The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth

09/10/2026

There’s a microphone that sat on the corner of my desk for six months before I ever hit record.

Six months of “I’ll get to it.” Six months of watching other people launch shows while mine gathered dust next to a coffee mug I never washed.

This week on the pod I’m walking through the actual seven steps I used to go from that dusty mic to 260-something episodes...the real process, not the polished version.

Because here’s the thing: the podcast space isn’t actually as crowded as it feels.

Only about 15 to 16% of the millions of podcasts out there are still active. The average show goes quiet after 21 episodes. The bar to still be standing in year one is lower than you think.

If you’ve got an idea for the next best podcast sitting on a sticky note somewhere, this episode is your nudge.

Listen now to The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth at thefoundpodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts!

09/02/2026

In 2022 I had a marker board covered edge to edge with ideas. Launch dates written right next to every single one.

I sprinted at all of them. Some I wasn't ready for when the date came. Some I pushed so hard to hit that I was sick of the program before it even launched.

By the third or fourth time, I was burned out and had lost a little faith in myself too.

Here's what I know now that I didn't back then: the problem was never the idea. It was the direction I planned from.

This week's newest episode of The Found Podcast is all about how I've learned to plan since then: the five steps I now use with every client (and myself) before launching anything. Plus a real one I'm living through right now in my own hometown.

Listen to "The Worst Business Plan I Ever Made" now available at thefoundpodcast.com and streaming wherever you get your podcasts!

08/31/2026

👉 60%.

That's the number my client waits for before he moves. Not 90. Not "when I feel ready." 60.

👉 👉 Everyone else is out here trying to get to certain. Nick Kleitsch figured out that certain is a myth we tell ourselves so we don't have to be uncomfortable.

He asked me a question on this episode that I have not put down since: how comfortable are you about being uncomfortable?

I've coached Nick for two years, and I'm so glad I could bring him to the podcast this week for all of us.

🔗 Link to Nick's episode can be found in the comments or at thefoundpodcast.com.

08/27/2026

I'm so excited and incredibly humbled to be selected for the 2026-2027 cohort of Leadership Iowa.

Leadership Iowa brings together 40 leaders from across the state each year, and I'll admit, when I think about who usually fills those rooms, I don't always picture someone like me:

👉 A solopreneur.

👉 A podcaster.

👉 A farm wife.

👉 Someone running a business from a town of 2,500 people, some days from my kitchen table while cattle graze out back.

But that's exactly why I applied.

I've spent almost ten years building Molly Knuth Media and The Found Podcast around a simple belief: that the next generation of Iowa's leaders won't come only from boardrooms or the statehouse.

They'll come from Main Streets, from farm kitchens, and from small towns that deserve to be part of the bigger conversations about where this state is headed.

I'm looking forward to spending the next year learning from leaders across Iowa, bringing back what I learn to the founders and communities I serve, and meeting the 39 other leaders who are on this journey too!

Leadership Iowa has announced its 2026-27 class, bringing together a diverse group of leaders from across Iowa for a year of learning, connection and growth.

Congratulations to this outstanding group of professionals who will explore the issues, opportunities and communities shaping Iowa's future.

View the full class: https://na2.hubs.ly/H07tjcd0

08/27/2026

My coaching client of two years just told me, on my own podcast, that willingness beats readiness every time.

👉 He meant it about taking action before you feel prepared.
👉 About launching before it's perfect.
👉 About the ninety percent of things we all sit on because we're scared of the ten percent that could go sideways.

This mentality is Nick Kleitsch in a nut shell.

Nick Kleitsch played college baseball until one moment, one decision ended that chapter and cracked his whole identity wide open. What came out the other side is a guy who works a full time job in addition to builing his own coaching practice, hosting his own podcast, and living by a simple rule: willingness beats readiness every time.

In our conversation, we talked about his CliftonStrengths (Learner and Activator, and yes, that combo is exactly what you think), why fun is not optional, and why nobody stays coached after college even though we all had coaches until the day we graduated.

This one made me laugh and made me think, sometimes in the same breath.

🎧 Full episode is live now in Episode 267 of The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth at thefoundpodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

08/24/2026

In honor of the first day back to school, a conversation everyone loves to discuss: school funding.

Not the most enthralling topic in public education, I know. But it's one I see a lot of misinformation about floating around online. So when Dr. Dan Butler, Superintendent of Western Dubuque County Community School District introduced the concept of "funding buckets" at a recent meeting, I knew this was something everyone who pays taxes and funds public schools (aka: you, reading this right now) needed to hear.

The short version: different funding sources (property tax, state aid, sales tax, bond proceeds) each come with their own restrictions on how they can be spent. A district's hands are more tied on how they allocate funds than most people realize.

This clip is five minutes that will change how you think about your local school budget. For the full episode with Dr. Dan Butler, superintendent of Western Dubuque Schools, check out Episode 266 of The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth now streaming on your favorite podcast app or at thefoundpodcast.com.

08/20/2026

Dr. Dan Butler has spent 23 years in the Western Dubuque Community School District. Student teacher at Bernard Elementary. Coach. Assistant principal. Principal. HR facilitator. Now, he's heading into his fifth year as superintendent of the entire district.

I sat down with him for this week's episode of The Found Podcast to talk about what it actually takes to run a school system spread across 555 square miles and nineteen communities and what the mission of "better every day" looks like when you're the one responsible for it.

We covered a lot of ground: how the district holds a shared standard across eight very different schools, what's behind Western Dubuque ranking fourth in student achievement statewide, and the real numbers driving public school funding in Iowa right now.

If you care about public education, small town leadership, or what it looks like to stay committed to one place for over two decades, this conversation is worth your time.

Episode 266 of The Found Podcast is live now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Link in the comments (or find it at TheFoundPodcast.com).

08/13/2026

Ed Raber said something on this week's episode that I haven't stopped thinking about.

Showing up to somebody else's parade, somebody else's event, somebody else's thing...it feels small. Optional, even.

But Ed put it plainly: if you've ever put on an event, you know the nerves. Will anyone come??? Will this actually work???

You showing up is the relief. It's what stabilizes the whole thing.

Ed has spent thirty years doing exactly that. Rotary meetings. Ribbon cuttings. Library planning meetings in towns that aren't even his own. Wearing a name badge so people know who he is before he says a word. Not because it built his business (it didn't, not directly), but because it built the kind of trust that small towns actually run on.

If you lead in a small town, you already know this. Half the job is just being in the room.

Full episode with Ed Raber is up now in Episode 265 of The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth. Listen at the links in the comments:

07/02/2026

👉 Question: Who gets to have a future in public service?

👉 👉 Answer: For a long time, the honest answer has been: whoever can afford to work for free.

🇺🇸 Sarah Jakle built differently. Her high school participants get paid $15 an hour, because their time has value, and because removing that barrier is exactly how you end up with a program that is 90% girls of color and 70% first-generation Americans who are deeply passionate about this country.

This conversation is Episode 259 of The Found Podcast, and it is one I keep thinking about, especially with Independence Day right around the corner 🇺🇸 Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts 🎧

07/01/2026

👉 28% of Congress is women.
👉 11% is women of color.

Sarah Jakle looked at those numbers and asked: what if we started earlier?

High school is the last time boys and girls believe equally that they can run for office. After that, something shifts. Women start saying "it's not my time" and "it's not my turn." While men with the same resume are twice as likely to see themselves as candidates.

So Sarah built@democrasheroes. DemocraShe is a nonpartisan nonprofit offering free online training to high school girls in resiliency skills, civic engagement, and leadership. Built by young women, for young women. Peer-led. And yes, they pay their participants $15 an hour, because their time has value.

This is one of the most energizing conversations I've had on this podcast. Episode 259 is live now with Sarah Jakle, listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify 🎧