A Simple Checklist for Founders Starting Their First Podcast

Thinking about starting your first podcast? It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. You don’t need a studio setup, a production agency, or a full-time team. What you need is a simple system you can actually stick with.

Here’s a founder-friendly checklist to help you record, publish, and share your very first episodes, without overthinking it.

1. Define Your Podcast Identity

This is your foundation:

• Title: Short, memorable, and tied to your brand.

• Cover Art: A square design that looks clean across platforms (Canva is a good starting point).

• Thumbnail Template: If you don’t have an agency creating custom thumbnails, make one reusable Canva template. Update it with the guest’s name, photo, or episode number.

• Intro Line & Description: A sentence that explains your podcast and a longer description covering what it is, who it’s for, and the topics you’ll cover. Make it SEO-friendly so people can actually find your show.

2. Create the Right Accounts

At minimum, set up:

• YouTube for video episodes (or audio-only uploads with a static image).

• Spotify for Podcasters to host your podcast, generate your RSS feed, and distribute to other platforms.

• Apple Podcasts if you want to manage your listing directly.

Some tools (like Riverside) let you publish directly to multiple platforms, but YouTube + Spotify will cover most of your audience.

3. Pick a Format You Can Sustain

• Type: Solo episodes, co-hosted conversations, or guest interviews.

• Length: Short and punchy (15–30 mins) or deep dives (45–60 mins).

• Frequency: Weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Choose a rhythm you can realistically maintain.

  
  

4. Gather Gear (or Use What You Have)

Start simple:

• Recommended: A USB microphone (probably a Blue Yeti, Samson Q2U, or Fifine) and a pair of headphones. YouTubers and podcasters usually share their favourite gadgets, so it may be worth looking out for those.

• Budget option: Your laptop’s built-in mic and camera. Not perfect, but tools like Riverside or any video/podcast editing tool can help boost audio afterwards.

• Background: Tidy your space, use decent lighting, or try a virtual background (a lot of people are not fans of virtual backgrounds, which is fair, but better a virtual background than panicking about not having an aesthetic one).

5. Choose Recording & Editing Tools

Recording options:

• Lightweight: Google Meet, Zoom, or your phone’s voice recorder.

• Podcast-focused: Riverside or Zencastr.

Editing options:

• Free: Audacity, GarageBand.

• All-in-one: Riverside lets you record, edit, and even create short clips for social media.

  
  

6. Plan Your First 3 Episodes

• Trailer (2–3 mins): Introduce yourself, your show, and why people should listen.

• First Guest: Start with someone you know — easier to secure and helps you build a portfolio.

• Bullet-Point Outlines: Keep it light. Just prompts and takeaways, not scripts.

7. Add Intros, Outros, and Music

• Intro & Outro: Record one evergreen intro and outro that you can reuse across episodes. You can create custom ones for each episode, but evergreen ones help.

• Music: Use royalty-free intro/outro music for polish. Free options exist on Pixabay or YouTube Audio Library.

8. Host & Distribute

You can:

• Use Buzzsprout or Podbean to handle hosting and distribution automatically.

• Or keep it lean with Spotify for Podcasters, which generates your RSS feed and pushes your podcast to multiple platforms.

9. Promote Without Overthinking

• Share short clips or audiograms (Riverside makes this easy).

• Post quotes or takeaways on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram.

• Ask your guests to share their episodes.

• Mention it in your newsletter or Slack/WhatsApp groups.

• Submit to communities you’re part of.

10. Stay Consistent

Podcasting isn’t about a “perfect launch.” It’s about showing up regularly:

• Batch record when you can.

• Keep a light content calendar.

• Focus on consistency over perfection.

Final Note

Your first podcast won’t be flawless — and that’s the point. Start with what you have, get your voice out there, and learn as you go. The most important step is simply hitting record.

🎙️ If you’d like, you can check out my own podcast, Blush and Bloom. It’s about women’s health, femtech, and healthcare for underrepresented groups.

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