Podcasting For Lead Generation
Amardeep Parmar has built an enviable content ecosystem for The BAE HQ - a hybrid social-commercial enterprise that connects entrepreneurs with Angel Investors.
Amardeep Parmar has been a full-time content creator since 2021
“Way more people will see our Instagram reels than listen to the full podcast, but it’s inch deep, right? With a podcast, you get a much deeper connection with people.”
Listen in your podcast feed:
Key to The BAE HQ operation is the podcast Amardeep publishes twice each week.
The show features successful business personalities that attract an audience both of hungry founders keen to learn, and seasoned investors keen to support those coming up behind them.
It’s an approach that puts The BAE HQ podcast right at the heart of Amardeep’s business, and gives the show a core role in building network, fostering trust and authority, as well as generating leads both among etc entrepreneur community and among potential investors
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Amardeep Parmar is the Co-Founder and podcast host at The BAE HQ.
He is also host of Entrepreneur's Handbook podcast and angel investor.
In January 2020, Amardeep started writing online and became the second-fastest growing writer on Medium.com behind only Barack Obama.
He became a full-time creator in June 2021, ran two podcasts and interviewed the likes of the cofounders of Netflix and Twitter.
After he lost his father in 2022 Amardeep's focus shifted to The BAE HQ with the goal of using my his creator growth to help British Asian Entrepreneurs (BAEs).
Amardeep Parmar features on The Content Mavericks Club podcast, hosted by Creative Kin CEO Jason Caffrey
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The Lead Generation Flywheel: Where Do Podcasts Fit?
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[00:00:03] Introduction
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[00:00:03] Amardeep: So way more people will see our Instagram reels than who listens to the full podcast, but it's inch deep, right? with a podcast, you get a much deeper connection with people where they'll actually get a good idea of whether or not they like you. that's so important, right? Because if they like who you are and they back you and your mission, they're way more likely to come along the journey.
Whereas There's a million instagrammers and tiktokers who are all the same, sorry to Instagram and TikTokers, but longer form content, which is podcasting It really gets people to have that deep connection with you and that deep connection is what can really make a change.
[00:00:34] Jason: Welcome to the Content Mavericks Club, where you'll find actionable insights from featured content experts that help you hit your content marketing goals. I'm Jason Caffrey, CEO of podcast agency Creative Kin, and my guest this episode is a long time content creator who's built a social enterprise. and a for profit business with a podcast right at its heart.
Amardeep Parmar is the co founder of The BAE HQ, which connects entrepreneurs with angel investors. We're going to dig deep into Amardeep's podcast and find out exactly what it delivers for his enterprise, but it's important to first better understand just what The BAE HQ does and what the model there is.
And that's something Amardeep can explain much better than I can.
[00:01:27] The BAE HQ: Connecting Entrepreneurs With Investors
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[00:01:27] Amardeep: The BAE HQ is the number one community for British Asian entrepreneurs, and this is about inspiring, connecting, and scaling British Asians. And there's a not for profit side, which is the majority of what we do and where most of our time goes. And on that side, you've got the podcast, you've got content, you've got written features, you've got our events, which are all free.
And it's also about helping people who don't have a network to give them that network. For example, we're going into schools, going to universities and trying to really build people up in that way. And from all of that side, that's backed by HSBC Innovation Banking.
[00:01:58] Jason: Nice.
[00:01:59] Amardeep: Then on the other side, the for profit side is now because we have that backing on the not for profit side, we can work out how do we start feeding ourselves again, right?
Which is like quite important. amongst all this business stuff. We call it a Robin Hood model, right? We want to give away as much as we can for free to the people on the way up. But some of those people are larger. So the bigger companies, the bigger funds, they can pay us for us to do brand strategy, helping them get deal flow, all of these kind of things where they have the money and the resources.
And we have the network of people that they want to access. And often it's a case of them trying to be more diverse in who they're looking at, where they might miss some opportunities that are really amazing because they don't know the same people we do and we can help them out in that way.
[00:02:39] Spinning The Network Wheel: The BAE HQ Connection Model
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[00:02:39] Jason: Nice. When we talk about that connection model, can you just unpack that a little bit for us?
[00:02:44] Amardeep: So it's one of the things that was way easier at the start than it is now. Because At the beginning you don't know too many people. Now it's a kind of minefield in the last two days I've met over a hundred people, easily.
at different events. And you have a good chat with somebody for five minutes, then you talk to another person five minutes, another person five minutes, and then you've forgotten who spoke to ten minutes ago. And what we've got in my head at least is that mental model of, okay, this person's a FinTech company looking to raise their pre-seed.. Oh, I know a FinTech person. And it's trying to map them out. And the key thing about it, it's about the warm connections, because these people have talked to me individually or talked to my co founder, we've got a good idea of what they're like, what their strengths are, And we can do genuine introductions . Whereas when it's a cold thing, like I get a hundred cold emails a day or every couple days, you can't handle it, it's very hard 'cause everyone's going to pitch themselves in a certain way. And often just, 'I'd love to grab a coffee'. And It's like 'about what'? And what we can do is help people in that way of okay, this is what you want.
This is person that's interested in that. And they will want to talk to you too. And that's such important thing of a mutually beneficial relationship is what we generally look for,
[00:03:48] Jason: It sounds like you actually have got a really big community and a job managing that community. Let's talk about the podcast a bit.
Where does the podcast fit? Because if you go and visit The BAE HQ website, it's really quite prominent. looking at it thinking this is something that you are presenting right up front.
[00:04:09] The BAE HQ Podcast: Fitting The Show Into The Business Model
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[00:04:09] Amardeep: Yeah, absolutely. So, I guess the background is that I had two podcasts before this podcast. When I initially quit my job to become a content creator, that was really for the writing side originally I didn't think I had the guts to do what I'm doing right now, right?
Like, I'm sitting and looking at a camera and talking. I was terrified of that kind of thing. So, it was Let me go and do it and prove to myself that I can and also build a new skill. It's a new challenge and that was quite exciting. And that was way back now. I, was talking June, 2021, off the back of that, an organization has worked called Entrepreneur's Handbook, They asked me could I do a podcast for them as well. And that's where things really took off because I was able to get huge guests. So founder of Netflix, founder of Twitter, because it's a more American based. audience. So when it came to The BAE HQ and what we're trying to achieve there, I had already had such a podcasting background.
It was the easy, low hanging fruit for me. That was my competitive advantage. So many people trying to start a podcast at that point. it already had over 100 episodes. Now I'm about 280 episodes across podcasts.
[00:05:06] Jason: Amazing.
[00:05:06] Amardeep: So when I reach out to somebody, I've got a huge advantage the idea as well as one is the guests themselves.
We're offering them something. We're giving them marketing. We're giving them a voice. A lot of them want to give back and we give them a platform to do that. So building all these relationships with different entrepreneurs and investors then the other part is just we do two episodes a week Now when you're featuring two different people a week who are all very successful, there's bound to be people in that community who are going to know one of those people.
So in terms of growing the network and people finding out about us, that was a very important lead magnet, because it's using other people's networks and bringing them into ours.
And then obviously they get in return, they get our network of people who know us and don't know them to find out about them, reach out to them too. So for us, it was one competitive advantage is that I could do it and other people couldn't. And then secondly, it's about that interlinking of you get to meet new people and then you also merge your networks together.
[00:05:58] Jason: There is a lot of spokes coming out of that hub. When you talk about leads into The BAE HQ , are you talking about wanting to attract the angel investors? Are you talking about wanting to attract the startups, the entrepreneurs, or is it facing both ways?
[00:06:16] Amardeep: We say classroom to boardroom so originally at the beginning it was about getting those top brass of people. Because if you have the top, then the people on the way up, they're gonna wanna talk to you, so it is that model of, you get all the top investors, you get all of the top startups on there, then all of the earlier stage startups, they're gonna wanna listen because they're going want to learn.
The people who are aspiring to become entrepreneurs, they're gonna want to listen and learn. And students, obviously, it's role models for them to see what they could be in 10 years time. So it is quite wide in that respect. And I've always been quite surprised sometimes about the caliber of some of the people who listen to the podcast.
I've gone to events and somebody who's, say, raised 20 million pounds has come up to me like, Oh, I've heard the episode you did with this person. I'm like, It's interesting because a lot of these people still want to learn. They still want to hear other people's stories.
[00:07:01] Creating Profitable Connects From Podcast Community
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[00:07:01] Jason: So how would you describe the funnel you've got the podcast is doing that job of networking for you.
Yeah. How do you then channel all of those listeners and that network into useful connections, or dare I suggest, profitable connections for The BAE HQ?
[00:07:21] Amardeep: I think part of it initially is just about building the community, right? So that is one of the end goals, is how can get more people to find out about us? And more we build that, the more valuable the community is, the more that they can help each other too. There's five and a half million British Asians. I cannot be every single person's best friend. I can't help every single person. But what that's doing is getting people into our newsletter, we promote that in the podcast, and so it's obviously an owned audience.
Let's say, 60%. Whereas, for a podcast, or YouTube, for any of those kind of things, whatever your subscriber rate, there's no way 60 percent of those people are listening or watching. But an email you get through their inbox it's a higher barrier to entry, but they're going to find out about you every single week.
And from that we have events, so obviously people listen to the podcast, then come to events, and it's just getting that deeper and deeper relationship with them. so, what we've built up is a lot of goodwill. Everyone asks us how they can help all the time, and sometimes we don't have a good answer because there's so many million things going on at once we just need to get things done before we have open conversations and there's probably some people maybe listening now who DM me and i haven't replied because Unless it's very specific yeah. if I take a coffee with that person and then it's vague and then It's taking time out of me just executing and managing the team It's one of the challenges of being a founder, right?
There's always a million priorities and it's trying to juggle those But what we've now done is that because that podcast is that lead magnet where people can see the content we're doing, naturally what happens is that, I'd probably say 100 people in the last, say, six months, could you mention me in my podcast?
I want to start a podcast? And I can't help everybody for free . What then happens is for some of the top organizations is that they're willing to pay.
I always say it's like I'm looking for the clients which are paying top dollar where we can work with a few clients that are very impact driven. they care about results and they're willing to pay for those results. Whereas I think a mistake a lot of people make and say an agency model of those kind of things is they try to go for lots of small clients but what you'll find and I found this with the ghostwriting I used to do before is The smaller the client if it's a bigger part of their budget They're going to be way more invested And question every little bit And actually that small ticket will take you more time than a bigger ticket we only need to have a few clients at a time to pay our bills We don't need a million clients.
So what's good about that is that we can be quite upfront and honest that we're helping the majority of people for free. And the idea is that we're also attracting those top funds and those top entrepreneurs who will want our time directly and they can pay for that. But it's always a boundary setting that's really hard at that because obviously so many people want my direct time,
but they don't see all the other things that go on beyond the podcast.
People see I do the podcast they don't see all of the other things that are going on behind the scenes
[00:10:00] Converting Podcast Listeners Into Email Subscribers
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[00:10:00] Jason: I've got a question about how do you know the podcast is working in the way that you want it to and how you measure that.
Before, Before I get there, you talked about driving people to your newsletter. Now, some podcasters I've talked to have just said, no, it's not going to happen. There's no way you'll build an email list via a podcast. But it sounds like you, you're being successful with that.
[00:10:22] Amardeep: I think it's, like you said about The hubs and spokes is that the podcast itself is just one part of that, but that podcast generates content for LinkedIn, Instagram, all these other platforms. And on those platforms, what happens is a lot of people reach out to me. What happens when you reach out to me? You get an auto responder. and that's says here's how you can contact me.
And it's also about signing up to newsletters and things like that. So I don't know how many people directly sign up from the podcast, if you're listening on Apple or Spotify. when you go to these other platforms and they then look us up or they then go to LinkedIn and then they check out more, that's all different entry points for those. that newsletter.
So newsletters are not massive at the moment, we're probably going at say a couple of hundred subscribers a month at the moment, which isn't massive, but it doesn't need to be massive because from that newsletter we then generally, all of our events are full. the podcast gets people to hear about us, but the events and the things we do with the community, that gets people to feel like they're because they want to go to those events. And that always gets sent to the newsletter first. So if those spots are taken up by people in the newsletter, and you're not subscribing to that, you're gonna get in at the end and not be able to get there.
[00:11:25] Jason: It's incentivised.
[00:11:26] Amardeep: And even the newsletter, It's about making sure that there's value in that newsletter where it's worth them opening. So we can track that in terms of open rates, right? But we keep pruning as well, which is when you delete subscribers who are inactive. Because it's actually better for you in terms of the internet service provider, all of that nerdy stuff. but That's important to not just think how can I get as many subscribers as I can.
[00:11:47] Jason: It's the quality of the list.
[00:11:48] Amardeep: Yeah.
[00:11:48] Testing The BAE HQ podcast against goals
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[00:11:48] Jason: And so when you talked about not having necessarily great data feedback from the likes of Apple, for instance, so come back to that question, how do you really know that the podcast is working for you in the way that you want it to?
[00:12:08] Amardeep: So It's interesting. because I don't actually check the stats very often at all, And I
[00:12:13] Jason: sounds really healthy.
[00:12:14] Amardeep: Yeah, I think it's also experience, right? Because at the beginning I was checking every single day, refreshing every couple minutes, , but then you just get realized it's actually not going up that much each. second. And it's more about the conversations I'm having where when I go to events, people be like, oh, you've got that podcast, right?
So that's the connection in person. And obviously depending on what your audience is doing, that might not necessarily be relevant for them. But because we've got the hybrid, both online presence and in person. Then, we can really see that, where people come up to me and be like, Oh, I listened to your episode of this person.
And what I guess is really interesting too, is like I said, Some of the people, were like, really high quality who are listening. So, I was at an event yesterday, is the guy who is a founder of a company called Climate X. So, they had massive waves at Slush, which is a big startup festival. they're raising their Series A at the moment.
And it's very hot in terms of, lots of investors are very interested in what they're doing. And he was like, oh, you did a podcast my friend Merva. it's that recognition that people are seeing. And one good way to be able to tell is if you've got that hybrid model. And even, for example, if you're reaching out cold to people, and they recognize you by saying oh, I think I listened to you with that person.
It's that reference point. And another thing I think I'd say that, again, it's often forgotten, It's not just about the warm. bits of people already know who you are, but when they google you to check Oh, should I reply to this person or not? And it comes up with a podcast and they scroll through and they say, let me have a listen to one of these episodes or two of these episodes. Okay, this person's actually fairly smart.
let me take that call And I think that makes a huge difference too Where people forget the podcast is there forever. I know it sounds scary to people. But you google most of our guests - we'll be in the top five results what we've done is that create that content where one, it helps them, because people hear their story.
But also for us is that there's 120 guests. What's that doing for our inbound and people hearing about us too. But yeah, I would say in terms of the numbers, it's really hard to tell whether it's doing well. And the point about, I think is too, it's like the feedback you get anecdotally really does help.
If you're a business model where you need a ton of clients to make money, then you do need to be paying attention to how many people are listening. Whereas, if it's more about the quality of the audience and people who are a target and it's a small niche, then that feedback of people reaching out to you, so, maybe that's a good way to tell as well, as how many people are actually messaging you and being like, Oh, I love the episode of this, or, Oh, I'd love to learn more, or, I'd love to grab a coffee.
And I complain about how many people want to grab coffee. But it's also, it's a sign of it's working. And what I've got to do more effectively is like work out how can we help them in a way that doesn't trade my time as much.
[00:14:42] HSBC Innovation Banking sponsorship and growth ambitions
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[00:14:42] Jason: What are you thinking on those lines before we move on to the next bit?
Because it would be great to just get a view of where you are with The BAE HQ and what's on your mind and what your concerns are right now.
[00:14:53] Amardeep: One of the things we're very fortunate about is that we've got the 2024 sponsorship with HSBC Innovation Banking. So we didn't take a salary out of that ourselves at the moment, but it pays for the team, it pays for the tech, all of the different things on that side.
[00:15:07] Jason: This is for the content production.
[00:15:09] Amardeep: included in that is the podcast sponsorship, school and university, So when we go to schools and universities, HSBC Innovation Banking is behind us and they're the people encouraging us to do that Mentorship schemes and then some of the events are with them too.
So it's a package.
A pure podcast if you just do the numbers and it's sponsorship based on that it's terrible you're not gonna get much money out of it at all last I looked into is what 20 per thousand listeners something like that, which is negligible unless you can really build a big audience.
[00:15:37] Jason: A very big audience
[00:15:38] Amardeep: But If you've got a very niche audience, which is very valuable, like what we have, then you can charge much higher rates because the return on investment for the people investing in you is way higher.
They're backing us because they care about what we're doing, as opposed to the leads we're generating or what money we're making for them. But it's obviously, there's going to be some commercial element too, and I'm not naive about that, they've got this budget to try and make a difference and try to do good for what they're doing.
And we're able to help them do that, which is easier for us as an independent organization compared to in a large organization trying to manage all the different things we're doing. So that gives us some safety for this year.
And the idea is to make it so that next year is multiple sponsors, bigger sponsorships, because we're able to have a bigger audience and so much more. So there's all these different projects going on behind the scenes that are continually getting launched through the website.
And the longer term vision is, once you've built this network to a certain position is, there's always other options that come into play. If we're getting the hottest deals, we can be part of those things right at the beginning, in the early stages. we can work with so many corporations and do work on that side. So we do that at the moment where we do workshops with large organizations. And help them with their content or help them with their positioning and branding because of the nature of what we're doing.
I've talked to what, nearly 300 entrepreneurs. And I can see how they tell their stories and I can see the mistakes they're making And positioning for that market is a very valuable of my skill set So there's some things we can do like that But a lot of it comes back down to it started as a not-for-profit as a main reason So how do you maximize the impact whilst not starving along the way?
So that's the way we think about things like how can we really make a huge difference? And That's where majority of the effort is going. But the nature of our skill set means that we can charge very high rates for our time with the large organizations. And that's the way we stay it's
[00:17:26] Jason: Good. It's always good to stay fed. It's very important part of the picture, isn't it? And I think for a lot of entrepreneurs and founders they can often go into it with this vision of, Empire building. And very quickly, you can find yourself needing to pay lots of other people. And that thing of just looking after yourself, putting your oxygen mask on first can slip down the priority list a bit.
[00:17:49] Amardeep: Yeah, and it's going into eyes wide open of knowing how long can I do this for whilst not paying myself? How long can I do this for before I need to start looking at other options? And you've got to be delusionally optimistic, but at the same time know when enough is enough.
[00:18:03] Why podcasting is the right tool for the job
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[00:18:03] Jason: Yeah, You talked earlier about how you'd had this competitive advantage when it came to creating a podcast because you had done shows in the past. Are there other reasons why you decided that the podcast a podcast was the right medium was the right channel because there are a lot of options out there you could have gone to youtube plenty of people who are doing a lot of what you are in places like linkedin and elsewhere without podcasting so what is it about that medium that switched on the light for
[00:18:40] Amardeep: So, I think in terms of the funnel, LinkedIn content, Twitter content, Instagram content, you get a wider reach.
So way more people will see our Instagram reels than who listens to the full podcast, but it's inch deep, right? with a podcast, you get a much deeper connection with people where they'll actually get a good idea of whether or not they like you. that's so important, right? Because if they like who you are and they back you and your mission, they're way more likely to come along the journey.
Whereas There's a million instagrammers and tiktokers who are all the same, sorry to Instagram and TikTokers, but Longer form content, which is podcasting blog writing It really gets people to have that deep connection with you and that deep connection is what can really make a change Whether that change being for us it's about that deeper connection.
we got with people enabled to open us doors Which enabled us to do the university work, the school work, and really bring in so many people who felt like they didn't belong into our network. That was very difficult to do, I think, from just LinkedIn and Instagram posts. Whereas if they could really get that deeper sense of us, and it's the whole thing, is that I think a lot of time people pretend that we don't judge each other.
I'm judging everybody all the time, right? I'm trying to work out, if I'm meeting 100 people a day, You I need to work out, do I want to spend more time with this person or not? Do I back this person? Because if I'm going to introduce them to somebody, and I don't think that they're all that nice a person, I don't want to give the person I like that experience.
you've got to realize that people are judging you, and you can either let that terrify you, or be like, I'm actually authentic, so I've got nothing to hide. the only reason you should be scared of people judging you is if you aren't what you say you are. Whereas I am, so then if people don't like what I'm doing, that's absolutely fine.
Like I said, I can't handle the people I have currently have so if people don't That's actually a good thing it's better to realize that early on than for me to spend loads of time or try to then go for a coffee with them They can make the decision themselves. They can listen to it.
Okay, this guy is whatever he is We don't want to work with them. We don't like what they're doing. Cool. That's fine They've been able to work that out without even talking to me And I think people need to get more okay with that Where it's so easy to want everybody to love your podcast most people aren't going to listen to your podcast let's be real, Right, people have maybe four or five podcasts.
They listen to rotation if somebody's a podcast listener, you've got to displace one of those other podcasts, It happens to me some people I loved at the beginning say Tim Ferris, right? it's not that I don't like him. It's just a case of I've heard so many episodes where it doesn't have the same appeal to me anymore And That's where you've got to try and catch people in those times where they're replacing or they're moving different ways and I think it's a natural thing for many podcasts is that if The content becomes too similar and it's only also it's only becomes a problem.
when you say 100 episodes in right? When you're in your first 10 episodes, it doesn't matter they could be listening to Diary of a CEO or Rangan Chatterjee, Feel Better Live More all these other podcasts a high performance podcast, but they're choosing to listen to you instead You've got to be grateful that they're spending that time with you.
Then I forgot the question.
[00:21:26] How podcasts deepen relationships between host, listener and brand.
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[00:21:26] Jason: what was the question? I slightly forgot myself. It was about what were the things about the podcast medium, particularly that you decided, yes, this is the right vehicle.
[00:21:37] Amardeep: Yeah, so that's all around that depth of relationship. Then the other part I mentioned earlier about the actual connection with the podcast guests themselves is really important.
And it's also hub and spoke model of, you do one piece of long form content, then that's YouTube shorts, it's YouTube clips, it's LinkedIn posts, it's Instagram reels, it's
[00:21:55] Jason: So it's generating its content for you?
[00:21:59] Amardeep: Exactly. And it's also, again, a competitive advantage in terms of so many people can just write on their own ideas, right?
And you've got to have the gravitas for that to work, and that's one of the things a lot of people miss, is that I can write things on LinkedIn, and because I've got a reputation, now that people can pay more attention. And I often see it say, Stephen Bartlett, right? you can write exactly the same thing as Stephen Bartlett.
You can write it better than he did. But because people care who Stephen Bartlett is, and they don't know you, they're going to think his post is amazing, his ideas are amazing. Even though it's the same as what maybe a million other people are saying. And that's the difficult thing about what people forget is that by having that model, is weird that people care more about what you have to say when they realize.
either who You know or what your background is and things like that. So it's not just what you say. It's also the person that says it and What it has to is that whole thing about being on show, right? Is that people can see how i'm talking now they can see, there's I give them a lot more data points to judge me which is scary sometimes but I'd rather they find out whether or not they can like me or not Yeah. easier than have this massive funnel of people who don't really care about what I'm doing or what my mission's about, right?
And I think, through voice, through video, that comes across I do care.
[00:23:11] Booking podcast guests: get comfortable then shoot for the stars
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[00:23:11] Jason: It's interesting this idea is presenting itself that there's a kind of efficiency gain there. There's almost a sort of filtering out of the people that are not going to work for you, are not going to work with you, are not going to work for The BAE HQ.
Interesting. Let's talk about booking guests. I know that you've had some really exciting, very high profile guests. And maybe you'll just drop a few names. That would be lovely, but just tell us about that approach the attitude towards that.
Because I do think that particularly when people are starting podcasts, and I think in many ways it's valid, they don't necessarily want to go right to the top of their wishlist. I'm all for when you begin work with people that you're comfortable with, that's really important because you're gonna make some mistakes along the way, all that sort of thing.
But nonetheless, I am also a big advocate of don't be afraid to ask anyone.
[00:24:11] Amardeep: So I guess a few different points there. So if I do the name dropping, so for biggest guess in terms of different criteria. So in terms of sheer numbers. Ev Williams, founder of Blogger, Twitter, and Medium. he's worth several billion.
Mark Randolph, the co founder and original CEO of Netflix. In terms of followings, you've got the Tilburys, they've got over 10 million followers. In terms of sheer impact, there's somebody called Zainab Salbi founded Women for Women International, which has helped over 500, 000 refugees across Yugoslavia, the Congo, Iraq, Sudan, all of those kinds of things, right?
So Those kind of names, again, like who am I, right? to be talking to of people, but we look at the path get there, it's where it makes a sense, where how initially got, who's the first one I got those? I think it was actually Ev Williams, the Twitter founder, but that's because the fastest, second fastest growing writer on his So that gave me the credibility.
[00:25:05] Jason: This was medium.
[00:25:06] Amardeep: A Medium, yeah. So, started writing on Medium January 2020, just as a New Year's resolution. New Year, new me, nobody's going to care, whatever. But it worked out, and then I grew very fast, The stat I like to bring guys Barack obama's only one who grew faster than me, in terms of sheer following.
And that got me into their Medium all- hands, so they invited me to speak at their company gathering. And obviously he was there, and he's like, oh, is there any way he can help you? I've got a podcast, would you like to come on that? He couldn't say no in front of all of his staff, right? So that was a little hack into how I got him.
Then when Mark Randolph's at that point running The Entrepreneur's Handbook, there was what, 40, 000 email list. It was very clear alignment what he was doing. When I reached out to him he's trying to promote his book. Perfect timing, right?
And it's what have you got that makes it interesting for them to talk to you?
lot of entrepreneurs want to talk to me because I was this fast growing writer. So that was
an advantage I had that other people didn't have. What I'd say for the average person starting a podcast especially if they knew they didn't have the experience, it's first five guests Do it on zoom record it, but don't worry about how it looks or anything like that Do it with people you already know and if you don't know five people in your sector to interview That's in your niche.
You shouldn't be doing a podcast about that. That's the way I see it. For example, you reach out to me, and you'd already met me before, so you had a connection. So then I'm more likely to say yes. Whereas, when a stranger reaches out to me in the first five episodes, I'm like, the whole start about, 90 percent of podcasts don't get past episode 10.
I'm not going to go on somebody's first 10 episodes, because the likelihood that they even release it, I've had that in the past, where I've gone on people's podcasts, they haven't released it, I've given up an hour of my time, I've given up something else there's a opportunity cost of that time.
So first five episodes people, you know well People who are your friends who you just talk to anyway Because then you're not taking up an hour of their time because they like talking to you. Hopefully if they're your friends Record those five if you don't enjoy it stop If you enjoy it a look back at it.
What could I improve? Is it engaging think about the name and stuff then? What people do wrong is they spend ages thinking about the branding, the name, or the podcast, or this is the tagline, this is how we're going to be different, just record an episode, see if you even do you even enjoy it?
Can you even hack listening to yourself back?
Because in the beginning, you got to listen to yourself a lot.
[00:27:13] Amardeep: I'm so used to my own voice now, which is a bit egotistical, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I've got over that hump of, if I suck as a speaker, that's fine now I'm too far gone. But, at the beginning, I used to hate listening to myself, but I got over it.
So, first five is your friends, then it's, Do they know somebody who maybe is a good fit as well?
And if you've given them a good experience. Then hopefully they'll recommend somebody. Now you've got your first 10 guests. Now you've got 10 guests. Their episodes are released. You can now look at slightly bigger guests. But, how I do it now is I very rarely actually cold outreach. Unless somebody's strategically important in some way, where I don't have a connection to them but I feel like they bring something different. Most of the time it's now just guests being like Oh like, my mate would be really good for this. Can she come on?
And I don't have to work as hard anymore, But at the beginning you've got to understand most people are going to say no and they should say no and this is the thing that's really hard for you at the beginning is that you can't offer them anything.
They've got so many other priorities and we think about how I always say this as, no matter how busy you think you are, I think I'm just as busy. The listeners, they think they're really busy too. Everybody's busy, so how do you make them care enough to take time out of their really busy lives? Maybe they've got kids, maybe we've got parents looking after.
Maybe they just want to go to the gym. Maybe they've got health problems There's always stuff you don't see online And you're asking for their time, which they're never going to get back You've got to be damn sure that it's going to be worth their time Because the last thing you want to do is come to your podcast man, I really regret that god I wasted my time. And It's not even about preparation. It's just about can you make that person feel welcome? Whereas I've been on podcasts but I feel like the host is more nervous than I am.
And it's I'm not supposed to be coaching you for the podcast, like you're interviewing me.
[00:28:56] What it's like to interview big-name founders
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[00:28:56] Jason: Yeah. Talking of nervous, what was it like for you when it came to sitting down and interviewing the head of Twitter, the head of Netflix I mean, guessing that if it was me, I'd be somewhere between really scared and really excited.
[00:29:12] Amardeep: Oh, actually it was the founder of Netflix was the first Big episode that came out because I remember it and if you watch the episodes at the top I'm wearing you see the sweat stains slowly growing throughout the episode, right?
If you pay attention Because that's the time I just completely crapped myself It was so overwhelming to speak to somebody like that and Mark Randolph incredible guy And how explain is it's that Obama-esque level of charisma he had And I just felt completely bodied.
I was like, I am not I don't know what i'm doing here.
I'm completely outplayed. It's who am I? But the thing about him was that after we finished recording, he carried on talking to me. He's like, Oh, what's your story? I want to learn more about what you're up to. And for somebody at that kind of level to care about what I'm doing, I use this forever now, right?
It's Ed Williams did the exact same thing. Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy, again, like, multi billion dollar company. If those people at the very top can care enough to ask me about me, then I don't care how big anybody else is anymore. Because if those people could be willing to be kind to me afterwards, then there's a few people who are bigger than Netflix, right?
If I was interviewing Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, I probably would crap myself too. But everybody else now is you're all just people. And are we allowed to swear on the podcast?
[00:30:19] Jason: Yeah,
[00:30:19] Amardeep: So everyone I've interviewed, all eat, all sleep, all shit. Doesn't matter how big they are, how much money they made, whatever it is, they're all people.
And once you can treat them like people and treat them as another human being it makes a huge difference Whereas it's really weird when somebody's a bit too deferential to you because then it's the weird relationship And often for them they're living vicariously through you as well. So those people at the very top they don't have normal friends as much they didn't get to see people at your kind of level or my kind of level at the time so it's interesting to see what young people are up to or what other people are doing and it's that's the whole thing about leverage, right? Is what have you got that's different to somebody else?
You're always going to have something which is different to their life experience and can you do that from a humble perspective of, oh they might be interested in my story too and not be like I'm more important than you but be like I've got a different experience and maybe they're interested in stories.
And A lot of people at the top are interested in stories because they wouldn't have got to where they are if they don't enjoy listening to other people's stories.
[00:31:16] Amardeep Parmar's top benefits of podcasting for The BAE HQ
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[00:31:16] Jason: it's so important, isn't it, to just think beyond yourself and what you want and need out of any given situation. And then,
Amardeep, there's so much in here, and I'm really grateful for you giving the Content Mavericks Club your time today. We're pretty much at the end. But I'd like to finish with leveraging out of you a few top tips. We've, covered a lot of ground. So I'm going to put it this way. If there's one thing that you and The BAE HQ get out of podcasting that makes it worth all of the time and energy investment that you put into it, what is
[00:31:51] Amardeep: I've just met incredible people. And at the end of the day, Everything comes back down to people. I never thought I'd be talking to a Founder of Netflix Even the people I've talked to now, I always pinch myself like, who the hell am I? I'm just some. kid who grew up in East London who now gets to talk to all these amazing people and they are interested in what I do and it's just, it never fails to amaze me that this is now my life.
[00:32:12] Jason: Biggest downside?
[00:32:13] Amardeep: I think it's that guilt that comes with not being able to, you want to help everybody but you just don't have enough time and I think that's something I really struggle with and I can say on the podcast I'm trying to do this, trying to do that, but In reality I feel bad every time and I'm trying to get over that because I can't help everybody. I've got to try to be most effective my time to help as many people as I can. But I've also got to look after myself too. And I think that guilt is like the biggest downside of the micro fame that comes with what I'm doing.
[00:32:41] Jason: And
your top tip for entrepreneur or startup brand that's and thinking, is this the right thing for us to do?
[00:32:49] Amardeep: Test it, experiment. ' Cause you can spend a million years Oh, what should we call it? Oh, what should we do? Is it the Just do it. And like I said, record five episodes. Find out, okay, is it good? Do people, get some feedback from honest And people around your network. And just start it. And what's the worst that can happen? If it's always interesting people, you have an interesting chat.
And nobody listens. You've had an interesting chat, you've won. Don't overdo the marketing before you're comfortable with what you're doing. Which is a big problem that people do. is like, just get started. Fail a lot. Once people are starting to give you good feedback, then start pushing marketing behind it.
[00:33:23] Jason: Amardeep Parmar from The BAE HQ. What a fantastic conversation. it's so impressive to me what Amardeep is doing in his business and for me, for myself as the owner of a podcast company. It's just a joy to hear him speak about that core position his podcast holds in his business. It's just wonderful. It's so, so fantastic.
So thank you to Amardeep for joining the show. Thank you for listening. I'm Jason Caffrey. That's it for this edition. You've been listening to the Content Mavericks Club. See you next time.
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TOPICS COVERED
00:03 Introduction
01:27 The BAE HQ: Connecting Entrepreneurs With Investors
02:39 Spinning The Network Wheel: The BAE HQ Connection Model
04:09 The BAE HQ Podcast: Fitting The Show Into The Business Model
07:01 Creating Profitable Connects From Podcast Community
10:00 Converting Podcast Listeners Into Email Subscribers
11:48 Testing The BAE HQ podcast against goals
14:42 HSBC Innovation Banking sponsorship and growth ambitions
18:03 Why podcasting is the right tool for the job
21:26 How podcasts deepen relationships between host, listener and brand.
23:11 Booking podcast guests: get comfortable then shoot for the stars
28:56 What it's like to interview big-name founders
31:16 Amardeep Parmar's top benefits of podcasting for The BAE HQ
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From the Creative Kin blog
As the audience for podcasts continues to grow, their value as a marketing tool increases too. If you’re asking yourself if a brand podcast should be part of your content marketing strategy, you’re not alone.