Bill Simmons is a podcast OG, and he knows it. But at this point in The Ringer founder’s career, don’t ask him to get all reflective on days of the past.
Bill was a guest on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina, and Traina asked Simmons if he had ever given some thought to the run he’s had in the podcast space starting from when podcasting was still incredibly niche to being mainstream today.
“I don’t really think that way,” Simmons said. “I just kind of keep going. And at some point, I thought when I did this Spotify deal, I thought maybe this would be the last kind of run. But I still like it. I still feel like I’m good at it and I still feel like my audience is growing as weird as that is.”
Bill Simmons continued that as long as his heart is still in it and there’s still growth to be had, he’s going to continue focusing on putting together the best possible products he can.
“I just look at it like, ‘Can I either be a little bit better or better than I was last year?'” he said. “How do I do that? What are the steps?”
Simmons said that part of getting better is being able to not be spread thin. He said he realized he took on too much early on while still at ESPN when he was doing a book tour, working on a 30 for 30, and trying to keep working on the podcast.
“And I remember feeling like, ‘Oh shit, I didn’t plan this out correctly. I’m not balanced enough here,'” he said. “So it’s like trial and error. It’s like anything else. You live and you learn and you remember.”
