Founder's Story
How Kit Gray Built a $50M Podcast Empire—and Took It Public | Ep 217 with Kit Gray co-founder of PodcastOne
09 May 2025
Kit Gray, President and Co-Founder of PodcastOne (NASDAQ: PODC), reveals how he parlayed childhood radio fandom into a thriving public podcast network. From early iPod hacks with Adam Carolla to structuring live reads, community-first ad packages, and an IPO, Kit shares the timing, tactics, and tenacity behind PodcastOne’s $51M revenue and its 200-show roster.Key Discussion PointsRadio Roots & Howard Stern: How listening to sports talk and Stern’s brand-building ignited Kit’s love for audio.Selling the Download: Early deals with Adam Carolla (ProFlowers, LegalZoom) that proved CPMs & CPA tracking worked.Building a Network: Moving from one-off ad reads to 360° packages—audio, video, social—for A&E, Lady Gang, Jordan Harbinger, and more.Timing the Tides: Why the iPhone, COVID lockdowns, and YouTube’s podcast push turbocharged growth.Going Public: Lessons (and flip-flops) on spinning out, partnering with bankers, and using equity to align talent.Community over Impressions: Why buying engaged audiences beats mass buy, and how brands scale with niche pods.Key TakeawaysBe first, but stay fast: Early movers in on-demand audio captured both talent and advertisers.Proof precedes scale: Start with one host, one campaign; use hard ROI data to win bigger deals.Sell the community, not just ad slots: True influence lies in loyalty, not lowest CPM.Equity aligns interests: Offering stock to creators fosters retention and shared upside.Adapt or fade away: From iPods to social streams to IPO filings, continual reinvention is non-negotiable.Closing Thoughts Dive into how Kit Gray built a soup-to-nuts podcast empire—signing singers turned podcasters, structuring ad-stacked communities, and trading on NASDAQ—and walk away with a playbook for finding, owning, and monetizing the next great audio audience.Our Sponsors:* Check out Indeed: https://indeed.com/FOUNDERSSTORY* Check out Northwest Registered Agent and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: https://northwestregisteredagent.com* Check out Plus500: https://plus500.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com
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Hey everyone, welcome back to Founder's Story. Today we have Kit Gray, the president, co-founder of Podcast One, which I've been following for many years. But Podcast One is a leading podcast network. Even Nasdaq under PODC, which is amazing. I cannot wait, Kit, to talk all the things through. How is it to... take a company public.
But I know that podcast one has worked with the likes of A&E, Adam Carolla, Lady Gang, Justin Harbinger, and 200 Shows, which is incredible. So Kit, what was the spark for you that made you say, I want to be an entrepreneur and why this industry?
Yeah. Hey, nice to meet you. And thanks for having me today. Yeah. You know, really, I became a fan of really audio medium back when I was a kid living in Boston and going to sporting events with my dad, you know, dragging me around tennis matches or soccer matches or whatever.
uh, baseball games that I was playing and that, you know, we'd listen to sports talk radio to kind of like break up the, the awkward silence. And, uh, during commercial breaks, we would actually talk about it and have something fun to talk about. And, um, you know, so audio has always had a special place in my heart. And, um,
That kind of grew as Howard Stern came into my life and listening to him and then watching him on his TV show and then realizing how he built brands into both his show and his radio network. He really was a thought leader in that space. We talk about 360 video podcasts now. Well, Howard did it years and years and years ago and really did an amazing job.
And when you look at endorsement radio or endorsement anything, I knew that was an extremely powerful thing early in my career. I wound up going to school not for... you know, anything in the radio or audio space.
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