Read the full case study: Secret Leaders
Tom relaunched Secret Leaders, a business podcast running since 2017, as a video-first show, built its studio and closed its sponsors, and it reached number 2 in the UK Business podcast charts behind The Diary of a CEO.
Client: Secret Leaders, hosted by Dan Murray-Serter and Chris Donnelly
Tom's role: Head of Content, Secret Leaders (Jul 2024 to May 2025), with ownership of editorial, production, studio, team and commercial.
Years: Jul 2024 to May 2025
Platforms: YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Instagram
Key numbers
- Number 2: in the UK Business podcast charts, behind The Diary of a CEO
- Number 1: in UK Careers
- 4: sponsors sourced, pitched and closed by Tom: Wise, Vanta, Hewlett Packard and Dubai Tourism
- Wise and Vanta: named as sponsors in the show's Spotify description
Secret Leaders is a UK business interview podcast, launched in 2017. Dan Murray-Serter and Chris Donnelly host it. Tom was Head of Content from July 2024 to May 2025. He relaunched it as a video-first show. He owned the format and editorial, the studio build, sponsorships, and the team and systems. The show reached number 2 in the UK Business podcast charts, behind The Diary of a CEO, and number 1 in UK Careers. Podcast charts are not archived, so both chart positions come from Tom.
The starting point
Secret Leaders was a legacy audio podcast. It had a back catalogue and search authority that a new show would not have. Its YouTube channel opened on 31 January 2024. The business podcast audience sits on Spotify and Apple more than on YouTube.
What Tom did
Tom relaunched the show as video first, with a new format and editorial strategy. He specced, sourced and built a 6K studio from scratch: cameras, lighting, audio, set, budget and workflow. He hired the team to run it. He sourced, pitched and closed Wise, Vanta, Hewlett Packard and Dubai Tourism himself. He ran day to day operations, working directly with the founders.
How it worked: formats, cadence, team, systems, decisions
Formats. The show ran long interviews with founders and business leaders. Around them sat reaction episodes and shorter explainers, such as Entrepreneurs React To Mr Beast's Dodgy Allegations! and How Rolex Turns Over $11 Billion But Makes $0 Profit.
Cadence. Two premium interviews a week, plus daily social. Apple Podcasts lists the show as updated twice weekly.
Studio. The studio existed because two premium interviews a week needed to look like authority. An episode titled Diary Of A CEO Embarrassing Moment, Selling Feet Pics & Our NEW STUDIO went out on 6 December 2024.
Recording. Tom told guests at the top that anything weak would be re-recorded at the end, then left them alone. He noted every moment he wanted tighter during the episode, then went back for them once it was done.
Team. A team of 5 to 6 full time.
Commercial. Editorial and commercial sat with the same person. The show's Spotify description names Wise Business and Vanta as sponsors. Vanta's co-founder, Christina Cacioppo, was a guest in April 2025.
Decisions. Tom judged episodes by who watched as well as how many. One episode did 2,000 views on YouTube and was worth more commercially than videos with a hundred times the audience, because the viewers were founders with budgets.
The results
Number 2 in the UK Business podcast charts, behind The Diary of a CEO. Number 1 in UK Careers. Spotify files the show under Business and Careers. Four sponsors closed: Wise, Vanta, Hewlett Packard and Dubai Tourism. Tom's videos hold 125 Secret Leaders videos with 346,649 views. 106 of them were published between July 2024 and May 2025, with 327,402 views. The most watched, the Deborah Meaden episode, has 201,216 views. Apple Podcasts shows a 4.4 rating from 300 ratings. Spotify shows 91 ratings. The YouTube channel has 9,100 subscribers and 589,005 views across 300 videos.
What it proves
A legacy show can be relaunched faster than a new one can be started. Views are a weak proxy for a business show. The person who knows what the show can credibly do should be the one selling it. How Tom works across the whole operation and one issue at a time is in Macro and micro at the same time. The wider method is in How I work.
More numbers
- 6K studio specced, sourced and built from scratch.
- 2 a week premium interviews, plus daily social.
- 125 videos in Tom's work, with 346,649 views.
- 201,216 views on the most watched episode, Deborah Meaden: What You Don't See On Dragons' Den!.
More case studies: tomsharman.com/case-studies