Josh Cooperman: Building What’s Next While Protecting What Works | Live From KBIS 2026

Today With Josh Cooperman:

Josh Cooperman and I have been crossing paths at trade events for years — waving at each other across the hall, meaning to sit down, never quite making it happen. We finally did, live at KBIS in the KB podcast studio, and this conversation was worth every year of waiting.

Josh is the host and publisher of Convo by Design, a platform dedicated to exploring what he calls sublime design and the creatives who make extraordinary spaces a reality. His background is anything but conventional — degrees in journalism and social sciences from Washington State University, followed by a career that ran through CBS Radio’s motorsports division in Dallas, music promotion at KDGE-FM, and a stint as General Manager and Program Director of Playboy Radio. Yes, really. He started Convo by Design in 2013 because he wanted to do what he always wanted to do when he grew up, tell stories about the things he loves. Sound familiar?

What makes this conversation different is that Josh and I are both long-timers in this space. We started our shows within a year of each other, when most people didn’t know what a podcast was. We’ve watched this medium grow, get crowded, get noisy, and get commoditized. And we have a lot of opinions about what that means for anyone thinking about entering it now.

We also get honest about what we’re each building next and why the next chapter looks nothing like the last one.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why most designers who want a podcast should pause and answer one question before they do anything else

• What your “why” has to be — and why lead gen from an industry-only audience is not a strategy

• The real reason 90% of podcasts die before episode 10, and what separates the ones that don’t

• Why “award-winning” and “luxury” have lost their power as positioning language — and what to say instead

• The editorial calendar mistake LuAnn made for seven years (and what she finally did about it)

• Why the trade publications seeded thought leadership to podcasters — and what that opened up for all of us

• The MBA format: what it is, why it’s coming, and what it means for how you use this show going forward

• Josh’s new venture, Shelter Republic — a closed-end, invitation-only community for designers who want peer connection, thought leadership development, and real conversation outside of the once-a-year trade event circuit

• Why the best idea Josh has had in years came from his son — a computer engineer with zero background in design who spotted a gap the industry couldn’t see from the inside

If you’ve been listening to this show for a while, this one will feel like a conversation between two people who have been doing this work long enough to tell you the truth about it. And if you’re newer here, welcome. This is a good one to start with.

Connect with Josh: Convo by Design: convobydesign.com Shelter Republic inquiries: convobydesign@outlook.com

What’s new with LuAnn Nigara:

⁠luannuniversity.com⁠

⁠https://www.luannnigara.com/cob⁠

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