Start a podcast with no audience. In B2B, your guests are the audience.
By Alon Shkuri, producer Published
How do you start a podcast with no audience? In B2B you don't need one first: your guests and their networks are the audience. Future of Hospitality started with none, because guestjourney.ai, the company behind it, was new too. The audience grew from the guests, and today about 82% of them share their episode.
We started at zero
Future of Hospitality and guestjourney.ai, the company that started it, were both new, so there was no audience at all. By recording and publishing, it grew: slowly at first, quickly now. In a way it didn't matter, because the real audience was the guest.
Your guest is the audience
In B2B the guest is often also the prospect, and their network is the market you want to reach. When a guest shares the clips, their network sees more than you ever post on your company page.
A company page is not where LinkedIn's algorithm is kindest. A guest who posts their episode gets at least 50 to 100 likes. Even if your page has more followers than they do, their post goes further: they post now and then, and their network doesn't see them on a podcast every day.
In B2B, your guest and their network are the audience.
How many guests share their episode
| When | Guests who shared their episode |
|---|---|
| The first episodes | About 33% |
| Once the show had a name | About 55% |
| Now | About 82% |
What makes a guest share
- Ask before the recording: will you post it? If yes, offer to help. After the recording the guest is done with the podcast, and it is too late to ask.
- Deliver fast. A media kit that arrives weeks later has lost the moment. Kit sends it with the episode, within 72 hours.
- Make them look good, and make them feel honoured to be asked.
- A bigger name helps. The more people know the show, the more guests share it, and that comes with time.
From guest to customer
For guestjourney.ai, the guests were the hotels it wanted as customers. It invited 62 of them onto Future of Hospitality, and 28 became customers. How that works step by step, and how to follow up without a pitch, is in our guide to a podcast for sales. It is also the case for Lead engine, where we invite the people on your list in your name.
How to start
Record your first episode with a customer or someone you know, so you learn the format with someone who already likes you. Then invite from your list. Who to invite, and how to ask, is in our guide to podcast guests.
Sources
- Own data: Future of Hospitality and guestjourney.ai: audience growth, the share of guests who posted their episode, and guests who became customers, November 2026.