Pick a Random Podcast, Get Your Creativity Back (A Founder-Friendly Habit)

Your brain’s brilliant, but it’s also a creature of habit. If you’re a founder or investor, your days can turn into loops: the same metrics, the same threads, the same conversations, the same worries, the same hot takes.

A surprisingly simple way to break that loop is Creativity through random stimulus. That means taking in input you wouldn’t usually choose, then letting your mind make new connections.

This post gives you a quick method you can use today: pick a podcast at random, listen for 15 to 30 minutes, capture one valuable insight, then turn it into an action before tomorrow.

Why a random podcast can spark Creativity fast

When you always choose what to consume, you tend to select what already aligns with your view. It feels efficient, but it can trap you in familiar grooves.

A random podcast does the opposite. It hands you an idea that doesn’t match your usual pattern, so your brain has to work a bit harder. That small effort often creates new angles on old problems.

This matters in everyday founder situations:

• Product messaging that feels “fine” but doesn’t land

• Hiring decisions where every candidate looks the same on paper

• Investor updates that sound polished but don’t say anything new

• Strategy choices where each option has a painful trade-off

It’s easy to confuse “more content” with “better inputs”. Another startup podcast might give you more of the same. A random episode from an unfamiliar world can provide a sharper contrast, and contrast creates ideas.

The goal isn’t to become a podcast superfan. The goal is simpler: one valuable insight per listen.

Random stimulus creates new connections that your brain wouldn’t choose

Left alone, most of us pick familiar topics, familiar voices, and familiar conclusions. Even when we explore, we often explore inside the same fences.

Randomness jumps the fence. It brings in variety in tone, culture, and problem sets. You start borrowing thinking from places you don’t usually visit.

A simple example:

You listen to a sports interview and hear a coach talk about how newbies fail. Not because they lack skill, but because they don’t know what “good” looks like on day one. That idea can turn into a better onboarding script for your new hires, with clear examples of good work, not just a list of tools.

Another one:

You listen to a history episode about a disaster caused by overconfidence. Suddenly, your roadmap debate changes. You stop asking “Can we ship it by Friday?” and start asking “What’s the failure mode if we’re wrong?” That one shift improves risk thinking without slowing everything down.

This is the quiet power of random input. You don’t copy the content; you steal the structure of the idea and re-use it in your own context.

It works for busy founders because the bar is low.

Most Creativity advice asks for time you don’t have—lengthy workshops, long books, deep research, and many whiteboards.

Random podcast listening can be small and “good enough”:

• 15 to 30 minutes

• No prep

• One takeaway

• One action

You can do it on a walk, during a commute, while sorting the admin you keep avoiding, or in that odd gap between calls where you feel too restless to start anything serious.

You don’t need the perfect podcast. You need a new signal.

A simple method to pick a random podcast and actually get value

Random doesn’t mean careless. The goal is to reduce decision fatigue and increase variety while still delivering something you can use.

Think of this like opening a window. You’re not renovating the whole house. You’re letting fresh air in, then getting back to work.

Choose at random in under 2 minutes (three easy options)

The main risk is getting stuck browsing. Set a timer for two minutes. When it goes off, you hit play.

Here are three ways to make quick, informed decisions without overthinking.

Option 1: Search for one broad word, press play on the first new show
Pick a broad keyword, then choose the first podcast you’ve never heard before. Words that work well:

• “design”

• “markets”

• “behaviour”

• “food”

• “music”

• “leadership”

• “science”

• “faith”

• “class”

• “repair”

Don’t scroll for the best. You’re not shopping for a new favourite. You’re grabbing a random spark.

Option 2: Open a category you never touch
Most apps have charts or categories. Pick one that feels distant from your work. If you live in tech and business, try:

• Arts

• History

• Sport

• Parenting

• Health and fitness

• Fiction

• True crime

You’re looking for difference, not comfort; a new audience, not an echo chamber.

Option 3: Ask one person for a show outside your field, then commit to one episode
Message a friend, colleague, or fellow investor: “Give me one podcast episode that isn’t about startups.”
No debate. No back-and-forth. You listen to the first one they send.

A quick safety check before you hit play: skip anything that looks like misinformation, hate, or pure hype. Random is useful, reckless isn’t.

Listen like a founder: one question, one note, one action

Listening “for fun” is fine. This method is different. It keeps things light while producing output.

Before you press play, pick one focus question. That’s your filter. Here are a few that fit founder and investor life:

• What’s a better way to explain value?

• What’s a simple habit that improves performance?

• How do good teams handle conflict?

• What’s a smart way to measure progress?

• What’s a hard truth people avoid saying?

Then, as you listen, capture three bullets. Keep it scrappy, not pretty.

1) A quote
A line you’d want to repeat. It doesn’t need to be famous, just sticky.

2) A pattern
Something you notice in how they think or act. For example: they rehearse failure, use small constraints, practise in public, and obsess over feedback loops.

3) A tension
A trade-off that shows up. Speed vs. quality, loyalty vs. honesty, creativity vs. repeatability, growth vs. focus. Tensions are gold because strategy is often just choosing which tension you’ll live with.

Now the part most people skip: choose one action within 24 hours. Small is fine. The point is movement.

Actions that work well:

• Rewrite one line of website copy using the most precise phrase you heard

• Change one slide in your investor update to show the tension, not just the result

• Test a new meeting format (shorter, fewer people, tighter agenda)

• Call one customer and ask a single, sharper question

• Change one metric review from “What happened?” to “What surprised us?”

This is where Creativity turns into results. Otherwise, the podcast is just noise you enjoyed while walking.

Turn random listening into a repeatable Creativity habit for teams

Founders often carry the thinking load alone. Investors often see patterns, but they can get stuck in the same sector stories. A light team habit makes random input compound.

The trick is to keep it useful and short. If it feels like homework, it dies. If it feels like a small advantage, it sticks.

The 10-minute share-out that makes insights stick

Once a week, run a 10-minute share-out. One person brings one surprising idea from a random episode, and one way it could apply to the business.

Keep it punchy. No long summaries. No “you had to be there”.

Use this template:

• “I heard…” (the idea, in plain words)

• “It made me think…” (the link to your business)

• “We could try…” (one experiment)

Rotate who brings the insight. Make it normal for people to bring podcasts that have nothing to do with your industry. If you’re hearing only business voices, you’re missing the point.

A simple guardrail: if the share-out doesn’t end with a clear “we could try”, it doesn’t count. That one rule keeps the ritual grounded.

This works for investor teams too. It’s a clean way to widen your reference set without forcing anyone to read another long memo. It also makes partner meetings more interesting, because you’re not only swapping opinions, you’re swapping inputs.

Use it to widen your network and your thinking (Interwoven invitation)

Random listening has a side effect that’s easy to miss. It reminds you that behind every strategy, product, and pitch is a human story.

If you’ve been through a turning point, a creative leap, a hard lesson, a rebuild, or a new chapter, it can help others to hear it. Interwoven is open to conversations with founders, cofounders, and investors who want to share what actually happened, not the neat version.

If you’re open to being interviewed for Interwoven or want to suggest someone worth hearing from, reach out to Adam@WeAreTheWeave.co.uk.

Conclusion

Randomness creates fresh inputs, fresh inputs fuel Creativity, and a simple process turns a listen into action. Pick one random episode today, listen for 15 to 30 minutes, then write down one insight you can apply before tomorrow. Small actions compound faster than big intentions. If you want to listen to the entrepreneurial voice of the region, then tap into Interwoven or join The Weave Community.