Podcasts & newsletters I recommend (Updated: Oct 2024)
I’ve often been asked for recommendations, possibly because I’ve done several exercises in creation and curation. I’m happy to share them, with the disclaimer that this is what I consume and hardly a “best-of”, and it might not work for everyone — I encourage everyone to find their own media mix.
Podcasts
Search for these on any podcast app (Spotify, the native Apple / Google ones, or Pocketcasts if you’re serious about podcast listening).
It’s hard to classify some of these, but I’ll provide a rough [genre] as well.
🇮🇳 Indicates Indian.
[Topical, economics] Freakonomics: A damn good show that asks big questions, features great guests and does storytelling very well. Remains a favourite for good reason. Easy to listen to, and you learn something every time.
[Business] Planet Money: One of the world’s most popular business/econ podcasts, and for good reason — it’s super fun, they do lots of strange things like launching their own rocket, and very conversational.
[Storytelling] Radiolab: Another great show, and very hard to categorize. Deeply researched stories, varying from human interest to tech.
🇮🇳[Interview/Public policy] The Seen & The Unseen: Amit Varma’s interview show — expect long deep dives into everything from content creation to politics. It has several fabulous guests on (and once, me). The length may be off-putting to some but boy are those conversations rich.
🇮🇳[Travel] Postcards from Nowhere: My friend (and 6% Club cofounder) Utsav does a short-format podcast on how to travel better, often bringing in deep life lessons from a small encounter. Beautiful show.
[Tech] Pivot: Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher ripping apart everything in tech and business with a lot of humour and experience-gained wisdom. I don’t agree with everything they say, but still — highly entertaining. Comfort food, this has become.
[Food] Gastropod: A show that looks at food through the lens of science and history.
[Sound] 20,000 Hz: One of my favourite shows, nerding out about various aspects of sound. One of the best produced out there too.
[Interview] The Tim Ferris Show: The gold standard in interviewing. He gleans out habits and ideas (not life history, opinion etc) — so you learn something from people even if you’ve never heard of them or are interested in their field. One of my shows, Getting Meta, was inspired by this.
[Humour] The Bugle: This is my favourite comedy podcast of all time. In its heyday, it was co-hosted by the brilliant Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver (yes, that one). The latter left the show a while back but filling his shoes are a rotating cast of some hilarious folks. Highly recommended — but the archives are even better.
[Tech/Business] The Prof G Show: Like Pivot, but more focused on one topic per week. If you’re a fan of Scott’s work in Pivot, you’ll love this. Weirdly uplifting in parts, as well.
[Music] Ongoing History of New Music: Alan Cross’ lovely show, a must for all followers of rock music, especially post 1990. He picks up some superb themes to work with.
[Trivia] No Such Thing As a Fish: 4 geeks, 1 fact each, lots of fun. British accent. What more do you need?
🇮🇳[Comedy, instrospective] Leftover Lasagne: My friends Tony and Nitin basically talking about various uncomfortable topics and adulting together. This one is for those who miss Simblified :)
[Inspiration] TED Radio Hour: Instead of a bunch of TED talks together, it’s slices of many, umbrella-ed under a common theme. Love the format. Uplifting af.
[Business] Masters of Scale: Reid Hoffmann’s show on startups and lessons from the Valley.
[Business] How I Built This: Interviews with the founders of some famous companies. These two shows are for those of you who want to become entrepreneurs… Or just get better at business.
Despite the volume above, there are tons of shows there that even I have to discover. Chances are you’ll find something from a hobby or profession or subculture (sports, tech, LGBT, stocks, news, etc). I myself am not a big fan of fiction-podcasts (hence, no Serial here). There’s so much great content out there — hopefully the above will give you a starting point. In India, IVM has a terrific roster.
Plugs — Stuff I’ve Done
To Your Heart’s Content: A YouTube interview show I started with Utsav, where we speak to creators and folks in the business of content. Comedians, musicians, journalists, and more.
The Origin of Things: 5–7 minute origin stories of how brands came into being, where I reveal the name of the brand (and often, category) only at the very end. I’ve been told it’s good. In season 3, I’m focusing on songs.
Simblified is the first show I started, and it’s fun conversations about things that happen around us, with 3 of my best friends. We had a good 9 years before hanging up our boots after 300+ episodes.
Getting Meta is a one-season, 10-episode show on productivity, mental models and stuff where I speak to some very smart folks I admire.
Newsletters, News & Publications
Most of the below are free, will mention which are paid.
🇮🇳 indicates Indian.
[Tech] Rest of World: I cannot recommend this enough. Much of the tech news / opinion we read of is from the West. Rest of World focuses on everything else and brings fascinating stories from Africa, Latin America, Asia and others. Free, though I would gladly pay for this.
🇮🇳[News/Tech] The Ken: One deeply-researched piece of reportage from the Indian tech/startup space, and several newsletters (especially Nutgraf). Kudos to them for starting a model like this, even if some disagree with their reporting. (₹3245 per year).
[Tech] WIRED: My favourite writing on tech and its impact on culture and society out there. Highly recommended. ($10 for 1st year, $30 after). The few compilation books they have are great, too.
[Marketing] Contagious: My favourite marketing publication. Wonderful writing style and great analyses, not to mention excellent case studies. Ther annual free report is gold. If you like this, consider The Drum as well.
[Business / economics] The Economist: Well, of course. Expensive, but outstanding writing that is insightful, and very varied. If I had to choose, this is the one paid subscription I would keep. (~9k a year but promos and working around dark patterns should allow you to halve that)
[Tech] Fast Company: I love FC, really good and wide-ranging articles. Lots of stuff on design, branding and technology. Mostly free, though a very affordable paid version also exists.
[Global news] New York Times: I like the long-form pieces and stuff from the Magazine section (honestly have been paying less attention to the news / opinion part of what they do). Decent international coverage. Plus, at ~₹200 a month, that’s one of the most affordable quality international subscriptions you can have.
[News/Tech] Axios: I’m a big fan of how they bullet-point the news. There are multiple newsletters you can opt for. Tends to be US-centric, but the tech newsletter by itself is fantastic. Especially the editorial artwork. Free.
🇮🇳[Indian News / opinion]: Scroll.in, The Wire, The Hindu: I’ve been focussing less and less on news over the last few years. But still, given my political leanings, I like supporting these guys. FWIW, good reportage. Scroll is ₹999 a year, The Wire works off support, The Hindu is ₹1200 a year — though the newsletters are free.
[Tech/Business] Stratechery: Ben Thompson’s highly-acclaimed newsletter which has some wonderful analysis and writing. One free edition a week, $120 for the full version. Also recommended is Casey Newton’s Platformer. I’m afraid the asking price is too much for India, though.
🇮🇳[Design, branding& innovation] The Hard Copy: I write for this wonderful publication that seeks to chronicle India’s design, innovation and branding space. We’re proud of the content we’ve done. On hiatus at the moment since Meeta is taking a break.
[Biz] Money Stuff by Matt Levine: Many consider this the best biz newsletter in the world. I find his writing hilarious and ELI5-worthy, even I don’t read each edition… Or even understand everything!
[Music] The Honest Broker by Ted Gioia: A must-read for anyone who likes music and music history. Outstanding essays and analyses. Not a “what happened this week” newsletter. Though, tends to get boomery at times. Free, with an option to upgrade for $50 a year (which I have).
[Tech] Not Boring: One company / tech concept, deep-dived, with not-boring explanations, drawings and graphs. It takes a long time to get through, but highly rewarding and educational. Free, and recommended.
🇮🇳[Business News] ETPrime: While obviously inspired by The Ken, I think ETPrime does a good job and asks some nice questions in their headlines. There’s enough good reportage and its “larger industry” focus is a good addition to the startup-focussed Ken. (₹2499 for 1 year, ₹3599 for 2 years, they often run promos, free trial period exists)
🇮🇳[Marketing] aFaqs, ETBrandEquity: Quite good content and a good rundown of what’s happening in Indian marketing.
[Data] Chartr: I love the format — trends delivered via graphs and stuff.
[Inspiration] 3–2–1 by James Clear: Nice, concise habits and tips. I really like this. Sent every Thursday.
🇮🇳[Tech / Business / Internet] Curated Commons: A friend, Subbu, sends a wonderful list of reads on a weekly basis, which should provide at least half an hour of quality reading. He has kept this free, and there is a wealth of content here. Go for it!
[Global news] Foreign Affairs: As the name suggests — geopolitics and stuff. I love their neutral and historical (rather than reactive) perspective. Usually long articles and while it’s mostly looked at with an American lens, it covers enough to make sense to any geography. $40 for a year.
[Longform] Aeon: I suppose I’ll end with this — the gold-standard in long-form internet articles. Sort of like Medium’s big brother. Haven’t explored properly but yet to come across something I won’t like.
Plugs — Things I Do:
- Things of Internet: I started this newsletter in June 2020, where I share one cool digital thing every week (something a brand did, a cool campaign, a new feature… Something). I charge ₹500 a year for it, which I think is decent value. Lifetime is ₹3000.
- Frood For Thought: A Telegram / Whatsapp channel started by me and Project Bibliotherapy. One article a day. Free.
