Lessons From 1 Year Of Lenny's Podcast

Happy 1-year anniversary to Lenny's Podcast 💖

Here's a look back, and a few lessons. pic.twitter.com/pctvnpV4a3

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Lesson 1: Nothing really drives growth other than time and WOM.

AKA, quality and consistency.

Same as the newsletter, without the recommendations feature.

Here's the daily downloads chart since day 1. Just crossed 5 million total downloads, and 1.5m YouTube views 🫠 pic.twitter.com/iQJAX0pat0

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Lesson 2: This sounds obvious, but it isn't: the audio output is your product. Make sure it's great. Both in terms of sound quality (e.g. mic, editing), and in terms of content (e.g. valuable, engaging). The final audio itself is all that matters in the end.

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Lesson 3: Once you have a podcast, you never listen to podcasts the same way. Especially people's interview techniques.

A few specific interview techniques I've worked on:

1. Get to the meat asap. Don’t spend time on their background (unless there’s a *really* good reason to).

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

2. Be the listeners' home base. Summarize what you’re hearing, and remind people where you’re at when it gets complex.

3. Just ask the next question. You don't have to respond to every answer.

4. Don’t stay on plan. Follow threads that could lead to unexpected topics.

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Folks who've most inspired my approach: @tylercowen @patrick_oshag @HarryStebbings @tferriss @lexfridman

Also, this book by @AndrewWarner is super helpfulhttps://t.co/kDCyApR2kq

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Lesson 4: You have to do video

I've always wanted to keep it simple and not think about video. So much added complexity! But when I started working with my producer (https://t.co/vgKN323wdi), they insisted I start doing video. I'm so happy they did.

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

I realize now there are some people only like to watch stuff on YouTube, some people only like to listen to audio, some people only like to read, and some just do IG/TikTok. If you want to reach them all, you gotta be on many mediums.

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Lesson 5: My podcasting stack

People often ask so here it is, super simple:
- Recording: @RiversidedotFM
- Hosting: @SubstackInc (since my newsletter is there)
- Mic: Shure MV7 USB
- Camera: Canon EOS M50 Mark II
- Lights: A bunch. So important!

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

- Editing: I work with https://t.co/wMcqhV8Wum and https://t.co/A6Q7AoIVSc, and I believe they use @DescriptApp and @Frame_io
- Website hosting: @PodpageHQ
- Charts: @podstatus

P.S. Get an editor/producer as soon as you. Makes podcasting SO much easier.

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Lesson 6: Start simple and evolve

I started super basic and as the podcast has grown I've improved it. I took a course with @theKevinShen, which helped a lot. One of my favorite lessons from Kevin is that the harder your studio looks to make, the more pro it feels.

Before/After pic.twitter.com/2EQT2iSkAg

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

There's so much more to learn, and I'm excited to keep getting better at this new skill.

If you have any ideas, thoughts, feedback on how to make this even more useful to you, please please let me know! DM me or reply here.

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023

Finally, huge thank you to @HarryStebbings for getting me over the hump on doing a podcast, to Penname and Supermix for helping make the podcast what it is, all the amazing guests who've shared their wisdom, and to *you* for listening!

Year 2 here we come 🥳

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 6, 2023