✊ Watch me roast (& rebuild) my co-host’s new show concept
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Hi Friends, Last week my co-host, Justin, and I were about to wrap up our weekly call when he (a little nervously) asked me a favour. “Could give me some feedback on a new show concept I’m working on?” Now, as you might know, one of the shows Justin and I co-host, Roast My Podcast consists of us dissecting other podcasts to help them improve their packaging and concepts. What’s more, Justin’s been involved in the podcast world for over a decade—as the host of multiple shows and the founder of hosting platform Transistor.fm—and is a super smart marketer who’s had a lot of success with his own channels and Transistor’s. In short, when it comes to podcasting, he knows his stuff. And yet, the show description he shared with me was… well, boring. Bland. Dull. Not going cut it, in other words. Especially given Justin and his co-host, Brian’s goal of creating a must-listen show for the bootstrapper/software developer/founder community. Clearly, there was work to do. Over the next 30 minutes, Justin and I worked through several iterations of the show concept, slowly circling in on the most interesting part of the initial idea and bringing it further to the fore. By the end of the call, the show idea had morphed from a generic tech show that (in my opinion) didn't have a hope of standing out and building an audience to one that has a legitimate shot at becoming the must-listen Justin and Brian intend it to be. As luck would have it, we captured the entire process on video. And today, I wanted to share that video because it so clearly demonstrates:
Whether you’re thinking of launching a new show or have a struggling show with a concept that could likely be refined (or overhauled), I hope this video gives you some inspiration on how to approach the process of developing the most attractive, most marketable show possible. Oh, and one more thing. The day after we recorded this, Justin came back at me with an additional draft. "When it comes to bootstrapping and building software businesses, there's rarely one right answer. In every episode, veteran founders Justin Jackson and Brian Casel bring together sharp minds from the indie tech world to tackle thorny topics - from pricing and product strategy to work-life balance. No gurus, no easy answers; just honest conversations about what's actually working in 2025." To which I responded with an additional revision of my own. “When it comes to bootstrapping and building software businesses, we all want the one, simple, straightforward (preferably easy) answer. The problem? There rarely is one. In fact, every problem likely has multiple right answers, and the real secret to building better products, better companies, and a better life is knowing how to find the right answer for you.
That’s where we come in.
In every episode of [PODCAST NAME], veteran founders Justin Jackson and Brian Casel bring together sharp minds from the indie tech world to tackle thorny topics with no easy answers to hear how different smart, successful founders think about the same challenges in vastly different ways. Through these lively (sometimes heated) debates, you’ll learn how to improve your decision making around product, people, pricing, marketing, and more.”
There are likely a few more revisions to the concept and corresponding description that could be done to get this to a really succinct, punchy place. Those will likely come as Justin and Brian go through the Episode Engineering process and develop and define the unique blueprint that every episode of their show will adhere to. That said—at least in my opinion—where they’ve ended up so far, is vastly more promising than where they started. Not bad for a 30-min brainstorming session. If you want my help creating a show concept with the potential to become one of the must-listen shows in your niche, hit reply with “Must listen” and I’ll send over all the info on how we can work together to make it a reality.
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