1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,280 Hey everyone, welcome to the show. 2 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:23,000 This is the first episode of the official RSS.com podcast aptly titled, Podcasting 101 3 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,000 with RSS.com. 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,120 I'm Ashley, and I could not be more thrilled to be in your ears right now. 5 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:32,600 I'm the gal that has voiced many of the tutorials you may have seen on our YouTube channel, 6 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:36,200 and now with this new podcast, I'm excited to take on the role of host for what will 7 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:38,240 hopefully be many episodes to come. 8 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,920 Now you might be wondering, what can you expect from this show? 9 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,560 For starters, we plan to interview experts and share the latest in the world of podcasting. 10 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,680 We will also teach master classes on everything from how to pick your microphone to how to 11 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:52,160 grow your audience. 12 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:57,360 With every episode and with everything we do, RSS.com empowers podcasters worldwide. 13 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:02,160 In this first official episode, I thought we'd kick things off with who RSS is and 14 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:03,760 what we're all about. 15 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,800 Because if you're like most people, when you hear RSS, you probably think of an RSS 16 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:09,960 feed for a website or a blog. 17 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:15,440 And in a way, RSS feeds are actually how RSS.com podcasting got started. 18 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,660 But I don't tell this story nearly as well as our founders do. 19 00:01:18,660 --> 00:01:23,000 So I brought them in to chat with me about the founding of the company and how RSS.com 20 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,400 went from being a Google feed reader to a podcast hosting company. 21 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,640 I'll be chatting with Alberto Batella and Benjamin Richardson, who believe it or not, 22 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,640 built and launched this company from two different continents without meeting in person for the 23 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,160 first three full years. 24 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,600 There's a lot to unpack, so we're dividing this episode into two parts. 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,400 I hope you enjoy it. 26 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:46,440 So how did you two begin working together? 27 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,120 I know the story, of course. 28 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,200 But for everyone else listening, how did you guys begin working together? 29 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,240 It all started with a fateful email to Alberto. 30 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,160 Well, no, it started before that. 31 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,800 So I own RSS.com, owned it since 2013. 32 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:08,720 I had purchased it from somebody that was looking to sell it. 33 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:14,880 And it was happening at the same time that Google was, quote, killing the reader. 34 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:22,560 They had just terminated the Google reader, and there was a lot of worry that RSS would 35 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:23,560 be dead. 36 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:30,680 So I bought it at that time to put a Google or Google-like type RSS feed reader on it. 37 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:35,240 But after a couple of years, I was noticing that in the customer support emails, I was 38 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,760 getting a lot of questions about podcasting, and they just were continuing to grow over 39 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:40,760 time. 40 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:47,520 So I realized I needed to offer a podcasting solution as well as a feed reader solution. 41 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,320 And that caused me to go out and look for somebody to partner with, because none of 42 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:58,160 the people in-house had what I thought was the expertise to really bring together a world-class 43 00:02:58,160 --> 00:02:59,480 podcasting platform. 44 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:06,480 So I happened upon Podcast Generator because it had a huge amount of downloads on SourceForge, 45 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:12,800 which is an open source service. 46 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:14,720 And I saw that the guy's name was Alberto Battella. 47 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,160 I'm like, I'm going to find out who this guy is. 48 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:18,440 I Googled his name. 49 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:20,720 I found out he had a PhD. 50 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:26,680 I found out that he had been doing this for a very long time as Podcast Generator's person, 51 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:27,680 creator. 52 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:34,120 And I also saw that Alberto spoke English and Spanish and Italian and was the CTO of 53 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:35,120 a... 54 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:36,840 Anyway, I thought, this guy sounds really awesome. 55 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,520 I'm going to reach out to him. 56 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:44,000 And I wrote him a very quick email just telling him that I spoke the same language as he did, 57 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,100 and could we talk, basically. 58 00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:52,440 And Alberto, thankfully, what caught his attention was that it was a three-letter domain. 59 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:59,560 I wrote him from the rss.com email address, and he thankfully has an affinity for short 60 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:00,560 domains. 61 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:08,720 And so, yeah, that's how we got introduced, is I saw a need in our platform for supporting 62 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:09,720 podcasting. 63 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,480 And Alberto definitely had what I thought was the world-class platform for doing that 64 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,160 on the open source world. 65 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:17,160 And so that's why I reached out. 66 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:18,560 Alberto, anything to add there? 67 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:24,200 No, I think it's great as an overview. 68 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:29,720 It is true that when you wrote me, the first thing I thought and then I wrote to you is, 69 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:31,960 do you own rss.com? 70 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,240 Before even replying, you know. 71 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:42,520 But after that, the match was very clear because I had this technology, this content management 72 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:48,880 system, and there was an appetite to build it in a way that could scale up. 73 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,680 It has been there for a while, but I never found the right opportunity. 74 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:54,360 And in the meanwhile, I was doing other things. 75 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:59,440 You know, I was in startups and that's why I never did it. 76 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:03,280 And I think you were the, let's say, the spark that started the engine. 77 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:05,840 Yeah, the spark that started the engine. 78 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:06,840 Yeah. 79 00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:11,720 I mean, certainly it was very serendipitous that we found each other. 80 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,720 We matched very well in our interests. 81 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:20,400 And he definitely had the experience that made me believe that, yeah, this really could 82 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,200 be something to spend time on. 83 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:32,480 Podcasting was definitely not new by 2015, 2016 when we started talking. 84 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:33,480 Or was it 2017? 85 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:35,480 I don't even remember, Alberto. 86 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:36,480 2017? 87 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:37,480 It was July 2017. 88 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:38,480 I remember. 89 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:39,480 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 90 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:40,480 That's the beginning. 91 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:41,480 That's how it all started. 92 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:46,920 It's so wild to me though, because it sounds like when you started RSS, podcasting wasn't 93 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:47,920 even on your... 94 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,120 Well, I mean, it was on your radar in the sense that, like you said, it wasn't new, 95 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:55,880 but it wasn't that you purchased RSS in the hopes of starting a podcasting company. 96 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:56,880 No, not at all. 97 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,560 I mean, it was to save feed reading and feed readers. 98 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:08,080 I'm a news obsessed person and that's where my mind was, is news consumption. 99 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:15,720 And if everybody stops using RSS, it stops supporting it on their websites and blogs, 100 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:20,880 like, I was definitely gonna lose out. 101 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:26,600 I love staying current on news and I just couldn't imagine a world where that wasn't 102 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:31,480 happening or where it was happening inside a Facebook feed. 103 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:33,920 It just didn't work for me. 104 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,400 But yeah, podcasting wasn't on my radar at that point. 105 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:45,400 And on my end, basically I was building and maintaining this project, it's Podcast Generator 106 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,800 Content Management System for free as a hobby. 107 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:54,240 I didn't really monetize it and you know how many times during the years, during the 13 108 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,600 years I've been working on it for free, basically on the spare time, how many times I thought, 109 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,440 man, I don't know if I should continue. 110 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:07,400 But then people would drive me like, oh, it's not working, it's not compatible with this 111 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:08,600 browser. 112 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,560 So I kept feeling that people were using it and it had a certain impact. 113 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:17,400 So it's kind of serendipitous really how we got there because I could have stopped before. 114 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:23,600 I had the drive of continuing working to my project just because people were using it. 115 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:25,280 So I knew there was a market fit. 116 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,400 Well, I mean, thank goodness that you did though, because if you had stopped, we wouldn't 117 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:35,040 have what we have now, which is this amazing platform for podcasting. 118 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:36,040 Yeah. 119 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:40,920 Interestingly enough, the code base of Podcast Generator after the first year was completely 120 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,400 replaced with a new code base. 121 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:48,600 Meaning now there's no one line of code from Podcast Generator, but the first year, this 122 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,960 is what allowed our company to start with. 123 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,240 We literally used the Podcast Generator. 124 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:55,240 That's amazing. 125 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:56,280 That's absolutely amazing. 126 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,280 So now you kind of gave a little bit about what you were doing Alberto, but Ben, what 127 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:04,720 were you doing at the time whenever you decided to purchase RSS? 128 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:06,480 Do you want to talk about that at all? 129 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:07,480 Yeah. 130 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:09,560 I mean, it's not secret. 131 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:16,160 So I'm an entrepreneur and have a degree from Brigham Young University in entrepreneurship. 132 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:22,360 I started my first business to put myself through school and moved to the Arizona, the 133 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:24,840 Phoenix, Arizona area. 134 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:30,400 And like most, if you know an entrepreneur, you know that their interests are varied and 135 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:37,240 the common denominator is a problem to solve and a passion for that problem. 136 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:43,200 Being in Arizona, I had a tremendous amount of opportunities to do. 137 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:48,680 I feel like looking back, I'm kind of shocked at how much I did and how varied the things 138 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:49,680 were. 139 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:59,000 But so I got my start in real estate in Arizona and worked during the buildup of the bubble, 140 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,840 so to speak, the real estate bubble that people are familiar with. 141 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:10,640 I was kind of at ground zero for the perfect storm for being involved in real estate development 142 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:12,760 from 2005, 6, 7. 143 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:19,720 I got my master's degree in real estate development 2008 and had a front row seat to the implosion 144 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:24,080 and to what the effects were of a market downturn in real estate as well. 145 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:25,400 It was really interesting. 146 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:31,560 Right out of college, I had done some banking and so very familiar with some of the regulations, 147 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:38,080 rules, and practices, procedures of how people interact on a commercial basis with banks. 148 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:43,200 And so I did some commercial real estate consulting. 149 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:51,440 And then I had an opportunity to partner up with some folks who were developing technology 150 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:57,600 out of the Army Corps of Engineers laboratory and taking patents that they were developing 151 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:59,480 and commercializing those patents. 152 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:01,280 And that was fascinating work. 153 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,720 It was right in the middle of the war in Afghanistan. 154 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:09,960 One of the partners was a two-star general at the time. 155 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:16,480 And we were working on stuff that felt very mission-driven and exciting and environmentally 156 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:17,480 useful. 157 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:22,920 So this was like we had a trifecta of things we were working on that were environmentally 158 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:28,480 sustainable, beneficial to the environment and how those could be utilized in the Department 159 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:33,800 of Defense as well as supporting some other missions critical at the time. 160 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:40,640 And anyway, that also put me kind of squarely into a political consulting role, one that 161 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:48,120 I did for a while, that kind of helped merge passions, so to speak, as things were coming 162 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:49,700 to bear in Arizona. 163 00:10:49,700 --> 00:10:53,260 And eventually, I was married in Arizona. 164 00:10:53,260 --> 00:10:55,080 We had our first child in Arizona. 165 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,920 And my wife and my mother-in-law were very keen to get us back to Texas where I grew 166 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:00,080 up and where my wife grew up. 167 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,800 So we moved to Texas. 168 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:08,440 I basically sold out of my partnerships and passed up on a couple others that were just 169 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:14,920 forming that eventually, like I think they accounted for like $13 billion in real estate. 170 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,280 It was pretty significant thing to walk away from. 171 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,840 But family first is my motto. 172 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:28,400 So we came to Texas, my wife is an OBGYN and supporting her career, her desire for career, 173 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,900 as well as her desire and our desire to have a family kind of led us to where we are now. 174 00:11:32,900 --> 00:11:39,160 So a lot happened in those intervening years from starting my first business, but it was 175 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:46,260 always kind of a function of opportunity and passion and mixing those two. 176 00:11:46,260 --> 00:11:50,640 And so now we've got that in RSS and the podcasting platform. 177 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:52,720 I mean, it's very mission driven. 178 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:58,640 We're giving people a voice, which is extremely important for me personally, I know for Alberto 179 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:02,960 as well, diversity and inclusion. 180 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:09,200 In particular, our current focus is on cultural and language diversity with our initiatives 181 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:15,000 in Mexico and the nascent podcasting scene there and how we can help support the voices 182 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:20,440 that are south of us, should we say, at least here in the United States. 183 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:26,920 And so, yeah, it's a great mix of passions and business problem solving, which has always 184 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:29,560 been kind of my main focus. 185 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:30,560 That's a lot. 186 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:33,400 But yeah, so that's my background. 187 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:34,400 That's amazing. 188 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:39,640 Well, Alberto, do you want to add any more to your background as to what led you to ultimately 189 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:41,520 ending up with RSS? 190 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:48,360 Yeah, just if we start from the podcast generator, I was back in my homeland in Italy where I 191 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,800 lived until I was 28, right, from zero to 28. 192 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:57,000 And then I moved to Spain because I wanted to do a PhD. 193 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:01,480 And so podcast generator has been always on the side, you know, and in the meanwhile, 194 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:06,280 I did a PhD in affective computing, which today is called the motion AI. 195 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:12,880 I was working with wearable to measure psychophysiological signals from humans, which means heart rate, 196 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:18,160 electrodermal activities, so skin conductance, pupil size to infer emotions. 197 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:25,440 That was very interesting, kind of pioneering the field of wearable before Fitbit, before 198 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,280 Apple Watch were commercially launched. 199 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:28,280 Very exciting. 200 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,640 Gave me a lot of insights on how to be data driven, right? 201 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:33,600 This is something I still use today. 202 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:36,420 I still am a very data driven person. 203 00:13:36,420 --> 00:13:39,520 And after that, I wanted more commercial impact. 204 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:45,320 So I switched, I left academia after my PhD and I joined a startup where I was CTO for 205 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:46,780 three years. 206 00:13:46,780 --> 00:13:50,880 We raised 45 million dollars, especially in the United States. 207 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:56,040 Then I switched to corporate in a business unit, which was a moonshot factory. 208 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,800 It was the equivalent of Google X, but in Europe. 209 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:05,240 And it's a big corp, a big, big telecommunication company, a 56 billion dollar revenue as a 210 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:06,240 CTO there. 211 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:13,320 I also, for three years, I spun out a moonshot into a company, into a real company, which 212 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:17,440 raised 30 million euros, 36 million dollars. 213 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:26,720 And after the spin out, I finally decided to leave everything, leave corporate and just 214 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:32,640 join RSS, which was already alive and going for a couple of years. 215 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,740 For myself, it was a side project, right? 216 00:14:34,740 --> 00:14:40,360 Some weekends may be dedicated, some emails, but really I was not in the day to day ops. 217 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,360 And that's when I decided to join, which is actually this year. 218 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,880 So 2021 is a big year for me. 219 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:52,280 Finally being able to work and have an impact in the podcasting industry. 220 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:59,200 What I love so much about how diverse your backgrounds are is that you both had so many, 221 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:04,360 like Marie Forleo says, you know, you're multi-passionate entrepreneurs and you took all of these amazing 222 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:09,840 skills and all these amazing like knowledge bases and you created something that is giving 223 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,480 a voice to the previously voiceless. 224 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,560 And that's honestly why I love RSS so much. 225 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:20,940 Just the fact that you can come on, you can speak into a microphone and you're telling 226 00:15:20,940 --> 00:15:22,560 the world your story. 227 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,200 And sure, you may not have like a bunch of followers all at once. 228 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,000 You may not have a bunch of fans, but the point is you're taking something as simple 229 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:34,600 as a microphone and a broadcasting platform online and you're giving your voice to the 230 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:35,600 world. 231 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:36,600 You're telling the world something. 232 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:41,920 And what amazes me the most about y'all's story is that you didn't even meet in person 233 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:47,440 until just, wasn't it just this year that you guys just met for the first time in person? 234 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,200 Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. 235 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:58,360 But between COVID and between, you know, other intervening obligations and things, it just, 236 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:02,200 it worked out that we met for the first time at podcast movement in Nashville of this, 237 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:03,640 you know, August of this year. 238 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:08,640 So Alberto was, he frequently would say, you know, I don't even know how tall you are. 239 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:10,760 You know, we're always sitting down. 240 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:12,400 We do our voice chats. 241 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,320 You know, frankly, to me, that was not a hindrance in the least. 242 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:21,800 You know, I've, you know, in my work, there were occasions when, you know, it was all 243 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:27,640 video conferencing and it felt very comfortable to go into this role. 244 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:37,400 Alberto's work ethic and, you know, manner is just so easy to trust and to understand 245 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:42,760 in the sense that I understand culturally, you know, just as well as probably any, you 246 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,160 know, American from Texas could. 247 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:51,560 And I think, and you know, United States born and 248 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:52,560 raised. 249 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:53,880 And so I think he understands me very well too. 250 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,000 So it just, it was a very comfortable fit from very early on. 251 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,220 And so I didn't ever feel like not meeting was a super big hindrance, but it was nice 252 00:17:02,220 --> 00:17:03,220 to finally meet. 253 00:17:03,220 --> 00:17:07,440 Well, I have to say whenever I met you guys, cause I actually had the honor of getting 254 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:12,200 to meet you guys at podcast movement this year and watching you guys interact, you would 255 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:13,200 think you guys were old friends. 256 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,300 You've known each other for decades. 257 00:17:15,300 --> 00:17:19,640 And so it was really cool to see that even though you guys built a company and completely 258 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:24,200 different continents, you had your kindred spirits in some respects. 259 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,440 Yeah, I'd agree with that. 260 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:27,440 Yeah. 261 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,960 Then, then there is also, there is something to add there. 262 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:33,700 We didn't meet each other, not because we were on two different continents. 263 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:39,480 For example, I go often to the States, but I would say that after the first few months, 264 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:43,360 we were well oiled as I could say the same thing that Ben said. 265 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:44,720 I could say the same thing for Ben. 266 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,040 You know, it was very easy to work with. 267 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:48,880 There is affinity, definitely empathy. 268 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:49,880 It's very clear. 269 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,440 It's very clear that we have objectives. 270 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,680 We have, we are aligned. 271 00:17:54,680 --> 00:18:00,400 So there were a couple of occasions before COVID where we should have, we wanted to fly 272 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,460 to see each other, but it was very tight, tight schedule. 273 00:18:03,460 --> 00:18:05,320 So we didn't end up doing that. 274 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:06,320 And then COVID hit. 275 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,440 So that's why it took really three years, but actually we're very comfortable because 276 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:13,440 we set up a company, which is remote first. 277 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,760 So we have all the tools to really be in touch and literally in real time. 278 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,840 And we actually cover almost 24 hours on the globe, right? 279 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:22,760 Between people who go to sleep and people who wake up. 280 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:23,760 So it's very interesting. 281 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:24,760 Yeah. 282 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:30,520 It's still just so perfect though, because the world of podcasting, it's all online anyway. 283 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:35,520 And you know, I know a couple of people who they're in different States and they still 284 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:36,880 have a podcast together. 285 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,040 They get on clean feed just like we're doing right now, or they get on, you know, ZenCaster 286 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:43,540 or SquadCaster or things like that. 287 00:18:43,540 --> 00:18:48,760 And it's so cool that even if you aren't engaging with someone in person, you can still 288 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:50,400 create something magical. 289 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,920 And I just geek out on this kind of thing. 290 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:54,680 So I'm very excited about it. 291 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:59,680 Well, so, so we've been kind of alluding to the, to the fact that you guys run RSS together, 292 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,480 but let's kind of talk about RSS itself. 293 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,880 What are some of the features that, that our platform offers that you think are perfect 294 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,720 for the beginning or even the pro podcaster? 295 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:16,680 RSS as a podcasting platform is extremely easy. 296 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:20,440 Now simplicity, it's complex. 297 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:25,480 I know it seems like, you know, something straightforward, but making something extremely 298 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:32,040 simple and so making it accessible for people who want to start is very complex. 299 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:37,480 And we were lucky because having been in the space with Podcast Generator for 13 years 300 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:45,240 exposed us to all these requests from real podcasters and hosts and all these doubts, 301 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:50,400 which allowed us to start this company in a way where we really, our motto was in two 302 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:52,800 click you need to have your first episodes. 303 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,440 Actually, probably it's three clicks now, but still three clicks, right? 304 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:01,320 So that's, that's a whole, I think the main, the key differentiator with other companies 305 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,880 is that we are extremely simple. 306 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,400 It's not us saying that it's our users. 307 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:12,000 They write us their live reviews, genuine reviews and the most frequent word. 308 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,000 It's easy. 309 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:14,000 I would echo that. 310 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,980 I mean, Alberto and I both read every customer support email that comes, but we read these 311 00:20:18,980 --> 00:20:23,480 because it keeps us in tune with where we're lacking. 312 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:31,440 I have yet to see in a given month more than maybe two customer support emails that makes 313 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:36,660 it apparent that they don't know what to do or how to do it, at least on our platform. 314 00:20:36,660 --> 00:20:41,040 Those troubles do we do run into those troubles with other platforms as they as they interface 315 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:42,040 with those. 316 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:48,060 But this really has been, you know, like a like a river, a stone in a river, the rough 317 00:20:48,060 --> 00:20:50,920 edges of the UI have been knocked off over time. 318 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:56,080 And it's a beautiful piece of machinery that is easily accessible no matter where in the 319 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,880 world you are to get your podcast up and running. 320 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:04,040 And that's not that's not a knock on any other platform. 321 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,080 We know how difficult it is. 322 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:11,640 You know, there's so many features that we have that that we're holding back right now 323 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:18,640 as we wait for the proper UI to be formulated as we roll those features out. 324 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,060 And it's not a matter of technical ability. 325 00:21:21,060 --> 00:21:26,800 It's a matter of really fine tuning how our customer interacts with the machine in a way 326 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:33,440 that does not add extra burden, extra frustration or any sort of any sort of lag time in their 327 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,680 desire to be a podcaster. 328 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:37,400 So it's very difficult. 329 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,280 But that is I would echo what Alberto said. 330 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:46,280 And it's it's all thanks to his work, probably starting as a PhD in how machines and humans 331 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:47,280 interact. 332 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:53,120 I mean, it's really a, you know, a valuable sort of resource. 333 00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:55,680 Well guys, I think that's actually a good breaking point. 334 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,640 Thanks everyone for hanging out with us today for part one of this two part episode. 335 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:04,120 Stay tuned for the next one where we'll share why now is the best time to start a podcast. 336 00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:09,120 Until next time, you can learn more about how to launch and grow your own show at rss.com 337 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:10,840 backslash blog. 338 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:26,280 Thanks for tuning in.