Sure. So podcastguest.com is a free platform that connects podcasters with guests for their
shows. And the backstory is I'm a podcaster. I've been podcasting for many years. I recently
published episode number 400 of my podcast. And after about a year of podcasting, I do
the guest format like a lot of people. I was running out of guests. I kind of tapped my
Rolodex and I invited all the people I know that were relevant. And then I was looking
around like, how can I find someone new and interesting? And so I looked around to see
if there would be a platform to help me find guests for my show. And at the time, the only
alternatives were these agencies, which do a great job, but they're expensive. And I
think most podcasters don't want to spend thousands of dollars a month finding guests
for their show. So I decided to create my own platform. And that was podcastguest.com.
Now when did it launch and how did it first like, whenever you rolled it out, what did
it look like?
Sure. So I started in 2016 and I modeled the service off of a popular tool that PR people
use, which is called Help a Reporter Out or HARO. And people use that to find people to
interview for usually for their written articles, right? Like I need someone who has a mortgage
and they change jobs when they have mortgages, right? Someone's writing something for a Wall
Street Journal, they'll send out their request. That's how they get a lot of those responses,
right? You know, those kind of esoteric responses. So I decided to try the same thing for podcasts.
And so it started just on email. So we'd send out an email every week that said, here's
some podcasts looking for guests. And if you're a fit, pitch to them. So people click a link,
they fill out a pitch form. So very much just like Help a Reporter Out. And then over time,
the user started asking for more, right? They're like, hey, this is great, but it'd be wonderful
as if there was a way for say, podcasters to come to me and invite me on their show
because I'm looking through your lists and I might be a fit for some of them, but my
story doesn't really fit into those categories, those neat categories. And so over time, we
added our directory, which now has about a thousand people in it. And that allows podcasters
to see who you are and what makes you interesting and invite you to be a guest on their show.