Dan Blumberg is the host of CRAFTED., a Webby-honored tech podcast where founders, makers, and innovators reveal what it really takes to build game-changing products. Dan is an entrepreneur, product leader, and former public radio host and producer.
As a product leader, and the host of CRAFTED., I think a lot about technology, innovation, and craft. Here are ten podcasts that inspire me to create better products, deepen my understanding of business and technology, and improve my craft.
CRAFTED.
This is my show, so I’m biased, but don’t trust me, trust The Webby Awards, which have honored it two years in a row as a top tech podcast. Inspired by How I Built This, the podcast is about the craft of building incredible products and game-changing companies. Featuring founders, CEO’s, product, engineering, design, and data leaders. I ask them: What trade-offs did they make? What lessons did they learn? And what was the moment when they knew they were on to something big? CRAFTED. will make you a better builder and savvier about emerging technology… Yes, that means AI, but not just AI!
To learn more about AI, check out Docker’s GenAI blog.
How I Built This with Guy Raz
What more is there to say? How I Built This is one of the most successful podcasts ever. Guy Raz is an incredible interviewer and HIBT will make you a better entrepreneur. In creating CRAFTED., I was inspired by the case-study / “hero’s journey” format of HIBT, where founders reveal what it really takes to build something great. Plus, I love HIBT’s high-craft production value (Guy and I both are both public radio alums so know a thing or two about this). HIBT features founders of all stripes and I love learning how they built huge companies around beer, bicycles, clothing, and more… (On CRAFTED. we only feature technology companies and get into the weeds in ways that software-makers appreciate.)
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
A great podcast for understanding how top investors and builders think. How is Patrick O’Shaughnessy such a good host!? A natural. An investor and entrepreneur, he is an incredibly curious, thoughtful, insightful interviewer who just wants to learn from “the best.” And the guests are just that: the best investors and entrepreneurs around. This show used to be an IYKYK thing, but then people — and O’Shaughnessy himself — recognized what a hit this was. Invest Like the Best is now the flagship show for Colossus Media, which features several more shows for investors and builders. O’Shaughnessy says he launched Colossus after a media bigwig told him what an idiot he was: almost in spite of himself, he’d created a hit show and was doing “nothing” with it. Problem solved.
Decoder with Nilay Patel
Nilay Patel is a great journalist and a fun interviewer. He geeks out on lots of the same stuff I do: the craft of building great products, tech and business strategy, and how to organize for innovation — Nilay loves to ask how companies organize for innovation. This show is where tech and auto CEO’s often go to unveil new products or strategies. Nilay loves cars, which is not really my thing, but he’s had lots of top automakers on the show and there’s lots to learn from how they innovate and adapt to market and tech changes.
Lenny’s Podcast
I can’t make a list of shows for product builders and not include Lenny’s Podcast. It is a phenomenon. Who knew a newsletter (and later podcast) about product management could amass so many followers!? I love Lenny’s Newsletter. I like his podcast. Both feature incredible resources for anyone building technology. Lenny has a knack for drawing lessons from guests and packaging them in ways that are actionable for builders. I do wish the episodes were shorter and more focused. Sometimes they feel like a series of clips, tailored for social media and to be written into templated “five ways to approach [challenge]” newsletters and less like a cohesive show. But the guest list… wow!
Beyond the Prompt
A new show on Generative AI and the novel ways people and companies are using it to be more successful. Beyond the Prompt dives into the world of AI and its expanding impact on business and daily work. Hosted by Jeremy Utley of Stanford’s d.school and Henrik Werdelin, the founder of BarkBox, prehype and other top startups. The show features the interesting, weird, and uncanny-valley ways people are using AI in their day to day lives, as well as practical tips for how you can go beyond “beginner mode” in your own use of AI.
How I Write
David Perell runs a writing school that is popular in tech circles and is a very engaging podcast host. On How I Write, he interviews incredible wordsmiths to reveal how they craft novels, movies, newsletters, that killer call-to-action on your website, and more… Here’s what he writes about the podcast: “You’ll be the first to hear writers deconstruct their creative process: from banging their head on the keyboard to marking the last period of their final draft. Victory. Come discover how great writing is made. And who knows? Maybe you’ll be next.”
Acquired
An overnight success a decade in the making… Acquired is another show that used to be IYKYK, but, uh, a front page article in The Wall Street Journal this year ended that! As the WSJ says, “it’s a wonky podcast about business history and strategy with four-hour episodes that drop once a month. And people from Silicon Valley to Wall Street are completely obsessed with it.” The show is hosted by venture capitalists Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, who started the show as a fun way to talk to each other about the research they were already doing on companies they might invest in and the show just kept getting bigger… As they put it: “Every company has a story: Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.”
The Changelog
The Changelog is a great show for developers. And it’s been so successful over the past decade that it’s spawned a network of shows that are all designed to help developers improve their craft and stay on top of key trends. I’m not an engineer, so some episodes are too technical for me, but I love listening in to understand what’s top of mind for developers, so that I can build better products with them. I also enjoy the banter between co-hosts Adam Stocoviak and Jerod Santo. (Jerod wrote his own top ten podcast list, here on Pocket Casts, that you should also check out.)
Hard Fork
Casey Newton and Kevin Roose are great journalists and they’re fun to listen to. They also have incredible sources, so when a tech story breaks they have the inside scoop. This show is timely, funny, and, as with all New York Times Audio shows, has great production value. As they put it, it’s a show “about technology and the weird future that’s already here.”
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