Metacast: Behind the scenes
by Metacast
Metacast is a podcast app for podcast lovers. We are building a powerful tool that helps you get the most out of podcasts. Auto-generated transcripts and chapters allow you to quickly skim episodes, search for content, and bookmark segments. Chapters, automated playlists, listening history & stats, and much more is coming. On this podcast, co-founders of Metacast talk about building the company and the product.
Episodes
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73. Holiday update
In this holiday episode, we celebrate reaching over 300 paying subscribers and 1,500 monthly active users. We also discuss recent backend infrastructure optimizations, critical bug fixes, and future plans, including a new pro plan with expanded features like higher private podcast limits and…
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72. New features & LLM-induced drama inside the team
New app features: listening history, continue listening, and transcript exports + navigating LLM-induced team drama. Chapters 00:00 - Welcome and business update 02:13 - Metacast v1.25 Overview 02:50 - New Feature: Listening History 08:08 - New Feature: Continue Listening 12:41 - New Feature:...
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71. Survaviversary: We survived 1 year in production + limited time sale for new users
We celebrate Metacast's one-year "survivalversary" with a special $10/year sale and share what we're working on. Chapters 00:28 - - State of the business 05:20 - - The Survaviversary 09:16 - - New creator transcript feature 16:04 - - Upcoming playlist and history features 21:25 - - Podcast...
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70. Summer update & Metacast v1.24
What we've been up to in the second half of the summer + update on the just released Metacast v1.24. Chapters 00:00 - Summer hiatus and personal reflections 02:16 - User growth and trials 03:44 - Website traffic and SEO success 08:14 - Managing website costs and bots 12:38 - Metacast v1.24: New...
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Weekly-ish Update (July 26, 2025): Private podcasts are now generally available!
We've GA-ed private podcasts! In this episode, we talk about the feature, the extra perks for Premium users and celebrate completion of the table stakes features. We end the episode with a banter about Claude Code and a few German phrases. Chapters 00:00 - Private Podcasts Are Now Live 02:03 -...
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Weekly-ish Update (July 15, 2025): On the finishing line to launch v1.22, ops-heavy week, web app updates
We're on the finishing line to launch private podcasts in GA, but it takes a while because we've wasted a lot of time dealing with ops post-Google billing incident. Chapters 00:00 - Ops Challenges and Private Podcast Quotas 02:37 - Web App Enhancements and Scalability 04:49 - Growth Milestones…
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Weekly-ish Update (June 30, 2025): Preparing to launch private podcasts, marketing stuff, huge bill from Google
Preparing to launch private podcasts, marketing projects, ops stuff, and a huge (with a capital "H") bill from Google Chapters 00:00 - Weekly-ish Update and Big Incident 00:50 - Addressing Major Google Cloud Bill 03:00 - App and Web Development Progress 05:11 - Marketing, Communication, and…
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Weekly-ish Update (June 12, 2025): Private podcasts, podcast search on web app, making money
Every week, we meet for a standup. We summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings. In this update, we discuss launching private feeds, the new podcast search feature on the web app, and making money. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Funding Metacast…
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Weekly Update (May 24, 2025): Podcast summaries, private feeds, in-person meetup!
Every week, we meet for a standup. We summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings. In this update, we discuss episode summaries, chapters, and performance improvements. We also cover ongoing backend work, in-person meeting experience (!), planning for...
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69. New podcast sharing experience (QR codes FTW!)
In this episode we discuss why and how we built the new sharing experience (see blog post for v1.19). Chapters 00:20 - Opening 00:57 - New weekly update episodes 05:22 - New podcast sharing experience in Metacast 06:52 - Why we are working on sharing? 09:32 - The new sharing experience 14:35 - QR...
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Weekly Update (May 6, 2025): New sharing experience, new logo & branding
Every Tuesday, we meet for a weekly standup. We summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings. Chapters 00:30 - Mobile App Update and New URLs 02:26 - Logo Update and Rebranding Details 06:39 - Mobile App Future Development Plans 09:41 - Podcast...
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Weekly Update (Apr 30, 2025): Upgrade hell & preparing v1.19
Every Tuesday, we meet for a weekly standup. We summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings. Chapters 00:48 - App Upgrade Issues and Fixes 03:15 - Upcoming App Release and Features 06:14 - Podcast Recommendations and Timer Challenge Show notes Calendar...
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Weekly Update: What we've done last week and what we're working on next
Every Tuesday, we meet for a weekly standup. We'll summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings. Chapters 01:15 - Public Roadmap and User Feedback 02:06 - Mobile App Updates and Challenges 04:21 - Web App Bot Invasion and Solutions 07:40 - Next Week's…
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68. Q1 Update: new features, struggles, hope
In this episode we recap our Q1: what we shipped, distribution challenges, siloing engineering workstreams + a bunch of tangential topics. Chapters 00:00 - Opening 02:09 - New feature: Chapters 05:27 - New feature: Following a.k.a. Podcast Inbox 06:17 - Feedback from Grumpy Old Geeks 08:10 - Ilya...
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67. Attack of LLM bots
Our website got slammed by LLM bots from Amazon and Anthropic, which could've cost us $7k in Vercel image optimization costs! Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 00:20 - Introduction and episode overview 01:31…
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66. Lowlights of 2024 and what's up for 2025
In the first episode of 2025, we discuss the lowlights of last year and sharing our high-level plans for 2025. Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 02:23 - User feedback 06:48 - Fixing the leaky bucket of the...
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65. The first outage and an unexpected save
In this holiday edition episode, we discuss the past year's highlights, a recent outage, and the rapid emergence of Bluesky as a social media platform. Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 00:20 - Welcome to the...
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64. VC-backed vs. bootstrapped startups
We've chatted with a VC-backed founder who is on the brink of closing shop. Listen to our reflections on this. Plus, a breakdown of latest Metacast features! Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 01:26 - New...
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63. Dropping the price
We've launched with a price of $49.99/year, but we realized it's too high. We're lowering it to $19.99/year or $1.99/month. Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 01:14 - How we decided to lower the price for...
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62. Rejected by Apple
We've launched Metacast in Apple App Store. In this episode, we talk about the process and Apple's feedback. Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 00:51 - Big milestone! 02:38 - Apple requires screenshots for…
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61. Confessions of a lonely founder, Flutter & iOS woes, app positioning
In this episode we discuss a couple of weeks when our Slack went silent, a slow grind to launch on iOS, and talk about the word we want Metacast to be known for. Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 02:12 -...
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60. First haters, first violations, the launch process and smelling like teen spirit
We've launched Metacast on Android. In this episode, we talk about the feedback we received, first haters, Google Play store violations, and our launch process. We cover topics of feature toggling, version Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://metacast.app. Join the...
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59. Metacast for Android launched!
Big announcement - we've launched Metacast on Android in Google Play Store! In this episode, we talk about deciding the scope for v1, punting on features, and pricing. Get Metacast at metacast.app. New users get 51% off Metacast Premium until end of August 2024. Join the r/metacastapp...
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58. The 1 Year Anniversary
It’s been a year since we started working on Metacast. In this episode Arnab and Ilya reflect on the journey and compare working on a startup with the old corporate days. Get Metacast at metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 05:35 - No going back to corporate 06:21 -...
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57. Positioning, power struggle, DUNS bureaucracy
We're discussing the dilemma of positioning Metacast as both powerful and simple, break down the recent power struggle about 5% transparency of a UI element, and share our experience with the DUNS number that developers have to get to be in Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Get Metacast at...
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56. We're back!
We're back and this is a massive update on what we've been up to since our last episode! Get Metacast at metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 00:24 - We're back 03:23 - Tangent about our names 05:00 - First full-team offsite in Florida 08:27 - We made Android cool...
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55. Leaving Google and Amazon to bootstrap Metacast (rerun of ep. 24)
We took a leap of faith and left our jobs at Google and Amazon to jump into the unknown. It wasn't easy and required quite a bit of planning. This is a rerun of June 2023 episode where we talk about how we did it. Get Metacast at metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Links…
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54. How we chose the market to go after
We got asked how we were thinking about product-market-fit, potential revenue, and entering a market that already has strong players. We’re giving a full breakdown of our thought process. Get Metacast at metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 01:35 - Ilya's “fun”...
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53. How we launched Metacast in beta
We broke Metacast just before launching it in open beta. Ouch. On this episode, we talk about the launch, how it went, and what we’ve learned. Get Metacast at metacast.app. Join the r/metacastapp subreddit. Chapters 02:13 - Get The Pragmatic Podcaster book for free 03:33 - We broke Metacast...
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52. Our first existential startup crisis
We had our first existential crisis when Apple announced that they're adding transcripts to Apple Podcasts. We panicked for a few minutes, regrouped, and decided to ship Metacast in open beta ASAP. On the episode, Arnab, Ilya and Jennie discuss the whole ordeal as it was happening. Get Metacast…
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51. Post vacation guilt, writing docs, new podcast
We took a break from the startup for the holiday season and were welcomed back to work by a warm embrace of guilt. Should we feel guilt when building a startup? Today we also discuss the launch of our new podcast Builders Gonna Build and how we made the decision to start it. We talk about writing…
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Emergency episode
Wee-oo wee-oo wee-oo... we've got an important announcement to make! Bulders Gonna Build podcast: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Newsletter on Substack: www.buildersgonnabuild.com Give it a rating, a follow and repost to help us out! Chapters 00:00 - Emergency Announcement: Podcast Split 00:57 -...
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50. Year 2023 in review, plans for 2024
What was 2023 like to Metacast, what's ahead for us in 2024, and our favorite podcast recordings of 2023. Chapters 02:39 - Year 2023 in review 18:59 - Could we have shipped Metacast faster? 23:45 - Our plan for 2024 31:36 - Our favorite behind the scenes episodes of 2023 39:04 - Books and…
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49. Our favorite books, podcasts, products and experiences of 2023
To close off 2023, Arnab and Ilya sat down for a lighthearted review of our favorite books, podcasts, products and experiences of 2023. Chapters 01:51 - A lesson in geology 03:16 - Our top books of 2023 23:46 - Our favorite podcasts of 2023 41:04 - Our favorite products 49:34 - Experiences of the...
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48. Pros and cons of working at Google and other Big Tech companies with Alex Rechevskiy
Alex Rechevskiy, PM career coach, tells us about his time as a PM at Google, his solopreneur coaching practice, and Comment Armor, his YouTube spam comments management startup. Chapters 01:46 - Why product management is hard? 07:27 - Alex' solopreneur coaching business 19:30 - Experience working…
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[RERUN] Brian McCullough, the host of Techmeme Ride Home and Internet History Podcast
This is a re-run of our "very second episode" originally published on Jan 11, 2023. For our second episode (and the very first one with a guest!), we sat down with Brian McCullough, creator of the Internet History Podcast, one of Ilya’s all-time favorite podcasts. Brian’s current podcast is...
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47. Is fair equity compensation possible in a startup? with Outseta's co-founder Geoff Roberts
Geoff Roberts, co-founder of Outseta, on a compensation model that allows employees earn founder-level equity. Chapters 01:06 - Intro of Geoff and Outseta 03:42 - How Outseta got started 10:50 - Current state of Outsetta business 18:35 - Customer acquisition through content marketing, affiliates...
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46. Why we build Metacast in public?
Metacast co-founders discuss benefits and risks of building a startup in public. Chapters 02:06 - The "build in public" movement 08:46 - Why we share what we do? 22:59 - Downsides of building in public 33:49 - Book and podcast recommendations Download the Metacast podcast app for free iOS:...
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45. Lego Blocks vs. Model Airplanes of Software Products
Arnab and Ilya discuss different approaches to building products from the angle of do-what-you-want platforms vs. opinionated products. Chapters 00:29 - Lego Blocks vs. Model Airplanes 01:38 - Prioritizing Simplicity for Metacast 05:15 - User Needs, Complexity, AWS Explained 08:39 - Platform…
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44. Doing Agile vs. being agile with Pragmatic Programmer Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas, co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer and Agile Manifesto, on the true spirit of being agile (vs. "doing agile"), common mistakes engineering teams make, and common practices of successful teams. Chapters 00:23 - Dave's background 08:45 - The genesis of The Pragmatic Programmer 12:47…
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43. Becoming social media influencers (but not LinkedIn Lunatics)
Arnab and Ilya reminisce about their first social media experiences with ICQ and Orkut, discuss fixing X-Twitter, read an eulogy for Threads, and strategize about becoming social media influencers. Chapters 03:12 - First experiences with social media 10:52 - Reddit 16:19 - Threads 18:35 - Misuse…
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42. Equity compensation at a pre-revenue bootstrapped startup with Jennie Buechner
Jennie Buechner is a Senior Software Engineer and the first hire at Metacast. We discussed leaving Amazon to join an early stage startup and how we thought about equity compensation when we can't afford to pay a salary yet. Chapters 02:04 - Jennie introduces herself 03:57 - ChatGPT introduces...
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41. Differentiating vs. table-stakes features, MLP vs. MVP, YC application
What features do you build first - table stakes or what makes you differentiated? What's the difference between an MVP and an MLP? Is it worth applying to YC? ...and a few recommendations of books and podcasts that we're into these days. Chapters 03:40 - Differentiating features vs. table stakes...
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40. Automating mobile app releases with Tramline founders
A conversation with founders of Tramline, a CI/CD platform for mobile apps that we use for releasing Metacast. We talked about release standards (or lack thereof) for mobile and how Tramline solves this problem. We also dug into the founding story of the company, how they sold to first customers,...
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39. Work and life in immigration
How living on a work visa affects your risk appetite? How does immigration change you? What are some gotchas? Today, we talk about our immigration journeys and discuss these important questions. Chapters 03:42 - Musings about languages and automatic translations 08:48 - Our immigration journeys...
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38. Wharton professor Karl Ulrich on teaching entrepreneurship and value of MBA in 2023
A discussion with Wharton professor Karl Ulrich on teaching entrepreneurship, value of MBA, working at the MIT AI lab in the 1980s, and a career as a professor and founder. Chapters 03:42 - Karl introduces himself 06:17 - PhD at the MIT AI Lab 12:57 - First job as a professor 16:34 -...
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37. CEO vs. CTO a.k.a. Product vs. Engineering
Today we're reflecting on our previous episode (ep. 36 with Melissa Kwan) and are talking about the collaboration between business and technical functions in a company - both in our startup as well as reminiscing about our days in AWS. Chapters 00:33 - Teaser of the next episode 02:45 - Update on...
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36. Building a startup with contractors with Melissa Kwan, co-founder & CEO of eWebinar
We sat down with Melissa Kwan, a 3x bootstrapper, to talk about her entrepreneurial journey, working with contractor developers, getting first customers, developing social media presence, and going to Burning Man in 2023. Show notes Melissa's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissakwan/...
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35. Early Stage Startup Kitchen - positioning and software tools
Today, we discuss positioning the startup to the outside world in social media and software that we use to build our software. We go into detail of our CI/CD pipeline for the mobile app and our project management practices. As usual, brace yourself for a lot of tangents! Chapters 02:53 -...
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34. How we wrote the book part 2: process, tools, publishing, ads...
In this episode, we break down the process of how we wrote The Pragmatic Podcaster book, discuss how writing is similar to programming, talk about tools (Adobe InDesign, Kindle Create), describe the process of getting an e-book and a print version on Amazon, and muse about Google Ads that didn't...
About this show
Metacast is a podcast app for podcast lovers. We are building a powerful tool that helps you get the most out of podcasts. Auto-generated transcripts and chapters allow you to quickly skim episodes, search for content, and bookmark segments. Chapters, automated playlists, listening history & stats, and much more is coming. On this podcast, co-founders of Metacast talk about building the company and the product.
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Metacast
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