I spoke on ‘How to Start a Podcast in 30 Days’​ During Startup Week 2019

San Antonio Startup Week is a week-long event in the heart of downtown San Antonio, Texas. It’s an entirely free event meant to bring together the thriving startup community with panels, workshops, and other social events. For the week, almost every startup at Geekdom (the local co-working space) and around downtown come to showcase their growth and help build the community.

I had the chance to talk on a panel with some influential voices in the podcasting space. Moderating the panel was Jon Garcia from Geekdom Media. Geekdom Media is a podcast network with hosts from basketball player David Robison to technology leader Lorenzo Gomez. Also on the panel were two podcast producers from Gameday Media, Michael Largent, and Jason Barrera. Gameday Media produces the podcasts for Geedkom Media along with dozens of other podcasts. Last but not least, Emmanuel Delfin, who’s podcasts on movies and comedy, have hundreds of thousands of downloads.

What we talked about

While there isn’t a recording of the panel, I wanted to give a quick run-through of a few items we talked about, and the insights everyone shared:

1. Getting started with a podcast doesn’t mean you need the best gear. Jason, who records and edits podcasts, strives for quality of the shows he produces but recommends highly to start with what you have – a phone. This allows you to start and learn the ropes before you make a substantial investment.
2. Marketing a podcast may be the hardest part. I was able to share the number one way to start marketing, and look professional is to have a website. I am biased and recommend IronMic, but any site on WordPress or Squarespace with a custom domain works! The second part is having guests on your podcasts, along with being a guest on other podcasts. This is a quick way to promote your podcast and grow your audience organically.
3. How long your podcast should be is a hard question – 30 mins, 45 mins, 1 hour, and 30 mins? Both Michael and Manny weighed in with their experience while podcasting. Michael always kept his show short to fit within the drive time commute, but Manny found playing with different segments, and longer podcasts worked for him. In short, it depends on your personal preference, but you can always adjust and grow based on audience metrics.

We talked about more during the hour-long time slot, but these were the major talking points. I think we all brought different perspectives to the table. I understand the startup business side, Jon understood the network side, Micheal understands the hosting/producing, and Jason knew the recording/audio side, and Manny had a business producing podcasts.

I’ve been invited to do a few other talks in 2020, and I’m looking forward to sharing live videos and recordings. Stay tuned!