Business podcasting has exploded in popularity during the past few years. Ever since the COVID lockdowns, more and more business podcasts have emerged. Unfortunately, many new podcasts don’t last more than a few episodes and fizzle out as fast as they came in.
We recognize how important it is to stay up-to-date with industry trends and gain expert insights, so we compiled this list of the 10 best business podcasts according to our team here at 4Degrees.
Some of the podcasts on this list are produced by large well, known studios, while others are produced and hosted by independent podcasters. What they all have in common is that they all bring an exciting insight into the world of business. It does not matter if you are a student trying to learn more, a business owner, or an entrepreneur looking to learn about business strategies; these podcasts are great resources for learning more about what is happening in the business world. The best part is you can listen to these podcasts for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform.
Here is the list of the top business podcasts according to our team.
How I Built This
No business podcast list would be complete without this award-winning podcast. Produced by NPR and hosted by Guy Raz, How I Build This is one of the most popular podcasts in history and takes you behind the scenes of how today’s most popular and successful businesses were built. Guy Raz is a great storyteller that dives deep into the struggles and triumphs of some of the most well-known successful entrepreneurs, including Jimmy Whales from Wikipedia and Herb Kelleher from Southwest Airlines, among other well-known innovators and CEOs.
If you want to start your own business or side hustle and learn from successful business leaders, How I built this is a must-listen. These are some episodes we recommend:
- Whole Foods Market: John Mackey: This is a remarkable story of a college dropout becoming one of the most successful retail entrepreneurs in history.
- 1-800 Got Junk: Brian Scudamore: The story of a college student paying his way through school by removing junk.
- Jet Blue Airways: David Neelman: How someone with attention deficit disorder can become one of the most successful CEOs in one of the most cutthroat industries in the business world.
The Tim Ferriss Show
Tim Ferriss is a well-known author and entrepreneur who wrote “The 4-Hour Work Week,” a New York Times best-selling book on how to streamline your life to maximize productivity and free up time for personal pursuits. In his podcast, Ferriss sits down and interviews well-known figures from various walks of life and industries, such as Seth Godin and Tony Robbins. This array of guests share something in common: They have reached the pinnacle of success in their respective fields or industries.
The Tim Ferriss Show is a great podcast if you want practical advice, want to grow in your career or personal life,/ or are just looking for inspiration.
Planet Money from NPR
Planet Money claims to be “The Economy Explained” by explaining a wide range of economic and business topics in a way that is engaging and accessible to non-experts. This podcast, with over 1000 episodes, has been hosted by multiple NPR journalists since its inception in 2008. New episodes air every few days, each being around 15 to 30 minutes, and cover a diverse range of topics, from personal finance to global economic trends, using storytelling and interviews to bring these topics to life.
According to the number of downloads, these are the most popular episodes of Planet Money:
- The Great Inflation (#687): Explores the causes and effects of the high inflation rates in the US during the 1970s.
- Planet Money’s Guide to the Perfect Portfolio(#935): Provides an introduction to investing and explores how to build a diversified investment portfolio.
- LeBron James is Still Underpaid (#427): Uses LeBron’s basketball skills to explore the economic concept of the labor market and how value is determined.
The GaryVee Audio Experience
Gary Vaynerchuk, AKA GaryVee is one of the most well-known entrepreneurship influencers and is known for his strong opinions on everything from running and starting a small business to social media, digital marketing, and many other topics. Listeners like his charismatic and motivational personality and his message of hard work and persistence have inspired and motivated many of his followers.
Gary’s podcast episodes are high-energy and full of actionable business advice, such as how to build an online brand organically, execute content marketing in 2023, etc. Gary is full of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs or anyone looking to learn more about business.
If you want to understand concepts like NFTs, crypto, digital marketing, or how to run an online business, you need to listen to the GaryVee Audio Experience.
Our favorite episodes are:
- Where to Start if You Want to be an Entrepreneur
- How Patience is the #1 Key to Making Your Wild Ambitions Come True
- Proper Humanity is the Foundation For Building a Meaningful Business.
The Goal Digger Podcast
This podcast, launched in 2016, is hosted by entrepreneur and photographer Jenna Kutcher. The show’s tagline is “cultivating a meaningful life and profitable business,” It covers a wide range of topics related to entrepreneurship, marketing, social media, and personal development.
Jenna encourages her listeners to define success on their terms while emphasizing the need to prioritize self-care and work-life balance. The Goal Digger podcast is a favorite of many female entrepreneurs who find Jenna’s tips and actionable advice very valuable.
Each episode features an interview with an industry leader, startup founder, or thought leader who shares their insights, experiences, and advice on various topics, from marketing strategies to raising money and all sorts of business advice and actionable hacks. Listening to these success stories is inspiring, especially for those trying to learn more about business.
Jenna’s authentic and relatable approach and her guests’ diverse perspectives and expertise make for a powerful and enjoyable listening experience with takeaways to help you in your business journey.
The episodes with the most downloads include the following:
- 6 Unpopular Opinions and Business Practices That I Hold
- 5 Questions Top Business Leaders Are Asking Themselves and Each Other
- How Content Creation Can Help Your Business Survive Anything
Entrepreneurs on Fire
John Lee Dumas hosts this podcast, featuring interviews with successful entrepreneurs who share their journies, challenges, and successes.
The show provides inspiration and practical advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, from building a personal brand to getting started with online marketing, among other actionable tips. Guests have included hosts of other podcasts listed on this list, including Tim Ferriss, Gary Vaynerchuk, and best-selling author Seth Godin.
In addition to the interviews, the Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast also offers episodes that provide tips and insights for entrepreneurs, as well as a community of like-minded individuals who can connect and support each other on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Some of the most downloaded episodes are:
- Tim Ferriss: 10 Rules of Success
- Nathan Chan: Growing Foundr Magazine to 1 Million Monthly Readers
- Gary Vaynerchuk: Building a Personal Brand and Crushing it on Social Media
HBR Ideacast
This weekly podcast is produced by the Harvard Business Review and touches on business, technology, and current events in digestible episodes that are typically less than 30 minutes long. The high-quality production is hosted by Alison Beard and Curt Nickisch and provides business advice on a wide range of topics, from business development to business strategy and general management.
As one reviewer puts it, “Unequivocally a must-subscribe for business professionals. There is no single podcast that has been more useful for me than this one over the years. What I appreciate most is the solid editing; virtually none are over 30 minutes.”
Some of our favorite episodes are:
- Why Some Start-Ups Fail to Scale
- 3 Strategies for Dealing with Procrastination
- Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Improve the Role I Have
Mixergy
If you like stories of how well-known entrepreneurs built their companies, you will enjoy this podcast. The host, Andrew Warner – an entrepreneur and co-founder of an online greeting card company, created the podcast as a place where “successful people teach ambitious upstarts.” Warner’s goal is to” introduce people to doers and thinkers whose ideas and stories are so powerful that just hearing them will change you and infect you with a passion for business to help you build your own business.”
As a business owner, Warner understands how entrepreneurs should know about every area of business to be successful. He and his guests cover topics ranging from real estate to marketing on LinkedIn to leveraging the power of web scraping.
Some of his most notable guests have included the founders of well-known companies like Pixar, Groupon, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and many others. Our favorite episodes are:
- How to Build a Financial Serice Platform
- How the Netflix Founder Finds Inspiring Ideas
- The Software Taking the Teeth Out of Manipulative Marketing.
Business Wars
Every big and powerful company has a story you’ve never heard about, from hostile takeovers to boardroom backstabbing. This podcast by Wondery is one of the best podcasts for those interested in learning how household names came to be. Host David Brown uncovers every feud and decision and tells the stories of the battles between the world’s biggest companies. You will learn about the battles fought behind closed doors through reimagined conversations, putting you in the shoes of the dealmakers and stakeholders.
By listening to Business Wars, you will understand the stories behind the world’s biggest corporate rivalries and how they have shaped what you buy and how you live.
Some of our favorite episodes are:
Honorable Mentions
These are other business podcasts we recommend you check out:
BizChix
Host Natalie Eckdahl is a business coach that works with high-performing women, helping them grow as leaders and become more effective. On this podcast, Natalie and her guests cover various topics relevant to women juggling their professional success with other obligations, such as raising a family.
The $100 MBA Show
In this award-winning podcast, Omar Zenhom talks about how anyone can start or run a successful business with the correct information without getting an expensive degree. On this podcast, Zenhon and his guests share some of the best lessons, concepts, examples, and insights from inside the $100 MBA community.
These are some of the podcasts we enjoy listening to the most. As avid podcast listeners, we are always looking for more exciting business or marketing podcasts that can teach us new concepts and make us better business professionals.
What other podcasts do you recommend we add to this list?
