Hi, It’s George from Orama, a virtual podcast and video studio for brands.

You can watch this episode on the Substack player, on YouTube, listen to it on podcast platforms, or read an edited transcript below.

I’m testing the video feature of Substack; it’s pretty cool that you only need to upload the video, and it will create an RSS feed from the audio for your podcasts.

How do you transition from Minimum Viable Podcast (something we discussed here before) to Most Valuable Podcast?

As a Frenchman who enjoys watching basketball, I enjoy following the NBA career of Wemby or Victor Wembayama🇫🇷. He’s a newcomer to the NBA, a rookie with a chance to become an MVP.

**Trivia: Only two players in NBA history have done it before: Wes Unseld and Wilt Chamberlain.**

You may be the Wemby of podcasting, in which case congratulations, go for it. But for the rest of us, the great news is that you can gradually elevate to “Most Valuable Podcast” level by improving episode by episode.

If your focus is a brand or niche podcast, the aim is not to top the charts but rather to become the reference point within your industry and a favourite among the small group of people who matter to you.

Shifting the MVP metaphor from NBA to Startups

Let's move to a startup metaphor, where MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. An MVP approach involves iterating and improving over time. And that’s the idea behind the Minimum Viable Podcast.

If you’re running a company podcast, it might be just a small part of your duties, but the mindset remains akin to a startup transitioning from MVP to something greater. In all humility, creating a defining podcast for a niche is the goal, with my recently relaunched ‘Investology’ podcast, that focuses on investment management (YouTube, Audio podcasts).

The process, not the topic, matters here.

(It’s also the goal with this podcast, but that’s a more remote possibility, as I’m still very close to the Minimum Viable state, so I use Investology as a better example).

Although it's an established podcast, my interest changed from broad fintech to investment management, so I paused it, rebranded, and relaunched it, so it feels brand new.

Below, I'll share the tool I use to manage my own and my clients’ podcasts and how it can help your show as well.

From List to Dashboard

Previously, I used a comprehensive brand podcast checklist for launching and growing podcasts. There are 45 items there (but the list is flexible)

You can access it here.

Even if I’ve launched quite a few podcasts before for Investology, I wanted to do many things at once and… I wasn’t doing much because it felt overwhelming.

Leading me to develop a production dashboard (or development dashboard - I thought this was a better name after the recording)

NB: This is not the usual “performance dashboard” where you can see your past audience stats; this one is forward-looking and qualitative.

Introducing the podcast development dashboard

You can view the Investology version of the dashboard in its current live state here.