The only way to get podcast alpha

Podcasts have come full circle.

They started as audio. Packed with insight, made for listening on the move, almost a replacement for radio. Guests spoke without hedging, and the candor was the alpha.

Then the # of podcasts exploded. So someone decided to go video to differentiate. Cheaper bandwidth and lower production costs acted as tailwinds. For a while, just being on video was the alpha.

And then everyone was doing videos. So someone said let's make it cinema-quality. Elaborate sets, six-camera setups, a coat of expensive varnish. Now the aesthetic was the alpha.

And then production got cheaper again, and the YouTube algo started rewarding the polish and burying anything shot on an iPhone. So everyone started making the beautiful podcast, and now you cannot tell one from another.

Same warm low light and blurred bookshelf-and-plants behind the guest, same mics on boom arms, same framing. Same cold open on a punchy quote, same lo-fi sting under the intro, same jump-cut clip reel. The look stopped being the alpha the second everyone had it.

And now, once again, the alpha is shifting. What actually matters is how many reps you put into pre-podcast research (like Dwarkesh), and a guest willing to give you their unvarnished takes (like Invest Like The Best).

Funny how the thing that was free at the start is the thing you can’t buy at the end.