The Podcasts I Actually Listen to (My Real Subscription List)

I get asked this a lot, so I’m writing it down once.

People ask “what podcasts do you listen to” mostly when they’re trying to find new shows. Most of the lists you find online are bad. They’re either SEO-driven roundups of the top 100 podcasts, or they’re someone listing every podcast they’ve ever subscribed to, including the four they haven’t opened in eight months.

This is the real list. Every show below is one I actually open, not one I think I should open. I’ll tell you what each does for me and when I tend to listen.

The list is grouped by how often I press play, not by quality. The “less frequent” shows aren’t worse, I just open them less.

The ones I rarely miss

Invest Like the Best, Patrick O’Shaughnessy

The one I save for long walks.

Patrick interviews investors, founders, and operators about how they think. The thing that’s special isn’t the guest list (though it’s incredible). It’s that Patrick is unusually good at the conversational move where he takes whatever the guest just said and reshapes it into the next question. The interviews feel like one continuous thought.

When I listen: weekends, walking, Sundays.

Acquired, Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

The one that taught me business history.

One company per episode, three to four hours of research, two genuinely curious hosts. The Microsoft series alone is worth the whole subscription. If you’d told me five years ago that I’d voluntarily listen to a three-and-a-half hour episode about TSMC’s history, I would have laughed. I listen to all of it.

When I listen: flights, long drives, twice through sometimes.

Dwarkesh, Dwarkesh Patel

The one for AI and the frontier.

Dwarkesh is, in my opinion, the best long-form interviewer in tech right now. His preparation is famously thorough. His guests notice and rise to it. The interviews are sharper than other AI podcasts because Dwarkesh asks the question most interviewers don’t dare to ask.

When I listen: mornings. Walking. When I want to feel a little more informed about AI.

Cheeky Pint, Patrick Collison

The new one I’m enjoying the most.

Patrick interviews founders, scientists, and operators. The conversations are pitched at a high register, the kind where you can tell both people read the same dense things. It’s the closest thing to “intellectual cousin of Acquired” that I subscribe to.

When I listen: weekends. I save these for slow Saturday mornings.

20VC, Harry Stebbings

The one with the most volume.

Harry publishes more than anyone else. Multiple episodes a week. The show is mostly about VC and founders, though he’s branched out. What I like about 20VC is that Harry’s curiosity is genuine, and there’s almost always one or two specific quotes worth keeping per episode.

When I listen: cooking, cleaning, whenever I want company that’s saying something useful.

The ones I open regularly

The Knowledge Project, Shane Parrish

The one that isn’t about tech.

Shane interviews people across psychology, philosophy, performance, business. The conversation is always about how to think better. The Knowledge Project is the one I recommend to friends who don’t work in tech but want a sharp general-purpose thinking podcast.

When I listen: evenings. Lying on the couch.

In Depth, Brett Berson (First Round)

The one for builders.

Brett interviews operators and founders about specific operating problems. Hiring. Sales motions. The first 90 days of a leadership role. Pricing. The stuff you need when you’re building.

I listen to In Depth when I’m in active building mode and need other people’s playbooks.

When I listen: weekday mornings before I start working.

No Priors, Sarah Guo and Elad Gil

The one for the frontier without the hype.

Sarah and Elad both invest at the edge and their guest list reflects it. What I like is the tone: matter-of-fact, calm, allergic to hype. The right register for actually understanding AI rather than panicking about it.

When I listen: when I want to feel grounded about the state of AI.

Lenny’s Podcast, Lenny Rachitsky

The PM craft podcast.

Lenny interviews PMs, growth leaders, and operators about how to actually do the job. The advice is specific enough to apply on Monday morning. Not every episode lands for me, but the hit rate is high.

When I listen: weekday commute, on episodes where the guest is someone I want to learn from.

Founders, David Senra

The biographies-as-podcast one.

David reads founder biographies and reports back, episode by episode. The format is unique: it’s not interviews, it’s David’s synthesis of a book about Walt Disney, John D. Rockefeller, Edwin Land, Steve Jobs. Every episode is dense.

I love Founders because it gives me the gist of the kind of book I might buy and never finish. David has done the work.

When I listen: long walks, when I want a single-narrator experience.

Logan Bartlett Show

The venture interview show I trust.

Logan (Redpoint) does interviews with founders, operators, and other investors. The episodes are tight, the questions are sharp, the guest list skews toward people who don’t do many other podcasts. Logan asks the questions about actual mechanics of company-building that other VCs are too polite to ask.

When I listen: midweek, when I want operating tactics from someone who’s done it.

Grit, Joubin Mirzadegan (GV)

The one about resilience.

Joubin interviews CEOs and operators specifically about the hard moments. Hiring failures. Near-death company experiences. Difficult board decisions. The show goes places other CEO interviews don’t because Joubin is good at sitting with discomfort.

When I listen: when I want to feel less alone about the parts of building that don’t get talked about publicly.

a16z Podcast

The classic.

Andreessen Horowitz’s flagship show has a wide range — sometimes a single-host explainer, sometimes a deep dive with a portfolio founder. The shorter episodes are usually the better ones. Not every episode is essential but the catalog is deep enough that there’s always something good.

When I listen: when a particular episode topic catches my eye.

Uncapped with Jack Altman

The candid one.

Jack Altman interviews founders and operators with an unusually informal, candid tone. Less polished than the bigger shows, more honest. You hear things on Uncapped that founders wouldn’t say on a more formal podcast.

When I listen: when I want the unvarnished version.

The ones I open sometimes (but they’re great when I do)

The Circuit with Emily Chang

Emily’s interviews with tech leaders and cultural figures. The format is a bit more news-y than the deep-dive shows above, but Emily is a phenomenal interviewer and the production quality is high.

Core Memory, Ashlee Vance

Ashlee covers science, space, and frontier-technology in long-form. Different lane from most of the list above. I open it when I want to read about something that isn’t software.

Emma Grede’s podcast

For a perspective I don’t get elsewhere. Emma builds consumer brands at scale (Skims, Good American). The episodes are part business, part personal. Useful for the consumer-and-DTC side of my reading.

On Purpose, Jay Shetty

Not a tech podcast. Jay’s a long-form interviewer who goes wide — psychology, performance, relationships, sometimes culture. I open it on weekends when I want something off the tech treadmill.

Modern Relationships

The one that has nothing to do with my work, which is the point. A relationship-focused show. I listen because not every podcast in my queue should be about building companies.

A note on what’s NOT on this list

Some popular shows you might expect:

• All-In — I listen sometimes; the format isn’t for me consistently.
• Lex Fridman — depends entirely on the guest. Not a regular opener.
• Tim Ferriss — I dip in for specific episodes. Not weekly.
• Huberman Lab — important for many people; I’m not the audience.
• Stratechery — I read it instead of listening to it. The writing is the medium for me there.

These are great shows. They just don’t make my actual weekly rotation, and I wanted this list to be honest about mine.

How I listen

I listen on Spotify. I use Margin, the press-and-hold note-taking app I built, to capture moments I want to keep. (Yes, I’m biased; I made it because the alternative was forgetting everything by morning.)

I listen at 1.0x for shows I love and 1.2x for shows I want to get through. I almost never listen at 1.5x or higher.

I save the longest shows (Acquired, Founders, Dwarkesh) for solo time. The shorter ones (20VC, In Depth, Lenny’s) fit into walks and cooking.

If a host is interviewing someone I really care about, I’ll listen to that episode on a show I usually skip. Guests matter more than shows.

Where to start

If you’ve never listened to any of these and want one recommendation, here’s what I’d suggest:

• If you’re a founder or operator: start with Founders by David Senra. The Walt Disney episode.
• If you’re an investor or strategist: Invest Like the Best with Howard Marks on second-level thinking.
• If you’re an AI builder: Dwarkesh with Sholto Douglas.
• If you want pure tactical operating advice: In Depth with Patrick Collison on Stripe’s hiring culture.
• If you want to think better in general: The Knowledge Project with Naval Ravikant.
• If you want something delightful: Cheeky Pint with anyone.

The cumulative effect of listening to thoughtful people in conversation, for hundreds of hours, gradually moves your priors. That’s the whole reason I keep listening. And the whole reason I built Margin: the cumulative effect only works if you’re capturing the moments that struck you. Otherwise you spent the hours and got the entertainment, but the ideas didn’t stick.

Pick one. Listen this week. Capture three notes.

Selinay