Building Trust Through Your Podcast | Mehmet Gonullu

We live in a world that’s more distracted than ever before. It seems impossible to cut through all the noise. But thankfully, there’s something you can do to get noticed! In this episode, Mehmet Gonullu explains how you can use podcasting to establish real trust by choosing depth and transparency over hype in your content. Get ready to stop seeking attention and start building trust that lasts!

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Chapters

00:00 The Genesis of a Podcasting Journey
02:26 The Power of Genuine Curiosity
04:50 Building Trust Over Audience
06:13 Transformative Conversations and Learning
07:38 The Long-Term Value of Podcasting

Takeaways

Podcasting started as a solo project for reflection.
Engaging with guests reignited curiosity and learning.
Trust is more valuable than audience size.
Genuine curiosity leads to deeper conversations.
Podcasting rewards depth and intimacy over reach.
Building relationships is key to success in podcasting.
The host often learns the most during conversations.
Thought partnership is more important than thought leadership.
Consistency and integrity build a strong reputation.
In a noisy world, trust is the most powerful signal.

MORE FROM THIS EPISODE: HTTPS://PODMATCH.COM/EP/386

Transcript

Hi, my name is Mehmet Gunulu, the host of the CTO show with Mehmet. When I started my podcast, the CTO show with Mehmet, it wasn't part of some big master plan. There was no team, no PR agency, no strategy. It was just me and a mic I bought online. And at the beginning, I kept it simple. I recorded it solo, no guests.

no interviews. I just wanted to reflect out loud on what I had seen in my 20 plus years in B2B tech across startups, scale-ups, and go-to-marketplace. I had frameworks, stories, observations, and podcasting gave me a quiet place to think. And I will be honest, at first, that was enough. There's something very cathartic about speaking into the void. No performance,

No expectations, just to clarify. But after a while, it became kind of repetitive. I wasn't learning anymore. I was just recycling what I already knew. So one day, I invited someone on the show, a founder I respected. And that one conversation changed the entire direction of the podcast. Not because the episode went viral, actually it didn't, but because I felt it.

That real curiosity again, the way one answer sparked five more questions. The feeling of learning in real time. That's when I made a decision. This wasn't going to be a solo show anymore. I didn't just want to share what I knew. I wanted to absorb what I didn't. And that's how a casual side project became something much bigger. Today,

More than 400 episodes later, can say something I didn't expect when I started all this. Podcasting became my superpower. But not in the way most people think. Not because it brought me fame. Actually, I'm still not very famous. Not because it built a following. But because it built trust. And in today's world, trust is the rarest

and in my opinion, the most valuable currency we have. Let me explain. We live in a time where everything's optimized for reach. Everywhere you look, it's louder, faster, more polished. We are surrounded by content, by opinions, by noise. And the default response? We just scroll past it. We've learned to ignore hype.

We've learned to tune out performative storytelling. But there's one thing people don't ignore. Genuine curiosity. When you show up without an agenda, when you ask honest questions, when you actually listen, people feel that, and they remember it. That's what podcasting unlocked for me. I started having conversations with founders who had failed publicly

CTOs navigating company pivots, investors who were rethinking their entire thesis. These weren't headlines. They were real stories. The kind people only tell when they feel safe. And I realized by creating that space, I wasn't just making content. I was earning trust, conversation by conversation. And over time, that trust started to open doors.

Let me give you an example. One day, an investor I had never spoken to sent me a message. He said, Mehmet, I've been listening to your podcast for months. I feel like I already know how you think. Let's talk. That conversation led to a broader opportunity, not because I pitched anything, but because he felt aligned with how I approach the world. And I've seen that play out over and over again.

Founders send me decks before we even meet. VCs loop me into deals because they know what I care about. People refer me because of a voice they've heard consistently and sincerely for months. You know, that's not something you can fake. That's not something you get from a LinkedIn post that went viral. That's the power of resonance over reach. That's the deeper point I want to share with you today.

Podcasting, when done intentionally, is not about audience. Yes, you heard it right. Podcasting, when done intentionally, is not about audience. It is about alignment. It's not about building followers. It's about building relationships. And it's not about performance. It's about presence. That's what makes it different from every other medium. You see,

Most platforms reward short bursts of attention. Podcasting does exactly the opposite. It rewards depth. It's long form. It's intimate. People choose to listen to your voice for, let's say, 30, 40, maybe sometimes even 60 minutes. They hear how you think, how you follow up, what you don't say. It's a level of access most people never get to show. And if you do it well,

If you stay curious, stay present, stay real, believe me, it becomes a magnet. Not a megaphone. That distinction matters. Because when you stop chasing attention and start earning trust, everything changes. You stop marketing, you start connecting. You stop asking for opportunities, they start, believe it or not, finding you.

and you stop feeling like you need to impress everyone because the right people already trust you. That's what podcasting has done for me. It changed the way I build relationships, the way I do business, and the way I interact with people. It helped me learn directly from some of the best minds in tech, not through newsletters or conferences, but through real conversations built on mutual respect. It's helped...

me navigate my own ideas better. Because let's be honest, sometimes the person who learns the most in a podcast, it is the host. I've had moments where I stopped mid-recording and thought, that changes how I think. That was like really an interesting point that my guest raised. That kind of learning doesn't happen when you are just consuming. It happens when you are engaging.

And that's the last thing I will leave you with. Podcasting isn't about thought leadership, although it's important, but it's about thought partnership. It's not about positioning yourself as the expert. It's about being the person who asks questions no one else is asking and then sits back and listens. That's where insights lives. That's where trust lives.

And that's where the long-term value is created, not from downloads or charts. Don't get me wrong, they are important at some stage, but from the kind of connection that turns a conversation into a catalyst. So no, I didn't plan for podcasting to become my edge, but today it's the most important thing I ever built. Not because of how many people listen, but because of who listens and why.

Because when you earn someone's attention over time, when you give without expecting anything back, when you show up with integrity and stay consistent, you're not just building content, you're building a reputation, you're building a trust. And in a world full of noise, that is the most powerful signal you can send to the universe. Thank you.