Intro

Starting this podcast wasn’t an easy decision. It takes up nearly half my time. And for months, it wasn’t making any money.

But fast forward to today, and the podcast is now profitable and central to my creator business.

So I did something different this week.

I recorded a solo episode breaking down everything I’ve learned:

- How I built and monetized a niche podcast

- The exact growth engine that powers the show today

- Some killer AI workflows I’ve learned for your job search and PM job

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Brought to you by:

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Product Faculty: Get $500 off the AI PM certification with code AAKASH25

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Timestamps:

Part 1: How I Built and Monetized a Niche Podcast

0:00 - Exponential Growth Finally Happening

1:21 - How I Grew This Podcast

4:31 - Learning From 80 Episodes

8:46 - How Podcasts Make Money

10:50 - My Dream Job: OpenAI

Part 2: Breaking Into Product Management & Career Growth

13:36 - Roadmap to Becoming a Product Manager

14:05 - Why 2025 is Great For PMs

21:22 - AI PM Skills Roadmap

23:02 - Finding Your First Paying Customer

26:12 - Zero to 250K Followers Strategy

32:21 - LinkedIn $525K Salary Jump

34:24 - High-Effort Content Strategy

38:05 - Newsletter Success Stack Rank

Part 3: Getting PM Jobs & Career Advice

40:51 - Presenting Soft Skills on Resume

42:46 - Breaking Into US PM Jobs (International Students)

46:08 - Is Product Management Right For Me?

49:54 - Time Management & Prioritization Mistakes

52:15 - MBA to PM Roadmap

55:41 - Finding the Right Mentors

57:56 - Sprint Prioritization Framework

59:39 - Detecting Product Passion vs Money Focus

1:01:41 - Platform & AI Product PRDs

1:04:09 - Product Management Beliefs That Changed

1:05:41 - Newsletter Revenue & Churn Management

1:07:02 - Time Management & Focus Strategies

1:09:07 - Common Misconceptions About Content Creators

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Key Takeaways:

01 — Podcast Turnaround

This podcast is now passing 50K listeners per episode, 11K subscribers on YouTube, and has become central to my creator business. The exponential growth kicked in around episode 80 after consistent investment and improvement.

02 — Quality Over Equipment

Obsessing over microphones, cameras, and lighting hits diminishing returns fast. The real growth came from improving trailers, clip selection, and backing off endless equipment upgrades to focus on profit generation.

03 — Creator Time Investment

The podcast now consumes 50% of my time but generates significant monthly profit. Success required treating it as a long-term experiment, reinvesting everything for 50+ episodes before expecting returns.

04 — Content Platform Strategy

Start with LinkedIn until 10K followers, then add YouTube, then Twitter at 100K, then Medium at 1M. Master one platform completely before spreading to the next for maximum growth efficiency.

05 — AI Prototyping Revolution

Product managers can now build functional prototypes in minutes. Using Gemini 2.5 Pro for PRDs and Bolt.new for development, I built Apple Podcasts video features from strategy to clickable prototype in under 10 minutes.

06 — Resume AI Mastery

Gemini 2.5 Pro dominates resume customization, beating all other models. What used to take 15 minutes of manual customization now takes 80 seconds with better results using proper context and prompting techniques.

07 — PM Job Security

2025 is an excellent time to enter product management. 75% of PM work involves people coordination and stakeholder alignment that AI cannot replace, making it as secure as doctor/lawyer/engineer careers.

08 — Career Switching Strategy

Use your domain expertise as an edge — become a product analyst first, then transfer internally, or target companies building tools for your previous industry. Take the level down initially but leverage your customer knowledge.

09 — PM Strategy Focus

Stop being the design-engineering glue person. Your core identity should be product strategy, business metrics, and stakeholder management. Empower teams to answer their own questions while you influence at higher levels.

10 — Platform Product PRDs

Building for developers requires two-step user stories — what developers need from your platform, and what end users need from their products. Include API calls, uptime metrics, and governance considerations in your requirements.

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Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

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Related Podcasts:

Growing to 125K+ on LinkedIn and Cracking B2B Content with Pierre Herubel

How to Win on TikTok and Medium with Professor Aaron Dinin, 100K+ on each

How I Wrote 3 of My Biggest LinkedIn Posts

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P.S. More than 85% of you aren't subscribed yet. If you can subscribe on YouTube, follow on Apple & Spotify, my commitment to you is that we'll continue making this content better.

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