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:

Miro: The innovation workspace is your team’s new canvas

The AI Evals Course for PMs & Engineers: You get $800 with this link

Linear: Plan and build products like the best

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

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Timestamps:

Preview – 00:00:00

How Did I Grow This Podcast – 00:01:17

Question from Pawel: What I've Learned – 00:04:24

How Podcasts Earn Me Money – 00:08:43

Ad (Miro) – 00:10:01Ad (AI Evals Course) – 00:10:56

“If you had to drop everything and work for one company, what would it be and why?” – 00:12:30

How You Can Leverage AI to Customize Your Resume and Cover Letters (Demo) – 00:15:30

Doing AI Prototyping as a PM (Demo) – 00:21:18

Ad (Linear) – 00:31:16Ad (AIPM Course) – 00:32:08

AI Prototyping Demo Continued – 00:32:55

SERIES OF QUESTIONS FROM LISTENERS:

"Masters in Information Systems — How Can I Become a PM?" – 00:40:42

"Reasons Why 2025 Is the Best Time to Become a Product Manager" – 00:41:31

"How You Can Switch Your Career to Product Management" – 00:46:39

“What 5 Skills Should I Learn as a PM Right Now?” – 00:48:12

“How Do I Find the First Paying Customer?” – 00:50:32

“How Do I Grow on Social Media from Zero?” – 00:53:13

"The Unrealistic Benefit of Building a Strong LinkedIn Presence You Won’t Believe" – 00:59:24

"Secret Sauce of Newsletter Success" – 01:05:02

"How to Present Qualitative Aspects in an Interview or Application" – 01:07:51

“I’ve Applied to Thousands of Jobs but No Success — Why?” – 01:09:46

Senior Product Manager at IG — “Should I Leave PM?” – 01:13:08

“What’s a Prioritization Mistake You Made as a Creator?” – 01:16:53

MBA Student with Software Background — What Should My 1-Year Roadmap Be to Become a PM?" – 01:19:13

"How to Decide What to Ship (and What Not To) in a Fast-Paced Environment" – 01:24:56

“What Matters More: Following Passion or Making Money?” – 01:26:37

"How Do You Develop a PRD for a Platform or AI Product in a B2B Context?" – 01:28:40

“What’s One Belief You Had About PM That You No Longer Believe?” – 01:31:41

"How Do You Track Newsletter Revenue and Churn?" – 01:32:41

“How Do You Find Uninterrupted Time for Strategic Work?” – 01:34:01

“What Do People Get Wrong About You That You’d Like to Rectify?” – 01:36:05

Ending Notes – 01:36:46

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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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What I Learned From Filming 80 Podcast Episodes

The Growth Podcast

What I Learned From Filming 80 Podcast Episodes