Mathias Lafeldt

Freelance cloud consultant and aspiring product builder.

3 minute read

Before the year is over, I thought it would be fun to give you an updated list of my favorite podcasts, just as I did in 2015. Without further ado, here we go.

My favorite business podcasts

Over time, I noticed that I’m really into interview podcasts – two people talking about an interesting topic for 1-2 hours. Business podcasts fit this very well. My favorite ones are:

  • The Tim Ferriss Show – Tim is the man. His show is one of the most successful podcasts ever produced. In each episode, Tim “deconstructs world-class performers [like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Malcolm Gladwell, and Derek Sivers] to extract the tactics, tools, and routines you can use.” I too became a big fan after listening to a handful of episodes.

  • The James Altucher Show – Similar to Tim Ferriss but still unique. I like how James scrutinizes everything. He’s not afraid to interrupt podcast guests, even the VIPs, and ask them to clarify what they just said. He likes to raise uncomfortable questions too. Brilliant guy.

  • Invisible Office Hours – Hosted by the smart and witty Jason Zook and Paul Jarvis, this podcast covers topics like side projects, launching products, and writing books. What can I say? I’m already looking forward to Season Six of their show.

My favorite tech podcasts

Sometimes I also enjoy tech podcasts. I’m more picky with my choice though and skip episodes more often than usual.

  • Go Time – I unsubscribed from the Go Newsletter for this podcast. The show could certainly be more concise – there’s a lot of rambling – but I dig the interview and news sections nevertheless.

  • Scale Your Code – A good podcast on building and scaling web infrastructure. It has been quiet lately, though.

  • Beats, Rye & Types – I don’t care about the food part, but I listen carefully when Michael Bernstein and Aaron Quint talk about Computology and Hip-Hop. Also has been very quiet this year, unfortunately.

  • Cognicast – I’m not a Clojure programmer (yet), but I tune in from time to time, especially when Russ Olson and Michael Nygard share their insights on running a distributed company and building resilient systems.

Podcasts I quit

I stopped listening to:

  • Home Work – At some point, the hosts started to repeat the same tips and stories over and over again. Worse, their newfound obsession with Magic: The Gathering really scared me away. My recommendation: listen to the first 100 episodes, then stop.

  • The Writer Files – I’m still interested in the work habits of successful writers. However, I stopped listening to this show when its content marketing strategy became a bit too obvious – annoying even – at the cost of the interviews, which have been getting shorter and shorter. Too bad.

  • The Binpress Podcast – Unfortunately, this great show was discontinued after 40 episodes. I’ve always enjoyed the stories of creators building businesses around open source software. Kudos to Alexis Santos, the show host.

  • The Changelog – The short version: too many episodes about web development that didn’t pique my interest anymore. Besides, there’s now the “Go Time” spin-off, see above.

Overcast is still my go-to podcast player. The iOS app is now free for almost everything, with an optional patronage for ad-free use and file uploads. Smart Speed and Voice Boost are still kicking ass. I love the new dark theme. I like the fact that I can also access my podcasts via the web application. It’s fair to say that Overcast made me addicted to podcasts.

Speaking of addiction, I try to limit the total number of different podcast shows on my iPhone to 10. Anything more than that makes catching up too stressful and time-consuming for me.

I listen to podcasts on my commute to work, during workouts, or late in bed when my eyes need a rest. Next to reading, podcasts have been the greatest inspiration for my writing.

Happy podcasting!

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