5 Lessons from growing from 5 to 25K YT subs in 2025:

+ why I'm renaming my podcast

Growing a podcast is brutal.

These 5 lessons have simple titles, but I learned each the hard way.

1. Make it unique

Today I renamed my podcast after 1.5 years. Why? For years, it just inherited the name from my newsletter. It was 'Product Growth.' It inherited those topics.

But now my podcast is 'The Growth Podcast.' The advice I'm implementing myself spills over into everything. There's enough podcasts out there. You're not going to grow without making something different.

Build something different with its own brand.

2. Find your audience

100 superfans do all the work for you. MIne are aspiring AI PMs. But I didn't set out for that! My top episodes ultimately dictatated that:

Number 1 - Paweł Huryn : youtube.com/watch?v=IfW…

Number 2 - Ankit Shukla : youtube.com/watch?v=MZl…

Number 3 - Carl Vellotti : youtube.com/watch?v=4nt…

My growth would've died if I didn't move in their direction. Move to the audience you're getting.

3. Distribution is everything

There's a reason very few people make it to 100+ podcast episodes or keep up their podcasts.

And no, it's not the work.

It's because growing a podcast is HARD. Much harder than any other social media channel, or even a newsletter. There's no built-in virality (outside of YT).

Speaking of distribution...

4. Mold to your distribution

YouTube is the best discovery platform. Then Spotify. Then X. Then Substack. Then Apple.

So I've built my show in a 'YouTube First' fashion. I don't always have a long audio-only episode. Instead, I obsess over:

a. The title

b. The thumbnail

c. The youtube episode pitch

d. What's actually going to be 'the video'

I'm creating YouTube videos, not podcast episodes. It's the classic advice of "conform your product to your distribution channel."

5. Keep improving every episode

Since it's all about YouTube, let's talk about Mr. Beast. His advice to creators is spot on: "make each video 1% better." That's what I do, and you should too.

If you keep putting in the reps, your product will improve. My goal is to test new things every episode and then keep what works.

Taking more shots on goal has led to more insights.

Of course, I have lots more to grow. Other podcasts have grown faster. But 5x in 2025 surpassed my goal.

If you want to support the podcast, give it a subscribe!

Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7…

YouTube: youtube.com/@growproduc…

Substack: news.aakashg.com/s/prod…

Apple:

My next episode is with the inimitable Laura Burkhauser

(She rose from PM to CEO of $500M+ Descript)

What feedback do you have for the pod?