10 Steps to Launch a Podcast and Get 1m Downloads in 1 Month

In this article, you will discover precisely how leading SaaS CEOs use podcasts to capture new users and generate millions in revenue, complete with real-world examples. This isn’t just theory; it’s a breakdown of the exact tactics used by founders to turn audio content into a powerful growth engine, driving both audience engagement and bottom-line results. You’ll get a 4-step process to launch your own podcasting strategy, in addition to dozens of case studies you can use as inspiration. These examples were collected directly from CEOs of companies with combined revenues in the hundreds of millions when they keynoted Founderpath events.

The 4-Step Playbook For Podcast Growth

This playbook breaks down the core strategies SaaS founders use to turn podcasts into a reliable customer acquisition channel. Whether you’re starting your own show or appearing as a guest on others, these steps provide a clear path from audio content to revenue.

1. Launch a Niche Podcast to Build Authority and Generate Leads: Instead of casting a wide net, successful founders create shows that target their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This builds a dedicated audience and creates a direct channel for lead generation. For example, Kyle Racki at Proposify hosts a podcast called “Agencies Drinking Beer” to build relationships and establish authority directly with his target market of digital agencies.
2. Appear as a Guest on Existing Podcasts to Tap Into New Audiences: Becoming a guest on podcasts your ICP already listens to is a powerful way to gain credibility and drive traffic. It’s a direct line to a pre-built, relevant audience. Magnito’s CEO, Rafa Kai, shared that his very first paying customer came directly from an inbound lead generated after he appeared as a guest on a podcast.
3. Repurpose Every Piece of Content into Multiple Assets: A single podcast episode can be repurposed into dozens of smaller content pieces for different platforms. This maximizes reach and extracts more value from your initial effort. Veed’s CEO, Sabba Keynejad, built a platform that helps podcasters turn audio into waveform videos, a popular tactic for sharing clips on social media and driving listeners back to the full episode, which has helped them pass $1.3M in ARR.
4. Use Your Podcast as an Asset for Engagement and Monetization: Treat your podcast not just as content, but as a strategic asset. Use it to engage your community and create new revenue opportunities. For example, the team at Growyourbase created a system where listeners of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast could complete tasks like downloading an episode to earn crypto tokens, turning passive listening into active engagement.

40+ Examples of Podcast-Led Growth

Here are dozens of examples from SaaS CEOs who have successfully used podcasting as a key growth lever. Each example provides a specific tactic and, where possible, the revenue and growth results it generated.

• Sri Swaminathan of Factors.ai detailed how his company started doing multiple podcasts and appeared in numerous speaking events, including hosting LinkedIn Lives. This founder-led marketing effort, which involved repurposing live content into blogs and other assets, generated over 100 customers and contributed to nearly $800,000 in revenue.
• Rafa Kai, the founder of Magna, explained that the company’s first-ever client was an inbound lead from a podcast he was a guest on. This single appearance validated their human-centric marketing approach and kicked off their revenue journey, which is now at $2,860 MRR.
• John Fields, CEO of Growyourbase, described how they used the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast as a model for their platform. They incentivized listeners to download the podcast, subscribe to the newsletter, and leave reviews to earn tokens, demonstrating a powerful way to turn a podcast audience into active, engaged users. His company hit $6,500 in MRR with this model.
• Sabba Keynejad of Veed built his $1.3M ARR business by providing tools for podcasters to repurpose their content. He noted that a primary use case is turning audio into waveform videos for social media, which is crucial since most social videos are viewed without sound.
• Nathan Latka of Founderpath explained how he took audio data from over 3,300 podcast interviews with SaaS founders to build a massive, searchable database. This repurposing of content became a programmatic SEO machine, driving over 1.17 million free clicks from Google and scaling the project to $60,000 per month.
• Travis Chappell, founder of Guestio, built his entire platform around connecting podcast guests and hosts. His core offer, which helped him break $75k MRR, was a “$1 guarantee” where his team would find a podcast booking for a user if the software couldn’t, highlighting the value of guest appearances.
• Raul at Instantly.ai highlighted how his podcast interviews and content strategy are a huge driver for their growth to $2.4M in ARR. They use their own tool to send thousands of cold emails daily and amplify their message through a large Facebook group and consistent content on Twitter and YouTube.
• Jay Decesare of Summarize.tech, a bootstrapped founder, built a tool specifically for repurposing podcast and video content. The platform uses AI to generate summaries, time stamps, quotes, LinkedIn posts, and Twitter threads from a single piece of audio, helping creators maximize their reach.
• Eric Siu of Single Grain runs two podcasts, “Marketing School” and “Leveling Up,” which get a combined 2 million+ downloads a month. He described his content process as starting with video, which is then chopped up into short-form audio, short-form video, and blogs to maximize distribution across all channels.
• Harris Kenny of Intro CRM hosts two niche podcasts, including “Hello Blink Show.” He successfully monetized one with an $800 quarterly sponsorship deal despite having a small audience of only a few hundred downloads per episode, proving that a highly targeted niche can be very valuable.
• Josh Muccio, host of The Pitch podcast, created a show modeled after Shark Tank where founders pitch investors. In the first year, the show generated $80,000 in ad revenue alone and amassed 750,000 total downloads by creating unique, high-stakes content.
• Castos CEO Craig Hewitt built his podcast hosting platform, now at $60,000 MRR, by offering tools that help podcasters market their shows. Key features include automated transcriptions and automatic republishing of audio content to YouTube, allowing creators to repurpose their content for discovery on new platforms.
• Proposify’s CEO, Kyle Racki, hosts a podcast called “Agencies Drinking Beer.” This show allows him to connect directly with his ideal customer profile—agency owners—in an authentic way, building community and generating leads for his company, which is now at $150k MRR.
• Dan Martell, founder of SaaS Academy, was featured on a podcast where he shared his “replacement ladder” framework. His appearance helps him build authority and drive leads for his coaching business by providing high-value content to a targeted audience of SaaS founders.
• Brett Owens from LeadDyno, a company with over $1M in ARR, mentioned that he hosts a podcast in addition to sending out daily newsletters, using it as a channel to feature affiliate programs and engage with his audience of small business owners.
• Siftery’s CMO, Gerry Colyer, noted that podcasting was a key channel for them to build their audience and community. For a data-driven company, appearing on podcasts allowed them to share insights and attract users interested in software discovery, contributing to their growth to 25,000 users.
• Ben Murray of The SAS CFO uses his podcast appearances to promote his financial modeling courses and templates. By sharing his expertise on SaaS metrics, he builds trust and drives traffic back to his paid offerings.
• Anthony Kennada of AudiencePlus discussed how B2B marketers are increasingly using podcasts as a primary content format. He emphasized that creating owned content channels, like a branded podcast, is crucial for building a direct relationship with an audience and capturing valuable first-party data.
• Tripp Brockway of Paddle mentioned that he was a guest on a podcast where he discussed SaaS growth trends. His appearance served as a way to establish thought leadership and attract potential customers for Paddle’s revenue delivery platform.
• John Doherty of Getcredo identified being a podcast guest as the new form of guest blogging. He shared that a single mention on the Moz podcast has generated over $300,000 in revenue for his company over five years, highlighting the long-term value of podcast appearances.
• Bryn Jones of GrowSumo, a company focused on influencer marketing, leverages podcast appearances to discuss how SaaS companies can harness the power of influencers. This content strategy helps drive awareness and leads for their platform, which serves over 70 B2B SaaS companies.
• The CEO of AirPR, Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer, uses his podcast appearances to discuss the importance of measuring the impact of PR. This strategy positions his company as a thought leader and attracts enterprise clients, helping them grow to an average contract value of $50,000-$60,000 per year.
• Amplify CEO Mahi de Silva explained how his company helps brands with conversational marketing. Appearing on podcasts allows him to share case studies, like their work with Tony Robbins, and attract new customers to their AI-powered platform, which has grown to over $2M in ARR.
• Kyle Wong, CEO of Pixlee, has found success by using podcasts to discuss visual marketing and the power of user-generated content. This helps educate the market and drive leads for his platform, which now serves over 500 paying customers and has an ARR of $18M.
• Andrew from Paddle uses podcasts as a channel to discuss the complexities of SaaS payments and tax compliance. This content strategy helps educate founders and drives adoption for their merchant of record platform.
• Vladimir Blagojevic of Fullfunnel.io appeared on a podcast to discuss his agency’s success. He uses these guest appearances to build relationships with influencers and generate inbound leads for his account-based marketing services.
• Dave Bell, CEO of Gummy Cube, which is at $4.8M ARR, uses podcast interviews to explain the nuances of App Store Optimization (ASO). This positions his company as an expert and attracts enterprise clients looking to improve their mobile app’s visibility and conversion rates.
• Sharon Taylor, the CEO of Omny Studio, a podcast hosting company that broke $300k MRR, stated that being a guest on podcasts is a key part of her strategy. It helps her connect with broadcasters and publishers, driving awareness and sales for their enterprise audio-on-demand platform.
• Brett Owens of LeadDyno uses his podcast as part of a multi-channel content strategy that includes daily newsletters. This helps him feature affiliate programs and engage with his audience, contributing to the company’s growth to over $1M in ARR.
• Gerry Colyer, CMO of Siftery, explained that appearing on podcasts was instrumental in building their initial user base. It allowed them to share their vision for software discovery and attract a community of engaged users, which grew to 25,000 people.
• Vaibhav Kakkar of Rank Watch leverages podcasts to discuss the “Future of SEO.” This content strategy, which includes creating infographics and interviewing experts, helps drive a significant amount of organic traffic and conversions for their SEO software platform, now at $180k MRR.
• John Younger, CEO of HireMojo, uses his extensive experience in recruiting to appear on podcasts. He shares insights on hiring automation and talent acquisition, which drives referrals and leads for his platform, helping it grow to nearly $2M in ARR.
• AJ Eckstein, founder of Creator Match, helps brands connect with LinkedIn creators. He uses podcast appearances to discuss the untapped potential of LinkedIn influencer marketing, which generates leads for his platform that matches brands with creators.
• Derek Osgood, CEO of Ignition, appears on podcasts to discuss the challenges of go-to-market planning. This strategy helps him connect with product and marketing teams, driving early traction for his collaborative GTM platform which recently launched and is targeting a $1M run rate.
• NessLabs founder Anne-Laure Le Cunff was a guest on the Calm podcast. This appearance drove so much traffic that it crashed her website, demonstrating the power of appearing on a highly relevant, large-audience show to drive awareness for her neuroscience-based content platform, now at $75k ARR.
• The team at GrowSumo uses podcast appearances to share their expertise on affiliate and influencer marketing. This content strategy helps them connect with B2B SaaS companies, driving growth for their marketplace which now serves over 70 paying customers.
• John Younger of HireMojo uses podcasts to share his deep expertise in recruiting. This builds his personal brand and drives referrals for his hiring automation platform, which helps companies fill jobs more efficiently and has contributed to its growth past $180k MRR.
• Alina Vandenberghe, CEO of Chili Piper, which is on its way to $50M ARR, has leveraged podcast interviews to share her unique approach to building a company culture and go-to-market strategy. These appearances help strengthen the brand and attract both talent and customers.
• Sophie Buonassisi of GTMfund explained their flywheel model, where media, including podcasts, plays a key role. They use their podcast to amplify the thought leadership of their community of GTM executives, which in turn provides deal flow and support for their portfolio companies.
• Aneto Okonkwo, CEO of Chatdesk, uses podcasts to share his journey and the solutions his company provides for customer support. These appearances help build credibility and attract new brands to their generative AI platform.

Conclusion

You’ve just learned the 4-step playbook and reviewed over 40 real-world examples of how top SaaS founders use podcasts to drive growth. From launching niche shows and making strategic guest appearances to repurposing content and building communities, it’s clear that podcasting is a versatile and powerful tool for acquiring new customers and building a resilient brand. To grow your own company, consider how you can apply these tactics and start leveraging the power of audio content. Start small, stay consistent, and as these founders have shown, you can turn your podcasting efforts into a significant source of revenue.

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