The people you look up to will say yes to your podcast if you ask the right way.

AJ Waters is Field COO at Procore, and his podcast has nothing to sell. It still pays him back. He cold-messaged his heroes onto the show, and one of them is now a close friend. The show has earned him speaking slots, given him co-panelists, and made him better at his day job.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. If you're inviting someone way above your level, don't ask for a favor. Tell them what they're great at. AJ's invite goes like this: "I think you're uniquely talented at X, and more people need to know about that." It's a compliment, and it gives them the topic, so they don't have to figure out what the episode is about. That's how he got his heroes on the show. One of them was Tyler Campbell from The Construction Brothers, and now they're close friends who meet every Friday. Pick one person you'd love to know. Write down the one thing they're great at and why your audience needs it, then send it.

2. Your past guests can be your next panel. If you speak at live events, bring them up with you as co-panelists. When AJ is headed somewhere to speak, he checks which past guests live nearby and know the topic, then asks them to do it live. His next panel in Phoenix grew out of an episode about whether you can trust AI in construction. Before your next event, look through your guest list and find who's close by and fits the topic. Ask them to join you on stage.

3. Your guests can tell you what your buyers really think. If the people you interview are the same people you sell to, use the show to hear it. AJ's guests give him straight feedback on Procore's software, and he says every conversation gives him at least one thing to take back to his day job. After you stop recording, ask your guest one question about the problem your business solves.

If your show isn't bringing in clients yet, that doesn't mean it's failing. AJ's whole show runs on relationships, and they keep turning into stages, friendships, and better work.

In this episode:
- Why AJ's podcast exists when he has nothing to sell
- The invite that gets people way above your level to say yes
- How a hero became a close friend
- Turning an episode into a live panel, and past guests into co-panelists
- How guests make him better at his day job
- Repurposing with blog posts, clips, and LinkedIn
- His one tip for your next episode: research your guest

About the guest, AJ Waters:
AJ Waters is Field COO for the public sector at Procore and host of TheEngiNerdLife Podcast. He's a former structural engineer, and his show spotlights people in construction whose superpower is a skill anyone can learn.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/watersaj/
Website: https://www.theenginerdlife.com
Apple Podcasts, TheEngiNerdLife Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/theenginerdlife-podcast/id1871540343

Booking guests, chasing the audio, cutting the clips, writing the blog, posting every day. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business.

ProPod Concierge runs your show for you. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Christopher Swing has been a guest on plenty of podcasts. He says hosting his own taught him more than all of them.

As a guest, you repeat what you already know. As a host, you bring people into your world and see your own gaps. Chris is CEO of Vantage Surgical Solutions and host of Faithful, a show about how leaders of faith run their companies. He talks about why he started it, how he built his guest list, why season one stalled, and what he's changing for season two.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Do your homework on every guest. It changes what they do with the episode. Chris said there's something different about the relationship after someone researches you and asks questions you haven't answered fifteen times. It made him ask, "Why am I so important to this person?" He said if someone Googles him and finds this episode, he'd be honored for them to listen, because it was really intentional. Before your next recording, find one thing about your guest that nobody else has asked them about.

2. If you're running out of guests, or you only book people you already know, try what Chris did. He wrote down 25 people who fit what he wanted from his show. Then he asked AI who else he should add if those 25 interested him. It came back with 180 to 190 names. Whatever your show is for, start with the guests who already fit it, and let AI find more people like them.

3. If doing the show yourself is wearing you down, plan the next season before you release it. Chris did season one alone. Guests canceled, the production piled up, and something fun started to feel like work, so the show stopped. For season two he's setting a time frame, getting help with production and scheduling, and recording 30 to 40 percent of the season before the first episode goes out. If you're already recording and posting the same week and it works, keep going. If it's turning into a grind, decide how many episodes you'll have done before you release one, and who handles the work after you record.

Chris doesn't think the show brings him a lot of business. He hosts it to learn from people he admires and to say out loud what he stands for. It still led to a meeting invite he credits to the show, a guest list that grew from 25 names to more than 180, and a lesson from a NASDAQ CEO that changed how he thinks about asking for help.

In this episode:
- Why hosting teaches you more than guesting
- How a podcast tells people who you are before you meet
- Hiring for character over skills
- Building a guest list from 25 names with AI
- Why season one stalled, and the season two plan
- What a NASDAQ CEO taught him about asking for a mentor
- Why researching your guest changes the relationship

About the guest, Christopher Swing:
Christopher Swing is CEO of Vantage Surgical Solutions, an ophthalmic surgical services company in Illinois. He has led the organization since 2012, through a sale to private equity, and serves as chair-elect in YPO. He hosts Faithful, a podcast about how leaders of faith run their businesses.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherswing/
Website: https://vantage.healthcare
YouTube, Faithful: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAql9bPhg4miFJxZueY-n74nN9fUoVyDu

Chasing guests, covering cancellations, editing every episode yourself, and watching a show you started for fun turn into work. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Nishant Parashar's biggest episodes came from guests nobody had heard of. One of them became his first exclusive talent.

Nishant runs Engage4more, an artist booking company in India, and hosts the Good Gobar Show. He came back from bankruptcy, started the show on a friend's suggestion, and wasn't sure it would work. Now it builds trust with his buyers, wins over the talent he books, and brings authors and experts to him.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Book guests for their depth, not their fame. Nishant's biggest videos came from people most viewers had never heard of. His episode with author Anand Neelkantan, who was not a visible name, hit 1.4 million views, and Anand became his first exclusive talent. Going deep is how he gets there. He spends about a week reading each guest's life before recording. On his cybercrime episode, he didn't jump to the stories. He asked what counts as cybercrime, how big it is, and whether it's a national security risk, so viewers felt why it mattered before the guest told a single story. For your next booking, pick the person with the sharpest view on a problem your buyers care about, then go deep with them.

2. Nishant calls it a tilt. On almost any topic there are two sides, and most people sit in the gray, overwhelmed and unsure where they land. A tilt is a clear lean to one side, backed by depth. Not the center, and not the extreme. People watch content to find that lean, so Nishant books guests who have one, even when their view is not popular. Those episodes pull in the people who agree, push away the ones who don't, and get more engagement, even in the hate comments. Here is what it looks like. When Nishant made an episode on AI, a topic buried in videos, he didn't add one more "how to use AI." He made "how not to use AI," a side almost nobody was covering. In a crowded topic, the tilt is the side nobody is taking.

3. Your next episode is sitting in your comments. Nishant ran two episodes on a divisive topic, and the comments kept asking one thing: is there a solution or not? So his third episode brought on someone who could answer it. He also reads the private messages, because people write very differently one on one than in public, and often they don't say it outright. You have to read into it. For a founder show, the comments and DMs are your audience telling you what they're stuck on, in their own words. When the same question shows up twice, that's your next episode.

The proof is in two guests. An author and a cybercrime investigator, neither one a celebrity. One episode turned the author into exclusive talent. The other opened doors into tech, the Indian Institute of Science, and ISRO.

In this episode:
- Why buyers trust him over plain brokers
- How the show signs exclusive talent
- Why unknown guests beat big names
- How to go deep with a guest
- What a "tilt" is and why it drives engagement
- Building episodes from the comment section
- How not to use AI: taking the side nobody covers
- Capping the show so it doesn't eat the business

About the guest, Nishant Parashar:
Nishant Parashar is the founder of Engage4more, an artist booking and employee engagement company in India. He came back from bankruptcy with the same brand and now hosts the Good Gobar Show, where he talks with authors, investigators, and experts about finding possibility in pain.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishant-parashar-095121b/
Website: https://engage4more.com
YouTube, Good Gobar Show: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGobarShow

Spending a week prepping every guest, chasing the edit, cutting shorts for every platform, writing the descriptions, and checking your views before you check the business. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.