Hi Reader,
I want to share something fascinating I've been watching unfold over the past couple of years.
It's Daniel Priestley's rapid rise in the podcasting world—without even having his own show.
I've been following his podcast appearances since I first discovered him, and there are some serious strategic moves worth highlighting.
How I Discovered Daniel
The first time I came across Daniel Priestley was on Ali Abdaal's podcast on YouTube.
At that time, Ali's Deep Dive podcast channel was much smaller (only about 10K subs, now at 557k+), but there was something immediately remarkable about Daniel's appearance.
He had this perfect balance—clearly accomplished and credible with years of real business experience, yet completely lacking any arrogance.
The episode was long-form, with Ali asking a great mix of beginner and advanced questions.
What happened next was interesting—Daniel made a second appearance on Ali's show.
He became this recurring guest character that listeners like me actually looked forward to seeing more of.
When this kind of connection happens between you and someone you're consuming content from, you naturally want to support them.
You want to find everything else they've created or been part of.
The "Huh" Effect That Won Me Over
There was a specific moment from that episode that I still remember years later—the moment that made me think "I really like this guy."
Shaan Puri from My First Million Podcast informally calls this the "Huh Effect"—when someone makes you go "Huh, that's interesting" three times, the third one is often the conversion point where you decide to subscribe, sign up, or buy.
Daniel was talking about hiring when you're first starting out.
He described working with "misfits"—talented people who might have been overlooked by others (even joking about someone with bad body odor).
He emphasized that he didn't care where people were from—Pakistan, US, UK, anywhere—as long as they were good at what they did.
That attitude resonated deeply with me since I was doing the same thing in my own business.
I connected with being a "misfit" myself.
It's a perfect example of how having the right stories, language, and understanding of your customer gives you an incredible advantage in resonating with audiences.
The Strategic Path to Growth
After Ali's show, I next saw Daniel on Chris Do's channel, The Futur.
Two important things to note:
- The episodes were filmed in-person, giving them a high-quality production feel.
- The shows he appeared on were with people he either already had strategic partnerships with or was developing relationships with.
Instead of starting his own show from scratch, Daniel tapped into established audiences.
The strategy worked brilliantly.
After appearing on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO, Daniel shared that it generated over a million pounds in business through app signups and book sales.
What's fascinating is these books were written years ago!
They weren't on any bestseller lists, but they experienced a massive resurgence simply because he went on the right podcasts.
So this one appearance led to selling an additional 30,000 books, gaining 9,000 new monthly trials for ScoreApp, and bringing hundreds of new sign-ups to his company Dent Global.
Not to mention, he’s been invited back multiple times since then for panel styled discussions.
The Unfair Advantages (That We Should Acknowledge)
There are some unfair advantages that contributed to Daniel's success:
- Credibility: He had started and sold businesses for years.
- Capital: He could afford to fly to in-person recordings and potentially pay for collaborations if needed.
- Author status: Having written books gave him immediate credibility and a preview into his thinking.
- Production support: He had his sister's production company helping with content creation especially when he went harder on his own YouTube channels.
Understanding these advantages helps demystify some of his success.
But here's the important part—Daniel wasn't bringing a huge existing audience to these shows.
What made him desirable as a guest was his real-world experience and credibility developed over years.
Podcast hosts wanted him for his content and ideas that would make their shows look good.
The Takeaway For You
Daniel's strategy of being a guest instead of starting his own podcast is incredibly smart.
It's a low-headache way to test whether you like doing podcasts and which people enjoy hearing from you.
If you can package your stories and credibility into 3-5 bullet points of things you can speak about, you become a valuable guest with real-world experience to share.
And remember—Daniel wasn't widely known to everyone on the internet outside of U.K. and Australia just a couple years ago despite his huge accomplishments.
Now he’s approaching mainstream media level exposure.
He's proof that strategic podcast appearances can transform your brand visibility if you bring offline experience online.
I hope this breakdown gives you some clarity on what makes this approach work!
If you’re ready to build your own table with podcasting, grab my book Pod Mahal on Amazon here.
Or if you need a hand with starting your show, book a free podcast strategy call with me here.
In your corner,
Misbah Haque
Founder & Consultant at Pod Mahal
Writer & Host of Habit Chess