I Recorded 70 Podcast Episodes About Web3 and AI. 7 Hard Truths Before You Start Yours.

97% of podcasts die before episode 15. Decentralized Voices hit 70, featuring builders from EF, OKX, Centrifuge, Matter Labs, Base, Starknet, Optimum, and more. My name is Daria. I’m a GTM strategist and communication expert working with tech products. The podcast was my door to enter the blockchain and AI spaces and meet many amazing builders across continents. If you’re going to start your podcast, let me save you months of pain. Here are the hard and surprising lessons I learned. \ Your first 10 episodes will be bad Back in 2023, I spent weeks preparing for my first recordings. Rewrote my questions a few times. Obsessed over the intro. It didn't matter. The episodes were positive, but often awkward. I was afraid to fail and show imperfection. I couldn't relax in front of the camera, and my back was as tight as a string while recording. I felt SO TIRED after finishing the episode. Despite this, I don't cringe watching old episodes now. I remember how bad my English was, how big "imposter syndrome" I had, and how much I didn't like editing (I had to learn Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve), so I'm really proud of myself for starting this. Remember: you don't get good by preparing. You get good by shipping. Stop overthinking. Start inviting people and shipping. Be obsessed with your sound Nobody wants to hear brilliant insights through a hissing mic. I learned this the hard way when some guests gave me incredible answers I couldn't use because the audio was garbage. Riverside has an audio enhancer. Adobe Audition has a brilliant audio enhancer. Don't hesitate to use them. BUT! Take care of your sound BEFORE recording. Recording in a podcast studio or asking your guest to be in a quiet room wearing headphones makes up 90% of your sound quality. As a podcast host, you MUST have good-quality sound. Buy a dynamic microphone that catches your voice and makes you look more professional. My first-ever mic was a lavalier microphone for $20, and later - a Rode for $100. Now, I use a professional microphone that you may see in my videos . I never invite a guest more than 2 times Regardless of company size and investment, all founders genuinely want to talk about what they're building. So, let them brag! But avoid situations where they feel like they're doing you a favor by coming to your podcast. I have a rule: I never invite a guest more than 2 times. If a person I'd like to host on the pod can't make it now, I can repeat my invitation later, one more time. However, I never ask more than 2 times, because: I provide a platform to speak, valuable topics, and visibility. So, it's a win-win case for both sides. There are so many talented and nice people, so it doesn't make any sense to chase someone, especially if this person doesn't really want to make joint content. I don't recommend you be obsessed with founders only or hyped people, who look like everyone's favorite: Popular people are tired of requests, so your invitation may get lost among dozens of other requests Invite people from your circle if you're just starting. It will help you to decrease your level of stress and make the episode live. Founders and prominent builders appreciate being asked real questions instead of getting another PR template. Guests always feel when you know the topic and when you pretend you know it. Vibes matter \ The most common feedback I get: "I love the vibes!" You can't fake energy and edit the human side. Your audience feels when a conversation is real. Some people said I ask uncomfortable questions, and I perceive it as a compliment. I don't make fake hype, but I ask questions that I'd like to know the answers to. There were 2 episodes, which I recorded with people recommended by others. Despite the regret of the wasted time, I didn't post them because the quality of the conversations was low. That's why I ALWAYS invite people I have common context with, or at least I know them for some time online or IRL. You can't rely on someone else's opinion because you never know what exactly this person wants from pushing their friend/colleague as a guest on your pod. Good partners make you even more trustworthy When the podcast became visible enough, I started getting a lot of invitations from tech events to cover their guests and activities around. Having prominent conferences among the partners helped me to invite high-level guests and get access to exclusive side events. For example, during the latest EthCC conference in Cannes, as a podcast host, I was invited to two conferences with 500 EUR and 1200 EUR ticket prices. It’s a great bonus and an opportunity to meet more people because they’re interested in being highlighted in a niche industry podcast. After Devcon, Devconnect, EthCC, or other big or small conferences, I get back home with a list of potential guests. It’s a person-first approach that allows me to understand if there is a match. \ PR agencies waste your time In 2025, I started getting guest outreach requests from PR agencies almost every week (even twice a week in a peak season). In 95% of cases, speakers nominated by agencies don't personally invest in making the episode great. They show up because someone told them to, not because they want to be there. The second thing: PR agencies, paid $10-20k monthly for their job, literally ask you to build their clients' reputation FOR FREE, packaging this as if you should be grateful for this "flagship” guest. If these proposed teams are as successful as they're described, they can certainly allocate budget for visibility. I like to get satisfaction when recording an episode, without feeling used. Assisting with content distribution or offering perks to podcasters could increase the response rate and make a collaboration between an agency and a creator more successful. Make consistency sexy \ Out of every 100 people who start a podcast, only 3 make it to episode 15. Not because podcasting is hard. Because showing up after the dopamine fades is hard. The first few episodes are exciting and unpredictable. By episode 20, it's just work. You have to grow the quality of your content, find new topics and niches to make it less routine and more joyful for you and your audience. The secret of a successful podcast isn't luck. It's boring consistency. 💗 Liked this article? Follow me on X , LinkedIn , and Youtube . 💬 Have something to share or want to discuss the process of podcast creation? Let me know in the comments! \ \ \ \