The Best Podcast Of 2019 Smash Notes Edition

Plus, Editors's favorites.

Kirill Zubovsky / January 2nd, 2020


Top 3 podcast episodes of 2019 by engagement

In the short time that I had time to work on Smash Notes in 2019, we summarized a ton of podcasts, leading to thousands of new segments. Below are the episodes which brought in the most traffic!

#1 - My Dad Wrote a Porno.

This was a Smashing Hit, with thousands of new unique users coming to see this one specifically. Unfortunately, not many stuck around as long-term listeners, since this was not quite the porno they were looking for. I wrote about this early on, in case you've missed the story - how Smash Notes become a porno hit. The lesson here is - podcast SEO is still in its infancy, but Smash Notes is on track to dominate because we turn every episode into dozens of inbound gems.

#2 - Sleep is your super power with Matt Walker.

Sleep is important. Probably. So we are told. Although I am yet to see a conclusive study with good evidence, we could probably all agree that sleeping is somewhat important, and it is better to do it than not. Matt Walker made quite a name for himself by writing Why We Sleep as well as appearing on TED. If you need a reason to sleep more than 5 hours a night, this is the podcast for you. Also wine.

#3- Below the line, Remote Work with Hiten Shah.

Remote work is taking off, again. Except this time, the world is ready for it. We've got tools to help us work from anywhere around the world, broadband is cheap, and big bosses are getting on board too. Hiten and Co surveyed hundreds of remote workers to find out what made them tick. Turns out, flexibility was a huge hit. But, not all remote workers are happy, and for some, lack of top-down oversight was an issue. To get the best results from remotes, both the company and the workers have to get on the same page, and do extra work to make this work style a winner.

My favorites for 2019

I have listened to way too many podcasts to give you a clear winner, but if I were to pick 3 odd ones, I would pick these.

#1 - Slack CTO Cal Henderson on GeekWire.

I found this particular podcast very refreshing because Cal is so down to earth. Even though Slack was about to IPO when this podcast was released, growing, and crushing it, Cal did not show it. He was just a normal guy, talking about building a high-performance culture in a growing tech company, for the benefit of their users. That's it, no bravado, no Silicon Valley jargon. Very refreshing.

#2 - Urgent Care is forked! To get paid, hospitals get creative.

You gotta listen to this one to appreciate it. TDLR is in Smash Segments, but basically once you get in a medical emergency in US, you just might be more terrified of your hospital bills than you are of the actual trauma. How messed up is that? Of course, no one has a good solution. Take a listen to the first few minutes of this episode if you want to hear a gruesome (but not really) story of one dude seriously hurting himself.

#3 - Christopher Michel / Photographer / Entrepreneur

What can a revolutionary photographer teach you about business? Turns out, quite a bit! Christopher P. Michel has been a pilot in the Navy, created and sold a startup, got an MBA from Harvard, and has since been able to turn photography into both, a passion and a profitable career. In this podcast, he explains innovation, how to become a world class photographer, and more. We've got about 1/3 of the episode covered, so if you hear something you like and would like to contribute, please reach out!

Guess who is back?

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