Episode
The Business of Being Useful - Nathan Gwilliam on Adoption.com & Entrepreneurial Purpose
- Published
- Jun 22, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4199
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Summary
Most entrepreneurs don’t start with a fully formed company. Sometimes they start with a problem they can’t stop thinking about. My guest today, Nathan Gwilliam, is a serial entrepreneur, podcaster, and platform builder. He is widely known as the founder of Adoption.com, a company that grew from a deeply personal mission to use the internet to help children and families through adoption. Nathan’s story is especially interesting because it sits at the intersection of purpose, technology, and entrepreneurship. Adoption.com was not just another website. It was an early example of using the internet to connect people, solve a deeply human problem, and build trust online at a time when the internet itself was still new to many people. But Nathan’s entrepreneurial journey didn’t stop there. Today, he is the founder and CEO of PodUp, an all-in-one podcasting platform designed to help entrepreneurs and creators create, grow, and monetize their shows. Rather than forcing podcasters to stitch together separate tools for recording, editing, websites, marketing, and monetization, PodUp brings many of those functions together into a single platform. Nathan is also behind Podcasting Secrets, where he interviews successful podcasters and experts and shares strategies for using podcasting to build credibility, authority, audience, and revenue. That idea is especially important today. Many entrepreneurs spend years building visibility on rented platforms, such as social media sites or video channels they don’t control. Nathan’s work challenges business owners to think differently: not just about getting attention, but about building an audience, a message, and a platform that can create lasting value. So today we’ll talk about the journey behind Adoption.com, what it takes to build a co…