---
aliases: ["Research new podcast guest categories"]
Is A: Task
Belongs to: "[[25q1]]"
Status: Done
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Research new podcast guest categories

After two seasons of the podcast, the guest roster had been predominantly engineering managers and VPs of Engineering at mid-to-large tech companies. While this audience resonated well, the content was starting to feel repetitive. This research task explored new guest categories that could bring fresh perspectives while still appealing to the newsletter's core audience of senior engineers and engineering leaders.

The research involved analyzing listener feedback from the podcast survey (sent in Q4 2024), reviewing competitor podcast guest lineups, and identifying emerging topics in the engineering leadership space that could benefit from non-traditional guests.

## Acceptance criteria

- [x] Analyze podcast listener survey for guest preference data
- [x] Identify 5 new guest categories with rationale for each
- [x] Create a shortlist of 10 potential guests across the new categories
- [x] Validate the shortlist with [[person-matteo-cellini]] for technical relevance
- [x] Update the podcast pitch templates to accommodate new guest types

## Notes

- The five new categories identified: (1) indie hackers building developer tools, (2) technical writers and documentation leads, (3) engineering-adjacent roles (design engineers, DevRel), (4) founders who transitioned from engineering leadership, and (5) researchers in software engineering productivity.
- [[person-matteo-cellini]] flagged the software engineering productivity researchers as the most differentiated category -- very few podcasts interview these guests despite high listener interest.
- The expanded guest categories directly supported the podcast relaunch planned for [[25q3]].
