someone who is taking a real shot at pitching would-be investors. "Matt was telling me all about his family sport traditions and his gravy and stuffing that he makes," Spence said. This series made the list because it covers an important but often underrepresented topic: mental health in the entrepreneurial world. How I built this w/ Guy Raz. Reply All has become known for its consistent excellence in tackling just about everything – often with the goal of trying to get to the bottom of an unexplainable internet phenomenon. And the only show Gimlet had stopped making is this one — "Startup. Someone else will now tell them whether they get to keep making their audacious shows or if the future will all be about programs that make financial sense. The podcast is chock-full of good advice for anyone. Meanwhile, in conjunction with Spotify's podcast subscription rollout, Facebook plans to launch an integrated version of Spotify's audio player, a service called 'Project Boombox'. Listen to this episode from Book Summary In Hindi on Spotify. Why the heck do we keep plants inside? But the former First Lady's podcast isn’t the only one of its kind. Each of its 12 episodes weaves entrepreneurial stories with business principles, showing how each woman was ultimately able to find success. A series about what it's really like to start a business. Entrepreneurs who are in the midst of launching their own business will relate to many of the lessons contained within these episodes as the podcast chronicles the life of a fledgling Brooklyn-based podcasting company called Gimlet Media. For fans of "Startup," the final three-episode season offers a satisfying conclusion to the kind of chaotic corporate story that's almost always shielded from public consumption. His interview last fall with Elon Musk has been viewed more than 24 million times on YouTube, and his YouTube channel, PowerfulJRE, has 6 million subscribers. The music streaming company’s music-related APIs shave been available for over a decade. For all commercial enquiries related to Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, please contact sales@entrepreneurapj.com, For all editorial enquiries related to Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, please contact editor@entrepreneurapj.com, For all contributor enquiries related to Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, please contact contributor@entrepreneurapj.com. All Rights Reserved. Every Little Thing (ELT) is here to answer all of your burning questions. Many of us have found ourselves wide awake in the middle of the night replaying a decision or moment we regret and imagining how it could have been, or how we might still resolve it. But given Blumberg's struggles to construct a complete comprehensible sentence for Sacca — "I want to start a company that will create the content for all these people to listen to who are, like, moving into the digital future slash present" — it was hard to envision the aspiring entrepreneur meeting a lucrative ending and hiring over 100 employees along the way. Rather than discussing their differences, "These thoughts, we buried them," Blumberg said. The Spotify logo hangs on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange with U.S. and a Swiss flag as the company lists its stock with a direct listing in New York, April 3, 2018. This podcast series homes in on what it's really like to start a business. Neither of them had any clue how they would spend that kind of money. Seven months after selling Gimlet to Spotify, the creators of the "Startup" podcast published a three-episode series about the process. This podcast offers a chance to hear the stories of what happens when you get a second chance to have those difficult conversations, confront heartbreak or seek resolution. Entrepreneurs require more than just money, which is why we aim to empower you, as well as act as a catalyst for value creation. In 2015, Spotify started adding podcasts to its catalogue though it was only in 2019 when it was decided to push harder on the category by acquiring Gimlet Media and Blue Chip Productions, companies who produce podcasts including StartUp, The Pitch, and Science Vs. Spotify says that its new podcast API will function in similar ways to its music-related APIs by “empowering developers to build unique experiences for listeners that leverages all of the public (and in this case podcast-related) data on Spotify”. Image credit: Joe Rogan downplayed the impacts of COVID-19 on young people in a Spotify podcast. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox. A Division of NBCUniversal. The podcast is great for anyone who wants to be in the know when it comes to pop culture, or if you’re looking for a break from long-form podcasts, as each episode is eight minutes or less. Related: 15 Social Media Podcasts to Take Your Skills to the Next Level. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else. That wasn't the offer on the table, but it was a test. At a party after the announcement in Spotify's Manhattan office, one Gimlet employee, Devon Taylor, pulled out her phone to capture audio of the celebration, because — well — it's a podcasting company. Another one that I’ve learnt a ton from is ‘How I built this’ with Guy Raz. It appeared that Spotify was paying up for a fast-growing, successful start-up. Having raised $22 million in venture capital to invest in more people and programs, the company was burning cash at about twice the rate it had expected. "I was listening and I wanted to be sympathetic to this, but in my head, I had this thought bubble of, like, man you're the president of a venture-backed start-up and your acknowledged ideal buyer's CEO wants to meet with you. Some regular listeners say the podcast is as addictive as Krispy Kreme donuts. And more recently Spotify locked down both Joe Rogan and Bill Simmons, and their incredibly famous podcasts, for well over $100 million. From the inside of Gimlet, the Spotify offer was a potential way out. The Entrepreneur Effect is dedicated to those with a passion for innovation and … According to a study earlier this year from Edison Research, about 90 million Americans are listening to podcasts every month, up from 73 million in 2018. Spotify, the world's most popular paid music streaming service, said it won't take a commission from podcast creators' subscriber revenue for the next two years, and planned to charge a 5% fee starting in 2023. This has created an “I’m OK, you’re OK” culture that breeds stress, anxiety and burnout. Pick a podcast title. what?'". In the eat-or-be-eaten startup world, we’re told we should always be “killing it” at work. Blumberg hadn't been much involved in the deal, only to chime in at the 11th hour with detailed questions and concerns, leading to a testy cross-Atlantic exchange.