The Product Stories Podcast
A narrative podcast about products that drive our decisions
https://productstoriespodcast.com now has an updated landing page thanks to the brilliant Unicorn Platform created by @alexanderisora. It is a vastly superior user experience to ConvertKit for example.
I haven't had made signups yet, but I don't expect to until i finish the first trailer in the next couple of weeks.
The podcast production side is going really well right now. Guests are introducing me to other people I would never have connected with. Plus, I seem to have got a lot better at the request emails.
I now include this new landing page in email requests to people and I find I don't have to explain as much to people.
It might be obvious to some, but I have learned from lots of cold-emailing and cold-LinkedIn Messages that people who are conference speakers, authors, or have been on podcasts are far easier to book.
Three 3 more guests now booked - with more emails coming back in and momentum starting to grow.
These three are a mix of academics and professionals, representing big organisations and big ideas in data and decision-making.
I really believe this is going to be a great show.
Landing page is at http://productstoriespodcast.com. I reached out to a couple of people, one already came back to say he's happy to be interviewed.
I am really struggling to get any cold responses via LinkedIn messaging. I need to find more of the people who work on these 'productive analytics' products. But, so far the 7-10 people I reached out to haven't connected or responded. I sent them an intro message, which I am refined as I go.
I really felt like I wanted to do something that had an end. Something that could be done- finished. Then be put out into the world. A podcast seemed to be the obvious answer.
As all my favourite podcasts are narrative based (various Gimlet shows, Serial, This American Life etc), I wanted to take the tech/product management podcast format forward.
So, The Product Stories podcast will be a narrative show, not a one-on-one interview like all other product podcasts are.
The story for season one (i decide to do a limited number of shows to see how this goes), will be based on my own academic research in data visualisation and how it effects behaviour and decision making.
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Hey man,
I wanted to quickly check up on your progress (because I feel like I'm trying to do something similar in a slightly different space and format - focusing on story telling in the design industry). I have a lot of love for this type of "real experience/narrative" content and was wondering are you able to find audience for it?
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Hey @vaziciao. I really enjoy that style of narrative - i recently started to listen to Dark Net Diaries which is close to the style I am aiming for. You might like it :)
To answer your question, I've only had a few people subscribe via the website. But, until I put a trailer out and setup the hosting etc and publish something, I can't tell if there is an audience.
Going with my gut - yes there is an audience. The "tape" i'm getting from the interviews has been fantastic. Particularly a recent one with an ex-Uber UX researcher. I know these stories are interesting from working as a PM because I've had these conversations with people. When I listen to This American Life (even though I'm British) I see how powerful it is to connect those personal stories to a bigger theme.
I'm trying to find the right tone, I don't want it to be too journalistic and definitely not be a sensationalist thing.. did you see the Netflix documentary called The Social Dilemma? Awful, highly sensational and extremely biased. Reply All, Dark Net Diaries, Masters of Scale, TAL, Startup.. Science Vs.. these are my benchmark :P
Although I called this "Product Stories", about 1/3 of the people I'm interviewing are UX designers / UX researchers / VPs of design. The other 2/3rds are product people and academics & authors who provide context on the latest research, where things are going and on trends for example.
I am loving the process and I'm working on a trailer at the moment.
I just wish I could fund it to spend more time on it every week.BTW I updated the landing page recently (https://productstoriespodcast.com) and I am having a lot more success finding guests and getting referrals from previous guests. It's snowballing for sure.
What's your podcast about - can you tell me anything more about it and about your experience so far?
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Hey @typeofgraphic. I'm a big fan of practically all the podcasts that you've listed, but still haven't got the time to dig in to Dark Net Diaries - it's on my list for quite some time though.
TAL is really something to aim for and that whole "slice of life" genre definitely resonates with me. 99% invisible is also a great one but definitely has a different vibe to it.
I don't run a podcast but a site where Designers share their true (usually weird) stories - https://ytad.club
Although a podcast would actually be great for this type of content. That might be my next step.
All the stories are in a classic narrative format, but so far the topics I have lined up are much less professional and serious, and more human and relatable.I'd be really curios to hear some of that "tape" once you release (being a product/UX designer myself).
As for my XP - I just launched 2 weeks ago and I'm entirely focused on getting some eyes on it + finding designers who have the guts to share these sometimes very personal, raw stories.
This week I had success in that regard, since one guy shared something that really takes some courage to put out there :D
https://ytad.club/when-the-nature-calls-in-the-middle-of-your-design-review-call/Seems like we are looking after more or less similar people (designers and product folks). It would be interesting to recommend them to one another.
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2 Comments
Congrats on the update, Paul. https://productstoriespodcast.com/ looks gorgeous.
That’s only true because I used the tool you made! Honestly, it really is excellent. Lots of UX elements on the platform that show how mindful you’ve been to important (but often overlooked) details. I can just concentrate on writing and arranging content with 🦄 and it still looks great in the end!