Diary of a CEO Lookalikes: 5 Creators Under 150K Subs to Sponsor

The Diary of a CEO is one of the first shows every SaaS, health and DTC brand names when someone says "podcast ads." 19.9M subscribers, two-hour conversations, and a sponsor roster you recognize from every podcast feed you listen to: Shopify, LinkedIn, Pipedrive, Wispr Flow, Eight Sleep, Function Health.

The reads are booked months ahead and priced at the level you'd expect for one of the biggest podcasts on the planet.

What you actually want from DOAC is their listener: someone who sits through a two-hour interview with an expert to learn how something works. That listener has other shows they love too. So we went looking for the smaller ones that reach them, and there are some great ones.

How we found them

We asked Scout for channels that look like The Diary of a CEO with:

1. Format: long-form, one host, one expert guest
2. Size: under 150K subscribers
3. Active: at least one full episode in the last 30 days
4. Ranked by typical views: the median views on their full episodes from the last 90 days, only counting episodes at least a week old. No clips, no averages

We also tracked what each creator actually promotes in their reads across recent YouTube and audio episodes, so the "What they promote" line reflects both sponsor reads and their own-product mentions.

Dataset: 5 shows · 495K combined subscribers · one episode on each lands around 300K views. Pulled from Scout and public channel pages on September 29, 2026.

Our top 5

1. Sean Kim

The closest thing to DOAC on this list. Hour-plus interviews with researchers and doctors, every title built around their years in the field. Recent episodes land between 3K and 268K views, with "I Studied Burnout For 20 Years… 80%+ of Disease Comes From Stress" at the top.

The Stats:

• Location: United States
• 74K subs
• 106K typical views per episode

September episode titles:

• "I've Studied Couples For 35 Years... Why They Suddenly Lose Attraction"
• "I've Studied Nutrition At Stanford For 30 Years… You're Eating Too Much Protein"
• "I Studied Burnout For 20 Years… 80%+ of Disease Comes From Stress"

Rates, sponsor history and contacts: Sean Kim on Scout

• What they promote: Jumpspeak, as a standing sponsor read across recent episodes
• Best for: health testing, supplements, sleep, language and learning apps
• Watch for: views split hard. Half his recent episodes clear 100K and the rest land under 35K, and a few of the big ones have very few comments for their size. Ask for watch time and traffic sources before you price

2. Mark Bouris

The Australian entrepreneur interviewing founders, athletes and coaches on his show Straight Talk: the Atlassian story, Mark Webber, the new Wallabies coach.

The Stats:

• Location: Australia
• 120K subs
• 62K typical views per episode

September episode titles:

• "The Atlassian Story: How Two Uni Mates Built a $100 Billion Company From Sydney"
• "UFC Champ Alex Volkanovski on Retirement, His Next Fight & Life Outside the Ring"
• "Wallabies Coach Les Kiss: The Road Ahead for Australian Rugby & the 2027 World Cup"

Rates, sponsor history and contacts: Mark Bouris on Scout

• What they promote: his own platform, Mentored, and the Mentored+ community. No outside sponsors seen yet
• Best for: fintech, business software, men's health, anything launching in Australia
• Watch for: audience is mostly Australian. Great for brands launching there, a stretch for US-only products

3. David Senra

The Founders podcast host, now interviewing the founders themselves: Sam Altman, Travis Kalanick, Doug Leone, DHH. Recent episodes land between 14K and 209K views, with "Sam Altman on Building OpenAI & Betting on the Impossible" at the top.

The Stats:

• Location: United States
• 123K subs
• 50K typical views per episode

September episode titles:

• "Building One of the Fastest Growing CPG Companies in History | Peter Rahal of David Protein & RXBAR"
• "Inside Bending Spoons: Finding Talent, Leveraging AI & Driving Operational Excellence | Luca Ferrari"
• "Building One of AI's Fastest-Growing Companies | Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs"

Rates, sponsor history and contacts: David Senra on Scout

• What they promote: AppLovin, Deel and Ramp (8 episodes each), plus Uber and Axon
• Best for: B2B software, fintech, anything that sells to founders and operators
• Watch for: the channel posts a lot of clip Shorts that pull about 2K. Buy the full episode

4. Mighty Pursuit

One big question per episode, answered with an expert: why modern parenting is backfiring, what hospice nurses see before death, why scientists think UFOs aren't human. Recent episodes land between 6K and 223K views.

The Stats:

• Location: United States
• 140K subs
• 43K typical views per episode

September episode titles:

• "Child Therapists: Why Modern Parenting Is Backfiring"
• "Why Scientists Think UFOs Aren't Human"
• "This One Discovery Proved the Afterlife Exists"

Rates, sponsor history and contacts: Mighty Pursuit on Scout

• What they promote: their own newsletter, The Nine. No outside sponsors seen yet
• Best for: mental health apps, parenting products, books and learning, sleep
• Watch for: swingy. Nearly half the episodes land under 11K and the big ones land over 75K. Pick the topic before you pick the date

5. The Next Big Idea Podcast

Author interviews from the Next Big Idea Club, the book club curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain and Daniel Pink. Recent episodes land between 10K and 70K views, with "Why Saving the Planet Might Start With Enjoying Your Life!" at the top.

The Stats:

• Location: United States
• 38K subs
• 41K typical views per episode

September episode titles:

• "Why Avoiding Conflict Is Hurting Your Relationships | Priya Parker"
• "Did French Philosophers Predict AI 60 Years Ago?"
• "Has America Become a 'Country of Lords'?"

Rates, sponsor history and contacts: The Next Big Idea Podcast on Scout

• What they promote: Granola and Shopify (17 episodes each), plus Upwork, Momentous and Northwest Registered Agent
• Best for: productivity software, DTC, fintech, anything selling to curious professionals
• Watch for: more views per episode than subscribers, and the steadiest numbers on the list. Four reads per episode, so ask where yours lands

How to check a show before you pay

A lookalike list gets you to the right shows. These three checks tell you whether to book one:

1. Check views against subs. One show we looked at has 113K subscribers and its full episodes get a few hundred views. A big sub count can be years old
2. Use the median, not the average. One big guest can drag a show's average way up. David Senra's typical episode does 50K. Price off that number, or run it through our YouTube sponsorship price calculator
3. Look for repeat sponsors. Shopify runs on DOAC and has run 17 episodes of The Next Big Idea Podcast. A brand that keeps coming back is telling you it works

Want your own list?

Pick the show you can't get and seed Scout with its channel. You get the channels that look like it, with sponsor history, real view numbers and rates for each. If you're new to booking creator reads, start with our guide to sponsoring YouTubers.