Each week, Lenny Rachitsky interviews world-class leaders and growth experts to provide listeners with actionable, concrete advice for building, launching, and growing products of their own.
With more than 2 million downloads, Lenny’s Podcast has seen incredible success and Podpage is proud to host the show’s website. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at this incredible show to give you some inspiration for your own podcast.
About the Host: Lenny Rachitsky
After moving to the United States from Ukraine at age 6, Lenny Rachitsky developed a passion for software engineering, which led him to start his own company, Localmind. In 2012, he sold Localmind to Airbnb and became the company’s Product Lead.
When Rachitsky left the company in 2019, he found himself giving advice to professionals in the industry and decided to start Lenny’s Newsletter, offering tips on “building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career.”
Despite a very saturated marketplace, Lenny’s Newsletter has more than 500,000 subscribers on Substack and makes over $500k per year.
In 2022, he brought his advice to the podcasting sphere with Lenny’s Podcast.
About the Show
Rachitsky posts 1-2 episodes a week, despite spending only 4-5 hours each week. Here are a few highlights:
Episode Highlights and Content
The foundation of Lenny’s Podcast is not only Rachitsky’s invaluable advice, but interviews from thought leaders and executives across a wide range of industries. Through these interviews, Rachitsky homes in on what makes the biggest companies in the world successful and—most importantly—how listeners can apply these tips to their own startups.
Rather than recreating his newsletter by sharing his own thoughts, Rachitsky allows other industry leaders to share their successes.
Many business and tech podcasts tend to focus on reaching a broader audience while running the risk of giving advice that is too vague to be helpful. Lenny’s Podcast focuses on providing tactical, concrete advice that listeners can use today.
Episode Format
Each episode is an interview, which means that guest speakers are a regular occurrence. While booking guests does take time, Lenny’s Podcast shows that it’s often worth it in the end. (More than 800 5-star reviews can’t be wrong!)
Episodes last an average of 1½ hours, which may sound intimidating to record and edit. However, it just goes to show that valuable content is always king.
While you certainly don’t have to aim for this length, don’t feel the need to cut an episode short if you have lots of great things to say!
Podcast Website
Lenny built the website for Lenny’s Podcast with the help of Podpage’s revolutionary, easy-to-use web building software.
The site is clean and minimal, with cohesive branding that coordinates with his existing thumbnails.
Episode pages feature detailed show notes as a bulleted list. This is an easy-to-read format that will hook listeners immediately and give them a road map of what to expect in the episode.
There is also a list of timestamps so listeners can jump right to a specific part of the interview.
Mention of Lenny’s Newsletter is limited to the About page, giving his podcast plenty of room to shine. However, an embedded X (previously known as Twitter) feed lets listener’s catch up with Lenny’s recent Tweets.
Rachitsky also makes use of some of Podpage’s most useful features:
- Playback capability to listen to episodes right away;
- Podcast player links to allow listeners to use their favorite podcast platform;
- Email capture to keep fans updated with the latest news;
- Sponsor page to show some love to the companies who make everything possible.
Learn more: The Comprehensive Podpage Guide: Everything you need to know to get started.
Key Takeaways and Awesome Episodes
Where Lenny’s Podcast shines is its focus on highlighting the ideas and successes of other thought leaders in the industry. Rather than simply bringing his newsletter to the world of podcasting, Rachitsky has created a platform that shares the megaphone.
How Netflix Builds a Culture of Excellence: Elizabeth Stone, Chief Technology Officer at Netflix, talks about the company’s high expectations and how those standards are maintained. She also talks about an important tool called The Keeper Test.
Inside OpenAI: You may not have heard of Logan Kilpatrick, but you have heard of OpenAI (or perhaps ChatGPT). In this episode, Kilpatrick discusses the company’s growth, but also shares valuable tips on how to use AI more effectively.
Managing Nerves, Anxiety, and Burnout: It takes more than business savvy to run a successful company. In this episode, Rachitsky talks with Jonny Miller about how to conquer anxiety and find peace.
Impact and Reception
Lenny’s Podcast has an average rating of 4.9 stars—higher than some podcasts hosted by household names. Listeners love the valuable insights and interesting guests, reporting that they share his advice as often as they take it.
If his newsletter is any indication, Lenny’s Podcast is definitely poised for rapid growth!
Final Thoughts
Lenny’s Podcast is not only built on a successful career, it approaches the subject matter with a desire to share valuable insights that everyone can benefit from. If you’re looking for inspiration for your own podcast, let this be your sign to give away a bit of the “secret sauce.”
Simultaneously, Rachitsky relies on the advice of others and has no problem stepping aside to share the spotlight. Whether it’s a co-host or a guest, sometimes including a new perspective creates the most engaging conversations.
