201 Breaking Good with Podcasters

Harry Duran welcomes to the podcast web and mobile developer and entrepreneur, Leah Culver. Leah is the co-founder of Breaker, an iOS app for discovering new podcasts through social recommendations and collaborative filtering. In this episode, Harry and Leah discuss the genesis of Breaker as well as the many features it now boasts. They talk about the importance of leveraging and utilizing data, challenges of building a startup, and their shared experiences within the podcasting community. Finally, Leah and Harry tease The Global Podcast Meetup, a joint project they are working on currently.

Show Notes

00:01 – Harry welcomes Leah Culver to the podcast
00:33 – The genesis of Breaker
03:07 – Why Leah was unimpressed with the different podcast apps she initially utilized
05:06 – Features within the Breaker app
09:39 – “Under Twenty Minutes”
10:07 – The decision to release new versions of the iOS app weekly
11:00 – Building out and syncing the Breaker Audio website
11:38 – Metadata
13:48 – Benefits of switching to the Breaker Audio app
14:47 – Leah gives a shout out to some early adopters of Breaker
18:45 – The importance of leveraging and utilizing data
20:36 – Harry asks Leah about the comedy podcast, A Very Fatal Murder
22:32 – Challenges faced and adjustments made while building a startup
26:43 – The inflection point where Leah and her co-founder Erik realized they had something with Breaker
27:45 – Leah teases some upcoming features for Breaker
28:11 – The future of Breaker’s revenue model
33:33 – Leah’s experience interacting with the podcast community
35:37 – Utilizing social media to engage with app users
37:42 – Leah speaks to the growth of Breaker
40:56 – Leah’s background and roots
42:47 – Harry and Leah discuss the evolution of technology throughout the years
47:23 – The Global Podcast Meetup
50:25 – What is something Leah has changed her mind about recently
51:23 – What is the most misunderstood thing about Leah
52:00 – Where listeners can follow Leah

TWEETABLES

“So, what we ended up doing differently at Breaker, or on the Breaker App, is that we allow you to sort of follow people as in a social network. You can like episodes. You can send them to people.” (05:06)

“What’s interesting about Breaker is that we see, from the first month to the second month of using Breaker, the number of shows that a user subscribes to doubles. So, it means that they’re discovering new content.” (16:07)

“It’s kind of our goal, for this year, to better connect podcasters with their audience.” (18:04)

“We want to make money when podcasters make money.” (28:47)

“We originally pitched Breaker as Netflix for podcasts in that we’re gonna make exclusive content and charge for it. But we’re also, at the same time, letting some other companies sort of try that model first to see how that goes.” (29:24)

“I’m really passionate about connecting people on the Internet so I’ve work a lot in blogging and social media.” (41:54)

THANK YOU SPONSORS!

Focusrite - Makers of my go-to sound card, the Scarlett 2i2

Aweber - Hosts of the Beyond the Podcast Summit - Click here to register for free -September 18, 2019, 11:00 am ET to 3:00pm ET.

LINKS MENTIONED

Leah’s Website – http://leahculver.com/

Breaker Audio Website – https://www.breaker.audio/

Leah’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahculver/

Leah’s Instagram – @leahculver https://www.instagram.com/leahculver/?hl=en

Leah’s Twitter – @leahculver https://twitter.com/leahculver?lang=en

Leah’s Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/leahculver

Podcast Movement Website – https://podcastmovement.com/

PODCASTS MENTIONED

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/panoply/a-very-fatal-murder

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