1 million downloads: what it actually took to get here

Over the weekend, the 2 Commas Podcast hit 1 million downloads.

Clearly the team and I are over the moon with this achievement. I thought I'd take a moment and share a few of the things I've learnt along the way.

Podcasting is a team sport. None of this happens without the diligence and hard work of my team: Gina Rumble who recently joined, Karla Cuenca who has been with me for 2 years, plus the incredible folk at Tina's agency - Annabelle, Olive and Sam. This wasn't built alone!

Plus the recent partnership with Craig Patrick and the JBWere team makes a huge difference.

Podcasting is not for the faint-hearted. I've invested several hundred thousand dollars to get to this stage. Well over 10 hours per week, every week, plus everything else that sits around it. I found a niche and then worked the hell out of it. There are many, many things you need to get right. Simply inviting guests along and having a chat will get you a bunch of content that nobody is consuming.

Distribution is not optional - it's kind of the job. Creating great content is maybe half the work. The other half is making sure people actually hear it. From the outset I've treated distribution as a core business function; repurposing episodes, building an email list, securing the right partnerships.

Consistency compounds. James Clear talks about the power of 1% improvement per day. This is very true in podcasting. In October 2024 we had zero listens. So we literally started with 100, then 1000, then 10,000, then so on and so forth. Showing up every single week, even when the download numbers were modest, and I was paying $27 per listen. We had to experiment and keep going.

A niche podcast is about building credibility in a space I care and know about - ideally one that others aren't really talking about. When I started, nobody in New Zealand was having deep, honest conversations about business exits. I knew that I was super late to this party, so I needed to be very clear about my niche and work hard at building an incredible product and offering in it.

Continue to develop the craft. Mine was forged long before the podcast existed. I spent my formative years in executive search, and over the course of that career I interviewed well over a thousand people. Sure the episodes are the output but my innate curiosity and the questions are deeply embedded within me. Every conversation I've had in a professional context has sharpened the way I listen, the way I follow a thread, and the way I draw out the story that matters. It didn't come from watching a YouTube tutorial on how to be a better interviewer.

Know the numbers. I've always run this like a business. Downloads per episode, listener retention, where our subscribers are coming from, what's converting and what's not. Early on I could tell you the cost per listen down to the cent. That kind of discipline forces you to make better decisions about where to invest your time and money. And honestly, most podcasters I talk to have no idea what their numbers look like. They're flying blind and wondering why it's not working.

Be willing to evolve. The podcast that hit a million downloads looks nothing like the one I launched. I've introduced talking head format episodes, a brand new studio, international guests, pod-panels are coming up. I've tied the content into the book. I've changed the way I structure interviews, how we promote, even the way I think about what makes a great episode. If I'd kept doing what I was doing in year one, I'd still be in year one.

One million downloads. From New Zealand. In a niche about business exits. I'm really proud of that.

The product is free. It's always been free. If you've enjoyed the podcast and you'd like to support what we're doing in some way, my only ask is either subscribe or even better, why not grab a copy of the book? Or 10!

Cheers,
Josh