Matthew Lieber & Alex Blumberg
Cofounders, President and CEO of Gimlet Media
Discussion
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
Hi, this is Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber, cofounders of Gimlet Media, the Brooklyn based company behind the podcasts StartUp, Reply All, and Mystery Show.
Alex… is the CEO of Gimlet and host of StartUp, a podcast about what it’s really like to start a business. Before that, he was the creator of NPR’s Planet Money podcast, and a producer for This American Life.
Matt… is the President of Gimlet, and occasional cast member on StartUp. Before that, he produced podcasts (Slate Culture Gabfest) and radio shows (NPR’s On Point), and spent a few years consulting for digital media companies at BCG.
Ask us anything!
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Tyler Mikev
@tylermikev · Director of Mobile @ DRYV
How do you feel Season 2 of StartUp was received in comparison to Season 1? How has Season 2 influenced the direction of Season 3?
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Alex Blumberg
@abexlumberg · CEO
@tylermikev They were pretty different beasts. I think season 1 got a little more into family issues, and felt a little more immediate and intimate. and I think taht was basically because I was reporting on myself. You can't beat that combo, reporter and subject, as one. Season two though I thought got at a lot of broader issues in Silicon Valley. Also, it got at a bunch of interesting business issues around running a dating site. Also, there was a lot more actual drama! The response has been pretty great to both seasons.
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@tylermikev Season 2 did well. I was amazed at how open Emma & Lauren were about their experience, and we heard from many listeners who preferred it to SE01. In terms of audience, we kept most of the SE01 audience, and then saw growth on top of that. There's just something powerful about telling the honest story of starting a company, because there's so much mythology & layers of truthiness layered on top of startups these days.
Alex Carter
@alexcartaz · Operations @ 60dB. Ex-PH Podcasts 😻
@abexlumberg @tylermikev also, re: season 2 (a bit a of a side plug) Lauren Kay, the CEO of Dating Ring, will be doing a LIVE chat on Product Hunt as well, on Oct. 9th: http://www.producthunt.com/live/...
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@tylermikev Oh and in terms of Season 3... we want to do something fresh & different. I think that's all I'm permitted to say about it at this point.
David Mazza
@dmzza · iOS Freelancer @ Peaking
@mlieber Marco Arment has said (something like) he is dreading the day when every podcast network has its own app. Do you think Gimlet Media could become a software company without creating a silo for your own content? Maybe like Medium for podcasting?
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@dmzza We are focused on creating narrative audio, not building software. I think others (including @marcoarment, whose Overcast app I use) are way better positioned to do that.
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Alex Blumberg
@abexlumberg · CEO
@dmzza No plans as of now to create Gimlet centric software or apps. We're good at making content. There's a hunger for the content we can create. We're going to stick to what we're good at.
Tyler Mikev
@tylermikev · Director of Mobile @ DRYV
@mlieber @dmzza @abexlumberg What is the biggest need for podcast producers right now in terms of a app / platform / channel to listeners. I know on /r/podcasts, the big ask seems to be better podcast discovery, but thats mainly being requested by people hosting smaller, niche shows. Product Hunt did a great job by introducing better episode discovery; is there another large need the podcasting industry has right now to help it grow / improve?
Michael Davis
@mikeymiked
@mlieber @abexlumberg In the last season of Start Up (which was great) one thing I felt was missing was what happens to the investors when a Start Up "fails" like Dating Ring? What is Dating rings liability to them. do they still get a cut of the "lifestyle" companys profits? How do they feel about it?
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Alex Blumberg
@abexlumberg · CEO
@mikeymiked You know, that's a good questiont aht we never really dove into. My assumption is that they don't share lifestyle profits with investors, but others here might know better than I.
Adam Kazwell
@kaz · Product manager/observer
@mlieber In the first season of Startup, you met with the Google Ventures team to prototype an app (episode here)...it was one of my favorite episodes and I'm curious - is there still a chance that you'll build your own podcasting app?
Tyler Mikev
@tylermikev · Director of Mobile @ DRYV
Whats the response been to the premium service? Do people actually want access early content and a semi-decent looking shirt? I just signed up to support. The t-shirt was, well..... it was a t-shirt.
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Alex Blumberg
@abexlumberg · CEO
@tylermikev premium service went pretty well. It was a great start. People seem to like access to early content. We got a TON of feedback about our initial pilot that was up there. And yes, t-shirts are t-shirts. But people, including me, like them.
Tyler Mikev
@tylermikev · Director of Mobile @ DRYV
@abexlumberg @tylermikev Haha I like mine too, but would definitely done a higher price point for something a little nicer. How did you guys decide on $60 as your ask?
Ben Stern
@benstern0 · Solutions Architect @Dropbox
Recently, Reply All especially has been collaborating with non-Gimlet podcasts. I assume the presumed value there is a "rising tide lifts all boats" sort of thing, but is it at the expense of long term success of Gimlet? Asked another way, how do you think about competition?
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Alex Blumberg
@abexlumberg · CEO
@benstern0 There isn't competition yet. Most people still don't listen to podcasts. Every break out hit, like serial, that raises the profile of the medium helps us all. These collaborations pay huge dividends as we each benefit from shared audience.
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@benstern0 We don't think that much about competition. We are fans of WNYC, Radiotopia, Earwolf, Slate, Panoply, NPR, and many more shows. The more listeners coming into the medium, through whatever portals, the better it is for all of us.
Ben Stern
@benstern0 · Solutions Architect @Dropbox
@abexlumberg Makes sense. Would FM radio in the car be the biggest competitor to podcasts in general?
Lisa S
@lparke
@benstern0 I think the biggest competitor to podcasts is ignorance :) Occasionally I turn off my podcasts for music, so *maybe* you could consider that a competitor, but I think people not knowing they would like it is the biggest road block.
David Mazza
@dmzza · iOS Freelancer @ Peaking
@lparke @benstern0 That's a good way of putting it. Podcasts are competing for minutes of auditory attention in the day.
Benjamin Peskoe
@benjaminpeskoe · Student
Hey guys -- been loving following your progress so far.
In your opinion, what's the biggest challenge for podcasting as an industry right now?
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@benjaminpeskoe Hey Ben! We're still just at the beginning of the industry. I would say the biggest challenge is distribution. In the US Market there are 200M+ people who should be listening to podcasts, and aren't. We need to get them into the medium.
Joe Filcik
@jfilcik · Writer, Product Manager
@mlieber @benjaminpeskoe have you looked at distributing on @Spotify yet? They say they're moving into podcasts. Do you know enough to have an opinion on that yet?
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@jfilcik @benjaminpeskoe Yeah, we're in Spotify, and when it rolls out wide you'll be able to listen to us in there. We want to be available ubiquitously, across platforms.
Joe Filcik
@jfilcik · Writer, Product Manager
@mlieber @benjaminpeskoe What do you think of @Spotify adding advertising over the top of your show?
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@benjaminmock Death Sex Money, Longform, Another Round, Recode/Decode, a16z, Strangers
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Alex Blumberg
@abexlumberg · CEO
@benjaminmock I'm always listening to new stuff. Combat Jack. Another Round. How to Do Everything. Love and Radio. As well as my old favs, TAL, RadioLab, Planet Money. 99%.
Jeremy Kun
@jeremyjkun
@mlieber What is the minimum viable (projected) audience size for a new Gimlet podcast? (Assume everything else about the pitch is good) Say, if someone comes to you and says "I think can get X weekly downloads starting immediately and Y weekly downloads by next year," what do you need X and Y to be to justify launching? In other words, how niche is too niche?
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Matthew Lieber
@mlieber · StartUp, cofounder
@jeremyjkun We don't try and predict audience sizes, because we've found we're not very good at it. But for us to want to pursue a show, we basically want to see that there's three things 1) a solid framework that will accomadate good stories 2) companionable hosts / characters 3) the potential for listeners to learn something. We don't think too much about "niche" or "not niche," because even while they're focused we try and give the shows some element of universal appeal. For instance, StartUp is a niche subject (a documentary about starting a business), but we hope that our treatment makes it accessible to a broad audience.