You can get on podcasts with no audience, because most hosts book guests for what their listeners will learn, not for follower counts. Start with small, niche and local shows, borrow proof from work you have already done, record a short sample so hosts can hear you, and pitch one narrow angle.
Your first appearance is the hardest one. After that you have a link to send, and every pitch gets easier. This guide is about getting that first one or two. For the full process after that, see how to get booked on podcasts.
Do podcast hosts care how big your audience is?
Some do. Most interview hosts care more about the episode. A host needs a guest who will be interesting for an hour, will show up on time, and will not turn the conversation into an ad.
Look at what shows ask for. The Code Story guest application asks for your name, bio, photo and website. The Data Engineering Podcast guest page says guests of any company size are welcome. Neither asks for your follower count.
Your audience can help when you pitch a big show. It is not what gets you your first yes.
Which podcasts should you pitch first?
Go small and specific. Big shows get far more pitches and usually want guests with a track record. Smaller shows often need good guests every week and have fewer people asking.
Good first targets:
- Niche shows in your field. A show about B2B payments, Rust tooling or running a dental clinic wants people who do exactly that.
- Local shows. City business podcasts, university shows and local meetup podcasts like people from their area.
- Newer shows. A host six months in is still building a guest list and often replies fast.
- Shows where your peers have been guests. If someone at your level got on, so can you.
Treat the first few as practice. When the metabolic health company Levels ran a podcast tour, its head of partnerships wrote in First Round Review that the first 15 or so appearances were really practice, and that early on they barely cared about show size.
How do you prove you know your stuff without an audience?
Borrow proof from work you have already done. Hosts want evidence you can talk about the topic with real detail. That evidence does not need to be a following.
| Kind of proof | What to link |
|---|---|
| Talks | A meetup or conference recording, even a small one |
| Writing | A blog post, LinkedIn post or newsletter issue that got real replies |
| Code | A GitHub repo, a merged pull request, a library people use |
| Customer results | A case study, a before and after, a public testimonial |
| Teaching | A workshop, a course module, internal training you can describe |
| Press or mentions | An article that quoted you, a podcast that mentioned your work |
Pick the two or three strongest and put them in the pitch. One great link beats six average ones.
If you have none of these, make one this week. Write a single post that explains the one thing you would talk about on air. That post becomes your proof and your pitch angle.
How do you show a host you can talk well?
Record a sample. A host's biggest fear with a new guest is a flat, nervous hour. A two minute clip fixes that.
Keep it simple:
- Pick the question you most want a host to ask you.
- Answer it out loud on video or audio, in one take, in under three minutes.
- Use a decent mic or earbuds in a quiet room.
- Upload it somewhere with a plain link, like an unlisted video.
Put the link in your pitch as "a two minute clip of me explaining this." It also gives the host a feel for your energy, which no bio can do.
What angle should you pitch with no experience?
Pitch narrow. "I can talk about marketing" gets ignored. "How we got our first 100 customers from one Slack community, and what we would not do again" gets a reply.
A good first angle has three parts:
- A specific thing you did, with a number or result you can share.
- A lesson listeners can use next week.
- A bit of disagreement with common advice, if you have one.
Write it as an episode title. If the host could paste it into their show notes, it is narrow enough.
Should you do guest swaps with other small hosts?
Yes, if you host something too, even a small newsletter or YouTube channel. A guest swap means you appear on their show and they appear on yours. Both sides get content and a new audience, and small hosts are open to it.
We cover how to set them up, and the etiquette, in podcast guest swaps.
How do you turn your first episode into the next one?
Use each appearance as proof for the next pitch. Once your first episode is live, things change fast.
- Add it to your pitch. "I was on X talking about Y, here is the episode" tells a host you know how podcasts work.
- Clip it. A 60 second clip is a better sample than your homemade one.
- Ask the host. Hosts know other hosts. After a good recording, ask if anyone in their circle covers your topic.
- Update your one-sheet. Add the show and a link. Our podcast guest one-sheet guide shows what to include.
You can also make a guest profile that lists your topics and links, so hosts can find you. The be a podcast guest page on Prends shows how that works, and you can link your LinkedIn and GitHub so hosts can check your work.
What mistakes keep first-time guests from getting booked?
A few common ones:
- Pitching only the biggest shows in your field.
- Leading with your company instead of an idea.
- Sending a long bio and no episode angle.
- No links, so the host cannot check anything.
- Pitching 50 shows with the same message.
Fix those and you are ahead of a lot of pitches hosts receive.
Where to start this week
Write one post that explains your angle, record a two minute clip answering the question you most want to be asked, and send a short pitch to five small shows whose recent guests look like you.