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Ben Hancock was one of the first hires at Modern Wisdom, where he spent four and a half years working alongside Chris Williamson as the show grew from 150,000 to 4.3 million YouTube subscribers.
In this episode, he breaks down the 9 principles he learned from Chris, and the levers that took Modern Wisdom from a bedroom podcast to one of the biggest shows in the world. This is a podcast growth masterclass.
We get into:
• The Joe Rogan bump that kicked off the hockey stick growth
• Why moving to Austin was the smartest growth move Chris made
• How the show went from Chris's bedroom to a 100K+ cinema shoot with Matthew McConaughey
• How mid-length clips released before each episode built anticipation
• Why going from two to three episodes a week changed everything
Follow Ben: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamingaryhancock/
Produced by 7xContent: make your own podcast with us: https://www.7xcontent.com/home#apply
Follow Callum: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecallummc/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/callummcdonnell/
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Ben
02:23 The hockey stick inflection
04:56 Why Chris didn't quit and the Joe Rogan bump
08:29 The smartest growth move: moving to Austin
12:38 Data is useful, but don't compromise your tone of voice
17:28 The best will always rise to the top
18:43 The David Goggins cinema shoot (and the smoke alarm)
21:42 Should creators invest in sets? Why 95% of podcasts quit
25:12 Cultivate an audience you love creating for
33:05 Why no researcher can replace the host's preparation
35:36 How guests get booked and why 90% was outbound
42:51 Chris's obsession with the small details
52:26 Enjoyment first
54:25 Success is on the other side of cringe
56:30 Why the comments section beat every other metric
59:47 Create something beautiful
1:02:29 Why they waited so long to do short form
1:12:10 Three episodes a week and the volume inflection
1:13:33 Mid-length clips before the episode drops
1:21:37 One channel vs a separate clips channel
1:27:35 How Modern Wisdom makes money
1:37:51 Interviewing as a craft
1:42:52 Is podcasting still worth starting in 2026?
1:48:50 Why video-first shows are the blue ocean
1:52:29 Who Ben is watching right now
