20 Crypto Podcasts to Pitch as a Founder
Podcasts are the highest-trust channel in crypto and the hardest to buy your way into. Hosts book guests on the strength of the story, not the raise size, and a weak pitch burns the relationship for a year. This page explains how the show formats differ, what a bookable pitch contains, and how to make an appearance worth the preparation time it costs.
Covered on this page (alphabetical, not ranked): Bankless, Bell Curve, Empire, Forward Guidance, Lightspeed, Mint, On The Margin, The Chopping Block, The Defiant, Unchained.
We have not audited these organisations, we publish no scores or price tables, and no placement on this page is paid for.
How the options differ
- Interview shows. One guest, long form. The bar is a specific thesis you can defend for an hour. Best for founder credibility.
- Panel and roundtable shows. Hosts and regulars debate the week. Guests need a contrarian, well-evidenced position rather than a product story.
- News and analysis shows. Short segments tied to what happened this week. You get booked because you are close to a live story.
- Ecosystem and sponsor-driven shows. Produced by protocols or media desks, often with paid segments. Disclose the arrangement and treat it as advertising.
What to verify before you commit
- Listen to three recent episodes before pitching. Producers can tell within one sentence whether you have.
- Lead with the thesis, not the company. The subject line should be an argument someone could disagree with.
- Offer a specific, unusual data point you can speak to that nobody else on the show could bring.
- Say who you are not. Naming what your product does badly is the fastest way to sound credible to a sceptical host.
- Confirm distribution rights — clip usage, transcript rights and whether you can repost the full episode.
Mistakes we see most often
- Pitching a funding announcement as though it were a topic.
- Sending the same paragraph to twenty shows on the same morning.
- Treating the recording as the deliverable and doing nothing with the clips afterwards.
Writing a pitch a producer can say yes to
Podcast bookings are decided by whoever assembles the run of show, and they are choosing an episode, not a guest. A pitch that works fits in six lines: who you are in one clause, the specific argument you will make, why it is timely, two or three question prompts the host can lift verbatim, and a link to five minutes of you speaking somewhere else. Nothing else — no deck, no press kit, no token price chart.
The argument is the part founders skip. "We are building an L2 for payments" is a company description; "most payment chains optimise for settlement cost when the real constraint is compliance onboarding, and here is what we learned trying both" is an episode. If you cannot state your argument in one sentence that someone might disagree with, you are not ready to pitch.
Sequencing shows and reusing the recording
Start with smaller, category-specific shows where you will be asked substantive questions, and use those recordings as your proof clip for larger ones. Book no more than one or two a month; the same three anecdotes across eight shows in a quarter reads as a press tour and performs like one.
Treat each recording as a content asset rather than a one-off appearance. A single hour yields a transcript you can edit into an article, three or four short clips, and a set of quotes for your site. That downstream use is usually worth more than the listening audience of any individual episode, and it is entirely within your control.
Want help choosing?
We take no kickbacks from anyone named on this page. Book a 30-minute vendor selection call and we will work through which option fits your stage, budget and ecosystem.
🔗 Related reading from the Metamoonshots Journal
FAQ
Can you pay to appear on crypto podcasts?
Some shows sell sponsored segments and label them. Editorial guest slots on the well-known shows are not for sale, and offering money is usually the end of the conversation.
What makes a pitch get accepted?
A narrow, timely argument the host's audience is already arguing about, from someone with first-hand operating evidence. Everything else is secondary.
How should we measure a podcast appearance?
By second-order effects: inbound from investors and partners, quotes reused in your own content, and clips that keep circulating. Direct signups from podcasts are almost always underattributed and small.
How long before a booking turns into a published episode?
Several weeks is normal — shows record ahead and schedule around their own calendar. Never plan a launch announcement around a podcast date you do not control; record the episode, then time your own channels around whenever it publishes.
Should we pay for guest slots?
Paid appearances are advertising and should be disclosed as such. They can be a reasonable buy for reach, but they carry none of the credibility of being invited, and experienced listeners can tell the difference.