Not Your Story

Meet the secret podcast strategist behind Gary Vee & Hubspot Media's Podcast Empires

In this episode of Not Your Story, Rory sits down with Khaled Elsebai, the media strategist behind some of the biggest business podcasts in the world, to unpack what actually makes a show grow. Khaled Elsebai has spent 20+ years in media, from college radio and SiriusXM to building podcast infrastructure at Gallery Media Group (under Gary Vee’s VaynerMedia umbrella) before later helping scale HubSpot Media, where he led production on flagship shows like My First Million, Marketing Against the Grain, and The Hustle Daily. Kal takes us through a masterclass in audience growth, podcast strategy, monetization, YouTube packaging, and why most creators are thinking about content completely backwards. If you're building a podcast, newsletter, media brand, or trying to turn content into a business, this episode is packed with practical frameworks you can apply immediately.

The Programmatic Advertising Industry is Exploding, Here's Why (Drako Media Founder explains)

Learn how programmatic advertising has evolved beyond clicks and impressions. Drako's co-founder breaks down real time bidding, geo-targeting, AI-powered audience scoring, and why measuring incremental lift, not vanity metrics, is the key to maximizing your ad budget across every digital channel.

"We Started a Podcast in Offshore Oil & Gas" - The Vision for I Speak Subsea podcast (Kyle Puls reveals)

In this episode, Kyle Puls shares his journey from the military to working offshore, the realities of life on oil rigs, and what led him to Aquila Engineering. We break down why they decided to start a podcast and what it means for the future of offshore oil & gas technology. Subscribe to I Speak Subsea -  ⁨@ISpeakSubsea⁩  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCfbFG53WoqLmEnIkc254czA] Produced by Midnight Marketing - https://midnightmarketing.com/podcasts/

The Relentless Rise of ComboCurve (Armand Paradis - Founder & CEO reveals)

Armand left his dream oilfield job to build ComboCurve after realizing oil & gas was making multi billion-dollar decisions with broken workflows. In this episode, we break down his early fundraising days in Houston, launching during negative oil prices, closing 50 clients in six months, and how relentless passion, speed, and true customer obsession fueled ComboCurve's rise.

The Viral Editor Behind The Diary of a CEO's Podcast Trailers (Anthony Smith)

When Anthony Smith joined The Diary Of A CEO, the show had 300,000 subscribers. Today, it’s pushing 15 million. In this episode of Not Your Story, Anthony shares how cinematic, narrative-driven trailers helped redefine how podcasts are promoted - after Steven Bartlett challenged him to bring something new to the industry.