Two great podcasts for entrepreneurs...

... are Tom Raftery speaking with David Sifry of Technorati, and Greg Galant interviewing Scott Johnson of Ookles (formerly of Feedster). I love listening to these kind of interviews not so much to learn what the entrepreneur is doing now but for an insight into their overall vision and background, and simply what makes them tick.

Johnson is a gutsy man to think he can come up with a better Flickr, or more accurately "a Flickr for people with kids". But somehow I think he sounds like the kind of guy who isn't lacking in confidence. And its interesting to hear him pay homage to his erstwhile competitor David Sifry for the astuteness he showed in raising a large venture round at once which probably gave Technorati an edge over Feedster.

One question I have for Tom Raftery is why the interview with Sifry sounded a little rushed. I know David was probably a little too verbose for some at the start of the conversation but for anyone working in a startup (like me) it was fascinating to hear about his background. The beautiful thing about podcasting is that it removes the artificial constraints of time imposed by radio schedules. So I wonder why Tom didn't let David go on for longer before hitting him with the audience questions. Greg gave almost an hour to his interview with Scott Johnson and I felt that length of time was fully required.

Regardless, two great podcasts. Go listen.

Comments

[Tom Raftery]

It is a good question James and tbh it is the first time anyone has criticised the PodLeaders' interviews for their brevity! Previous interviews have gone over 50 minutes but I was uncomfortable with their length - it is my belief that once you go over 30 minutes with an interview, you start to lose listeners - it is an issue of diminishing returns at that point. Hence I aimed the interview at around the 30 minute mark.

[James Corbett]

Ok, thanks Tom, I can understand the point but I would suggest then that you break the interview up into two (or more) podcasts as Steve Gillmor often does. In a recent interview with Marc Canter he did just that and it was funny to hear him saying at the end of part 1 - "Come back tomorrow for part 2" - when you knew that he was just going to continue on with the conversation. It was artificial but at least we got the full, unhurried interview.

As you know Tom, I'm too chicken to podcast myself so I can't criticize - its just that you're getting such excellent interviewees that its a shame if you can't get full value out of them IMHO :-)

[James Corbett]

BTW, I'm interested to hear you say you tend to lose people after about 30 minutes. I know myself that I *do* tend to tune out of radio shows after that length of time but with podcasts I can just pause and come back later so I have no problem with long shows. I often listen to Adam Curry's DSC in three or four takes over the period of a day or two.

I'd be interested to know if the 30 minute thing is a psychological artifact....

[Robin Blandford]

James/Tom! You should be podcasting this debate for us all! 076 60 20 927 (112 for Pod Leaders!).

Then graze it at: http://www.grazr.com/api/sandbx?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcommentcasting.bytesurgery.com%2Fopmlgen.php&type=solo&width=620&height=500&fontfamily=arial&fontsize=11

[James Corbett]

Great idea Robin... done :)

[Barry Cronin]

Heres another good podcast from Gillmor Daily

http://gillmordaily.podshow.com/?p=53

its with Jeff Clavier who will be at the Web2Ireland Event
later this month.