#9
StartUp Podcast
Gimlet
United States
StartUp began as a meta-play on entrepreneurship and quickly became a sharply observed chronicle of ambition, anxiety, and the awkward theater of building something from nothing—equal parts confessional and case study, with a knack for making the mechanics of business feel strangely intimate.
"If there ever was a podcast that captured a moment in an industry, it is Start Up. This show inspired me to pursue the industry as a full-time profession with its mixture of enthusiasm and candor about the victories and mistakes we all make as we stumble through change."
- Doug Slawin, Campside Media
StartUp began as a meta-narrative—an entrepreneur documenting the messy, ego-bruising process of launching a podcast company—and evolved into a sharp, emotionally resonant chronicle of what it really takes to build something from nothing. With its unsparing honesty, cinematic pacing, and flair for self-deprecation, the show stripped away the mythology of Silicon Valley and replaced it with something far more compelling: the human drama behind the pitch decks. In doing so, StartUp helped define the documentary podcast form, offering not just a story about business, but a meditation on ambition, vulnerability, and the stories we tell ourselves to keep going.