Podcast Recommendation: Cafe Insider & Stay Tuned with Preet
Jason Calacanis
I invest in 100 new startups a year... get a meeting with my team at launch.co/apply, or learn how to start a company by joining founder.university (our 12-week course). watch thisweekinstartups.com if you love startups
Yesterday I shared my personal theory on what makes a great podcaster and recommended “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.”
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Today I’m recommending another person I think fits my three criteria, which are, as a refresher:
- They’re successful in their field, but not the most successful
- The have strong opinions and like to mix it up, but they know how to listen
- They don’t care what people think of them, but they want people to tune in
Preet Bharara was the former Attorney General for the Southern District of New York, was fired by Trump and is part of the composite that Brian Koppelman used for the brilliant and sharp-elbowed AG played by Paul Giamatti in the extraordinary “Billions”.
[It’s important to note the word composite in the previous paragraph, because as Preet hilariously told on an early podcast, he told his mother that the AG in “Billions” was based on him and — spoiler alert — in the first scene of the first episode of “Billions,” said AG is the recipient of a sexual act commonly referred to as being showered by a precious metal.]
Preet has two podcasts, the first is “Stay Tuned with Preet” and the second is “Cafe Insider.” It’s confusing, but stick with me. ST is a chart-topper, with the standard podcasting segments: news, interview and listener questions.
“Cafe Insider” isn’t available as an RSS feed but rather, on a landing page, and is unlocked for $5 a month or $50 a year.
In CI, Preet and Anne Milgram, the former AG of New Jersey, break down the news. Like Bret’s paywalled podcast, “Cafe Insider” feels more informal and freewheelin’. The hosts aren’t overproduced or edited, which is what makes for a great podcast in my opinion.
I’m not a fan of the overproduced public-radio style podcast, where the dual sins of audience manipulation (by audio devices, like music and pauses) and the shaping of narrative (with editing) often results in the obscurification of the messy reality of life.
Things just aren’t as [INSERT AUDIO DROP TO TUG AT LISTENER’S EMOTION, FOLLOWED BY A PAUSE] as simple as they seem.
I highly recommend listening to TuneIn and, if you like Preet’s soothing tones and front-line insights, pay for a year of “Cafe Insider.” Paying for content, if you have the means, is a vote of confidence that compels podcasters to keep going.
PS — I am blogging everyday this month! Check out my other blog posts below:
Day Nine: “Podcast Recommendation: Bret Easton Ellis”
Day Eight: Day Eight: “Lean Management: The Power of the EOD Report”
Day Seven: “The Ultimate Outsider’s Hack: Read All The Biographies”
Day Six: “The Three Vendor Rule”
Day Five: “Should I move my #startup to Silicon Valley: the 2009 & 2019 answers compared”
Day Four: “How can I do an #MVP for a delivery service I want to start?”
Day One: “How do you get an angel investor’s attention?