Shows & Podcasts

The shows and podcasts Derek Johnson listens to — business, investing, and culture, no filler.

Business & Startups

• Starter Story with Pat Walls

  I listen for the real numbers. Pat asks founders the questions other interviewers skip: how much do you actually make, what does your P&L look like, what mistakes cost you money. After running Tatango for a decade, this is the framing I wish I'd had earlier.

• Hampton Founders with Hampton

  I was a Hampton member when I was running Tatango. The conversations are different when nobody is selling and everyone has skin in the game. The candor on this show is rare.

• The EntreLeadership Podcast with Dave Ramsey

  Live business coaching with Dave Ramsey and his team. Hearing real operators get coached on real problems in real time has saved me from a few mistakes. I lean on Dave Ramsey's debt-free mindset for almost everything I do.

• The a16z Show with Andreessen Horowitz

  The thinking inside one of the most influential VC firms in the world. Even when I disagree with their conclusions, I want to know how the smart money is thinking about a market. Useful signal.

• EO with EO Studio

  Made by the Entrepreneurs' Organization, the community I was a member of when I was running Tatango. The interviews capture the kind of conversations that happen behind closed doors at EO forum.

• TBPN with John Coogan & Jordi Hays

  The daily tech news show that's actually fun. John and Jordi cover the same stories everyone else covers but with a sense of humor and an actual point of view. The closest thing tech has to live morning radio.

• This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis

  Jason has been doing this longer than almost anyone in tech podcasting. His opinionated takes on early-stage startups, from inside the deal flow, are the closest thing I've found to having a VC friend explaining what's happening.

• George J Saliba with George J. Saliba

  A luxury car dealer showing the back-end of running a high-velocity local business. The sales psychology and negotiation episodes are sneakily applicable to any business that closes deals.

• Morning Brew Daily with Neal Freyman & Toby Howell

  Five minutes every morning to catch up on the business news that matters. Quick, well-produced, and the hosts have actual personalities. The version of CNBC I actually want.

• Moonshots with Peter Diamandis with Peter H. Diamandis

  Peter Diamandis on the future of tech with the people actually building it. The pace of change in AI, biotech, and energy is hard to keep up with. This is how I do it.

• The UpFlip Podcast with UpFlip

  Interviews with owners of small but seriously profitable businesses: laundromats, painting companies, cleaning crews. The unglamorous side of entrepreneurship that quietly prints money. A great counterweight to the SaaS coverage everywhere else.

• The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

  Scott Galloway is sharp, profane, and unafraid to be wrong out loud. His mix of business commentary, career advice, and observations on masculinity hits a niche that no other show fills.

• My First Million with Sam Parr & Shaan Puri

  Sam and Shaan riff on business ideas, weird side hustles, and what the smartest people are actually thinking about. The format, half interview and half brainstorm, has sparked at least three projects I've started.

• Acquiring Minds with Will Smith

  Will interviews people who buy small businesses instead of starting them. The whole search-fund world is a different way to build wealth, and Will is the best at breaking it down.

• Sourcery with Molly O'Shea

  Molly digs into what's actually happening inside venture capital and growth-stage sales. The interviews with operators (not just executives) make this one of the most useful shows for anyone selling B2B.

Self-Improvement

• The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

  Steven goes longer and deeper than most interviewers. The conversations with founders and scientists tend to surface ideas I haven't heard before, especially around health and mindset. It's the show I save for long flights.

• Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson

  Chris is one of the best interviewers working today. Prepared, curious, and willing to push back. The range across neuroscience, dating, philosophy, and business keeps me coming back.

Business History

• David Senra with David Senra

  David reads every founder biography I should have read and pulls out the patterns. His obsession with mastery is contagious. After listening I usually order whatever book he just covered.

• Company Man with Mike

  Mike's deep dives on how companies rose and fell. The Kmart, Sears, and Circuit City episodes feel like business school case studies told as bedtime stories. Reminds me how impermanent every empire is.

Travel

• Drew Binsky with Drew Binsky

  Drew goes places most travel creators don't and tells the human stories that come back with him. Watching him hits different now that we've traveled to so many of the same countries. He widens what 'normal' looks like.

• Sammy and Tommy with Sammy & Tommy

  A married couple making honest destination videos. Their recommendations have shaped at least three of our trips. I trust them the same way I'd trust a friend who'd actually been there.

• Rhett and Claire with Rhett & Claire

  A couple who quit conventional life to travel and document it. Their content is honest about the hard parts of full-time travel, which most creators skip. We've taken trips inspired by them.

• The Yes Theory Podcast with Yes Theory

  The 'seek discomfort' guys. Their content has the rare effect of making me want to go do something hard. The podcast format goes deeper than their YouTube videos, which I've loved for years.

• Lost LeBlanc with Christian LeBlanc

  Christian's cinematic travel content reminds me why I started traveling in the first place. His business breakdown episodes are unexpectedly honest about what it costs to actually live this lifestyle.

• Kara and Nate with Kara & Nate

  A couple from Nashville who hit 100+ countries before most people see 10. They've shaped a lot of our travel decisions. They treat travel as the actual goal, not the content.

• Nomad Capitalist Audio Experience with Andrew Henderson

  The international tax, residency, and second-passport guide. Some of his frameworks have shaped how we think about our own life planning. Niche, but if you're serious about being globally optimized, this is the show.

• bald and bankrupt with Benjamin Rich

  Solo travel through countries nobody else films: Russia, Belarus, post-Soviet places. The only travel content I watch that doesn't romanticize the destination. Just shows what's actually there.

Personal Finance

• The Ramsey Show Highlights with Dave Ramsey & The Ramsey Team

  Five-minute clips of Dave and his team taking calls from people drowning in debt. I keep coming back because it reinforces the debt-free mindset I try to live by. The advice is simple, direct, and it works.

• Moneywise with Sam Parr

  Sam from My First Million interviewing high-net-worth people about how they actually manage their money. Specific numbers, specific allocations, specific mistakes. The honesty is rare in personal finance content.

• Iced Coffee Hour with Graham Stephan & Jack Selby

  Long-form interviews with founders, investors, and money operators. Graham and Jack ask the financial questions most podcasts dance around: actual income, actual debt, actual net worth.

Real Estate

• Brett Conti with Brett Conti

  Brett's a Tampa real estate guy who actually shows the work: the deals, the math, the renovations, the misses. Real estate content without the get-rich-quick energy.

• Ben Mallah with Ben Mallah

  The unfiltered Florida real estate guy. He swears, he yells, and he tells you exactly how he made his money. After years of polished business content, Ben is a refreshing punch in the face.

• Arvin Haddad with Arvin Haddad

  LA real estate breakdown content that goes inside the actual numbers on luxury deals. The 'how the rich actually buy real estate' angle is genuinely educational, even if you're not in the market for it.

Entertainment

• Full Send Podcast with Kyle Forgeard & Nelk Boys

  Sometimes I just want chaos. The Nelk guys get unfiltered conversations with people who don't go on other podcasts. The closest thing on the internet to a bar conversation gone way too long.

• Clarkson's Farm with Jeremy Clarkson

  Watching Jeremy fight British farming regulations is the most honest small business content on TV. Every season is a reminder that running a real business — with weather, suppliers, employees, and government — is harder than any SaaS dashboard makes it look.

• Jack Ryan with Carlton Cuse

  Krasinski's Jack Ryan is what I throw on when I want to disappear for an hour. The CIA-analyst-out-of-his-depth trope works because he plays competence without ego. Smart enough to feel grown-up, fast enough to actually watch on a flight.

• The Profit with Marcus Lemonis

  Marcus Lemonis is the operator I'd want to be if I were buying small businesses. Watching him untangle people, process, and product — and tell founders what they don't want to hear — taught me more about turnarounds than most business books.

• Shark Tank with Mark Burnett

  Free MBA. Watching founders pitch live and get torn apart on unit economics has shaped how I think about my own pricing, valuations, and equity story. After running Tatango for a decade, I treat the show as research, not entertainment.

• Your Friends & Neighbors with Jonathan Tropper

  Jon Hamm as a fired hedge fund manager who can't downsize his lifestyle hits closer to home than most operators would admit. The show is darkly funny about the fear every founder has: what happens when the income stops but the burn rate doesn't.

• Below Deck with Mark Cronin

  It plays like trash TV — and partly is — but it's also a master class in hospitality and impossible customer expectations. Anyone who's run a service business will recognize half the conflicts on screen.

• Landman with Taylor Sheridan

  Taylor Sheridan writes business better than most business shows do. Billy Bob Thornton's landman is a fixer, negotiator, and closer all at once. The oil-patch economics are wild and the dialogue is sharper than any drama on TV right now.

• Billions with Brian Koppelman

  Bobby Axelrod is the version of finance that exists in everyone's imagination. The show's at its best when Wags or Wendy are explaining how the money actually moves. I watch it for the language as much as the plot.

• The Fixer with Marcus Lemonis

  Marcus is back, and the format is tighter than The Profit. Picking one struggling business per episode and going deep on the turnaround forces the show to actually teach instead of meander. If you liked the old show, this one hits the same nerve.

• Succession with Jesse Armstrong

  The best show about family business ever made. I watch it as a cautionary tale about everything I want to avoid: handing off a company badly, raising heirs who can't run it, and confusing money with love.

• Silicon Valley with Mike Judge

  Every SaaS founder I know either loves this show or refuses to watch it because it hits too close. After a decade running Tatango, I'm in the first camp. The Pied Piper pitches are funny because they're real, and the VC scenes are accurate enough to sting.

• Veep with Armando Iannucci

  Selina Meyer is what happens when ambition outruns competence. The writing is the fastest, most quotable on TV. I rewatch episodes the way some people reread books.

• Mythic Quest with Rob McElhenney

  A workplace comedy about a creative product company that actually understands creative product companies. The bottle episode about a single fan posting in the forums is one of the best things ever made about the relationship between makers and customers.

• Blue Bloods with Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess

  The Sunday dinner scenes are the show. A multigenerational family debating duty and faith while the food gets cold — it's the kind of dinner table I think a lot of us wish we had more of.

• Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David

  Larry David has built the best comedy series ever made about social etiquette. I rewatch episodes when I need to laugh and don't want to think. 'Pretty good, pretty good' is permanently in my vocabulary.

News & Politics

• The All-In Podcast with Chamath, Sacks, Friedberg, Calacanis

  Four billionaires riffing on tech, business, and politics. The conversations are messy, opinionated, and you can hear the friendships in real time. I don't always agree with them, but I never stop listening.

• Breaking Points with Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti

  The rare political show with hosts from opposite sides who actually disagree on substance instead of theater. I listen to stay informed without getting pulled into either mainstream narrative.