2020 was a big year for the Just Go Grind podcast. I had more people listen than ever before, released more than 150 new episodes (Including 113 daily episodes), got my first sponsors, and secured distribution in a couple of publications.
On a personal level, I had a blast talking with the eclectic mix of guests that graciously gave their time to come on the show. Of course, I want other people to enjoy the show and continue to listen, but I’ve always thought if I’m not enjoying the show, I’ll stop doing it. Luckily, I’m having more fun than ever interviewing guests.
Looking back on 2020, I’m also proud of the strides I made on diversity with the show. I featured more underrepresented founders and, for the first time, had venture capitalists on the show. The decision to feature investors proved valuable not only for listeners, but for me personally, something I’ll dive into in another post.
At a high level, here are the numbers for the Just Go Grind Podcast in 2020:
- Listeners in 117 countries
- 32,092 downloads (12,754 in 2019)
- 155 episodes
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The rest of this post will go through the most downloaded episodes, highlight underrepresented founders, fundraising numbers of my guests, my favorite episodes, how I found guests in 2020, award-winners, and much more. Let’s dive in.
Top 25 Most Downloaded Episodes of 2020
I want to preface these number by mentioning the obvious – episodes released earlier in the year have a longer period of time to accumulate downloads, so they have a better chance at ranking higher. However, going purely off of the number of downloads for 2020, these are the top episodes of the year.
Top 10 Downloads Per Country
It blows my mind to have listeners of the Just Go Grind podcast in 117 countries. That just goes to show the power of the internet and what can happen when, as Seth Godin says, you ship creative work. The top countries where people listened to the show in 2020 include:
- United States – 25,222
- United Kingdom – 800
- Canada – 780
- Bangladesh – 552
- India – 525
- Germany – 476
- Australia – 309
- Peru – 264
- Ireland – 240
- Spain – 204
Underrepresented Founders and Investors
When it comes to raising venture capital, Black founders, Latinx founder, and female founders receive a minuscule amount of funding compared to other groups.
With the Just Go Grind podcast in 2020, I made a point to feature more of these founder stories.
Black Founder and Investors: 21
Female Founders: 43 episodes
Total Underrepresented Founders and Investors: 58
Underrepresented Founders and Investors on Just Go Grind in 2020 👇🏽
In 2021, I’d love to feature more underrepresented founders and investors on the show. Showcasing underrepresented founders highlights just how incredible they are and, despite not getting even close to the amount of venture capital financing as other groups, how resourceful they can be.
That said, if you know some amazing underrepresented founders, please mention them to me on Twitter and I’ll try to get them on the show!
Podcast Guests Who’ve Raised $10M+
Raising capital, in and of itself, is merely a milestone. However, it does show a founder’s ability to reach key milestones, tell a story, build a team, and more. Guests on the Just Go Grind Podcast in 2020 have raised more than $700M through a mix of venture capital, crowdfunding, and private equity. The people who have raised at least $10M are below.
- Jesse Horwitz of Hubble Contacts. $73.7M.
- Matteo Franceschetti of Eight Sleep. $70.1M.
- Ed Buckley of Peerfit. $47.9M.
- Michael Barlow of Fernish. $45M.
- Holger Seim of Blinkist. $34.8M.
- Andrew Parker of Papa. $31.2M.
- Danny Shader of PayNearMe. $30.7M.
- Sean Mitchell of Rezi. $30M+.
- Deon Nicholas of Forethought. $27M.
- Christ Bennett of Wonderschool. $24.1M.
- Eytan Bensoussan of NorthOne. $23.3M.
- Adam Jackson of Braintrust. $23M.
- Jack O’Holleran of SKALE Labs. $22.1M.
- Sean Salas of Camino Financial. $20.4M.
- Jude Gomila of Golden. $19.5M.
- Melanie Stricklan of Slingshot Aerospace. $19.4M.
- Matthew Loper of Wellth. $19.1M.
- Iman Abuzeid of Incredible Health. $17.3M.
- Andrew Jamison of Extend. $14M.
- Chai Mishra of Move. $13M (VC and Equity Crowdfunding).
- Magnus Hillestad of Sanity. $12.8M
- Gregory Ugwi of Thinknum. $12.6M.
- Zubin Bhettay of Fuzzy. $12.5M.
- Josh Clemente of Levels. $12.1M.
- Ruben Harris of Career Karma. $11.9M.
- Nate D’Anna of Dumpling. $10M.
- Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan of Legion M. $10M (Equity Crowdfunding).
- Guy Friedman of SteadyMD. $10M.
Note, these numbers come from CrunchBase, which, while a great resource, isn’t always 100% accurate.
Venture Capitalists
For the first time, I featured a number of venture capitalists and angel investors on the show. In thinking about what would make the show more valuable to founders, it became clear that the VC perspective would be helpful. This year, the VCs I featured included:
- Rick Smith of Crosscut
- Brentt Baltimore of Greycroft
- Karl Alomar of M13
- Gale Wilkinson of Vitalize Venture Group
- Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures
- Brett Munster of Sway Ventures
- Jyri Engeström of Yes VC
- Daniel Kaplan of Generator Ventures
I’m excited to interview more VCs in 2021. Send over your recommendations to me on Twitter for which investors should come on the show next. If you have specific questions I should ask them on the show, I’m happy to include those as well.
My 5 Favorite Episodes of 2020
I’m often asked what my favorite episodes are and while that feels like asking a parent who their favorite child is, I’m going to attempt to finally answer the question. I tried to fight a recency bias, thinking back to all of the interviews I did this year, and picked a few favorites.
Jelani Memory of A Kids Book About. Not only did Jelani run away with the award for best voice on the Just Go Grind podcast, he also was one of my favorite interviews of the year. Why? Because his company does impactful work creating books for kids on topics like racism, divorce, death, and adventure, he spoke openly and honestly in our interview, and he has a fascinating story. I wasn’t the only one who acknowledge the impact of his work – his company was included in Oprah’s Favorite Things 2020, a well-deserved accomplishment.
Jude Gomila of Golden. My conversation with Jude was one of the most cerebral and it’s often an episode I recommend to others. Jude has done it all. He went through Y Combinator, sold his first company for $45M, has raised almost $20M for his current company that is trying to map all of human knowledge, and on top of all that he’s invested in more than 200 companies.
Zuleyka Strasner of Zero. Zuleyka is funny, has an amazing story, is incredibly driven, and has an accent that is addicting to listen to. Her company is on a mission to remove single-use plastics from the food system, an ambitious goal to say the least. All of that and more contributed to her inclusion on my list of favorite episodes of the year.
Rob Mather of the Against Malaria Foundation. Rob started and currently runs one of the world’s top-rated charities, the Against Malaria Foundation. Since its start, they’ve raised more than $280M, providing more than 130 million anti-malia nets to directly save lives. 100% of public donations go directly to buying long-lasting insecticidal nets and the team at AMF has a maniacle obsession about monitoring distribution. Ultimately, this is what has made them so effective.
Iman Abuzeid of Incredible Health. Iman is impressive in every respect. Despite being a black female founder, those of which received 0.27% of venture capital in 2018 and 2019, Iman has raised more than $17M from top investors like Andreessen Horowitz, NFX, and Obvious Ventures. Her company is a career marketplace for permanent health care workers and is already used by more than 250 hospitals nationwide. On top of that, Iman has an MBA from Wharton and an MBBS from University College London Medical School. Like I said, impressive, and one of my favorite episodes of the year.
How I Met Just Go Grind Podcast Guests in 2020
I started the Just Go Grind podcast by talking to friends and cold messaging people to come on the show. It’s evolved greatly in the last 2.5 years and, to answer another frequent question I get, here’s a breakdown of where guests came from in 2020.
For context, here were the actual numbers for how I met guests in 2020:
- Referral – 94
- Cold Outreach – 31
- Inbound – 25
- USC – 3
- Past Connection – 2 (Middle School and College)
Awards
Ah yes, time to give out a few awards for guests of the Just Go Grind podcast in 2020. These are all selected by me, at my full discretion, as the only person I can guarantee who has listened to every episode 😜
Best Voice: Jelani Memory
Most Innovative Product: Tyler Hayes (The world’s first mind-controlled bionic arm)
Most Inspirational Story: Gregory Ugwi
Most Fun: Jeff and Paul
Most Countries Worked in While Starting Their Company: Myles Hunter
Biggest Crowdfunding Advocate: Jonny Price
Most Creative in Funding Their Company: Antony Arena
Most Impactful: Rob Mather
Largest Waitlist for Their Product: Chai Mishra (135,000+)
Longest Time Between Initial Contact and Interview: Michael Barlow ❤
Most Prolific Creator: Mubashar Iqbal
Most Times Rescheduling: Brentt Baltimore ❤
Biggest Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Advocate (Tie): Stephanie Lampkin, Olivia Owens, and Katica Roy
Most Impactful on My Career: Gale Wilkinson
Largest Influencer Retweet: Daniel Zakowski (Mark Cuban Retweet)
Most Impactful for Your Health (Tie): Josh Clemente and Matteo Franceschetti
Most Famous Dad: Tyler Bushnell (Nolan Bushnell started Atari and Chuck E. Cheese)
Biggest Sustainability Advocate (Tie): Daniel Kurzrock and Zuleyka Strasner
Most Influencer-Supported: Michael Cannavo
Who I’ve Known the Longest: Eric Martell
Most Supportive of SaaS Founders: Prasanna Krishnamoorthy
4 Lessons from Just Go Grind Podcast Guests in 2020
20 Minute Thinking. This lesson came from Rob Mather in episode #108, where he described how he used 20 minute thinking to get one million people around the world to swim for a charitable cause. You’ll have to listen to the episode to get the full story, but the idea of 20 minute thinking is simple – getting extraordinary results from a limited amount of time invested. In Rob’s case, this involved getting on the phone with influential people.
Manage Your Own Psychology. Iman Abuzeid mentioned this as being your number one job as a founder. I couldn’t agree more. In addition, this applies to everyone. If you can manage your own psychology, you’ll not only have a better chance at success, you’ll be happier as well.
Creativity Wins. Eric Martell brought special beer from Wisconsin to pitch meetings to be memorable, Antony Arena started 6 bars to fuel his software company, and Madeline Fraser figured out how to get on Shark Tank to drum up interest in her startup. Again and again I heard stories of how founders had found creative ways to launch and grow their companies. There are many paths to success and the founders who came on the show in 2020 definitely showed that.
Perseverance. Cole Zucker went door to door selling lightbulbs in the early days of his company. Zuleyka Strasner did 263 pitch meetings to get the first funding for her company. Phil O’Brien went from one apartment building to the next, again and again, to get distribution for his lifestyle print magazine. To be a successful founder, you need a level of perseverance that will get you through the grind of building your company. There have been endless stories of this demonstrated on the show this year and they serve as inspiration for everyone who wants to build a company.
What’s Next in 2021 and a Few Asks
Thank you so much for supporting the show in 2020. I’m excited to continue with the show in 2021 and already have the next dozen episodes ready to roll. As I mentioned, I want to feature more diverse founders and investors next year and continue to make the show more valuable for founders and those interested in startups. If you have any suggestions for improvements, send them my way on Twitter.
A few asks:
- Want to support the show? Leave a review in Apple Podcasts.
- Have a guest you want to recommend? Fill out this form.
- Want to sponsor the show in 2021? Fill out this form.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me produce the show, find guests, and grow my audience in 2020. I’m forever grateful to you and will continue to strive towards making this the best entrepreneurial podcast in the world. Big things ahead in 2021!