Features Overview of AI Voice Generation and Podcast Production Platform The platform offers script generation and AI voice creation with 11 available apps as its core features. It also provides video clip creation for YouTube, supports production in 28 languages, offers show notes production, and includes podcast hosting capabilities. Additionally, the platform emphasizes the preservation of the openness of the podcast ecosystem and highlights the importance of respecting the RSS feed.
Alessio Fanelli
I want to go through features so that people have a high-level overview of what you offer. So I think at the core, it is basically two things. One is you scripts, and that’s optional, obviously, if you want to just write the script yourself. You can write the script yourself, but I think most of your users would generate a script. And then two is from that script, you use AI Voices, currently using 11 apps. Is that the rough flow? That’s like the really core basic flow. That’s the core basic. Obviously, there’s a lot of plumbing on top of it, but that’s the core. And then you offer video clips for YouTube. You offer 28 languages that you can produce. You offer show notes production and podcast hosting too. So they don’t have to host it on like Anchor. Don’t host it on Anchor, by the way. People don’t host it on Spotify. Don’t host it on Apple Podcasts. These people don’t respect the RSS feed. Anyway, I have very strong feelings about preserving the sanctity of the RSS feed for open podcasting. And all these Spotify’s of the world want to close the podcasting ecosystem. So I have this tirade about them. But yeah, those are your top level features on your landing page. Anything that you highlight to go deeper on?Experimenting with Podcasts and Content Consumption Challenges The speaker discusses experimenting with publishing new internal podcasts and expresses interest in creating audio content for Reddit and other platforms. They highlight the challenge of consuming image-based content and mention developing a solution to aggregate and convert Discord content into a daily newsletter.
Youssef Rizk
Okay. So we do the Hack News Recap and the PG Essays. Then I think, are the two most popular ones. Yeah. We’re constantly experimenting with new internal podcasts that we publish.
Alessio Fanelli
Yeah, yeah. What are your other… You can tease a little bit. What do you think about? Tease a little bit. Well, I really like Reddit. Yeah. I’d love to listen to some of the Reddit things going on there, but instead of like reading them.
Youssef Rizk
Yeah. It’s always just a notification that I get. I’m like, oh, this sounds interesting. But I don’t know. You can do it like per subreddit that you care about. Yeah. A few things like that. I love life pro tips.
Alessio Fanelli
Yeah. I see.
Youssef Rizk
Like super interesting things or Wall Street bets or whatever you’re into.
Alessio Fanelli
Yeah. Well, the problem with these things is that a lot of them involve images and memes, which you cannot consume.
Youssef Rizk
Well, yes, we cannot consume. This is like a simple, we can’t consume that at the moment. But, you know, maybe a few weeks down the line when that video feature of ours gets a little better, you can actually start shipping it like that.
Alessio Fanelli
Okay. Anyway.
Youssef Rizk
Yeah, yeah. And so, and I’ll just feed you an idea.
Alessio Fanelli
To keep up on AI, a lot of stuff actually happens in Discord. And there’s way too many Discords. Way too many, and they’re way too active. Yes. So I’ve actually built a little feed for myself that scrapes a bunch of Discords and creates a daily newsletter for myself. Amazing. And I have thought about turning it into an audio feed. But, and this is the problem for Wondercraft. I readThe Importance of Doing Things That Don’t Scale for Startups Startups often believe that their success is based on whether a product takes off on its own, but in reality, startups take off because the founders make them take off. It usually takes some sort of push to get them going. Additionally, essays on startups are considered seminal and have motivated individuals to read more of them. Efforts to produce podcasts with meaningful content are acknowledged, and there is a commitment to present the material as is without playing around with it.
Speaker 3
Of the most common types of advice we give at Y Combinator is to do things that don’t scale. A lot of would-be founders believe that startups either take off or don’t. You build something, make it available, and if you’ve made a better mousetrap, people beat a path to your door as promised, or they don’t, in which case the market must not exist. Actually, startups take off because the founders make them take off. There may be a handful that just grew by themselves, but usually it takes some sort of push to get them going.
Youssef Rizk
If we’re quoting someone, we’ll use a different voice. Yeah. I think it’s just well produced. And I also think the essays are so seminal to everyone in startups reads them.
Alessio Fanelli
Yeah. It’s actually got me to read more PG essays than I would have otherwise. Mission accomplished. I don’t know if it was the last one.
Youssef Rizk
Well, at the time. How to do great work. How to do great. That was a one-hour podcast. Yeah, oh my God. No one, I could, I did not read it. I just had to listen to it. Yeah, yeah. Actually, if I’m being honest, I think the motivation for PGSAs, which is like, I need this. Yeah, yeah.
Alessio Fanelli
For that one, if it’s like one hour I would have actually appreciated segmentation hey high level you know I know this is about to be an hour but like there are three main high level things
Youssef Rizk
And then keep that in your mind and then go like part one part two I think we so we do that to some extent and like we produce like chapters I guess yeah so you can just look at them yeah probably Could do a better job like introducing it but we do try to like not play around with the PG essays. For sure. Yeah. I mean, it’s, you know how much work he puts into those things. So we just kind of ship it as is.Successful Experiment with Paywall Strategy The insight from the snip is about a successful experiment with a paywall strategy. The speaker shared that they received significant inbound interest after someone picked up their product on Twitter. They quickly implemented a janky stripe integration to paywall the product and were able to make 50 per month. They were surprised that people paid for the product despite its janky nature, which encouraged them to further pursue the idea. This successful experiment indicated the potential for monetization and validated the demand for their product.
Youssef Rizk
The signal that we got is that someone picked it up on Twitter and just like, you know, all these like AI. Influencer voice. So someone picked it up, posted it. We started getting a ton of inbound. So we were like, holy shit, let’s just like paywall this. So we just like, again, the jankiest Stripe integration, which was basically like, we have an app with a Stripe integration. This was just to ship it within the hour. We have an app with a Stripe integration. That once you click, then takes you to a different app hosted somewhere else. So that one was still unauthenticated. It was hilarious. Yeah, security by obscurity. It was hilarious, right? But we basically just made that like 3K in one day. One day? Yeah. We charged a random like 50 bucks. We literally didn’t think about it. We just charged 50 bucks and people paid and we’re like, okay, well, there’s something there.
Alessio Fanelli
50 bucks for one? For a month. We were just charging 50 bucks a month. Nothing. Just like, will someone pay for this? And you were just like on one VPS somewhere. Yeah, will someone pay for this?
Youssef Rizk
We were like on one EC2 instance. EC2 instance, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, it was janky. We’re like, just someone needs to pay for this before we move further. Someone did. People did. So then we’re like, okay, cool. This is interesting.
Alessio Fanelli
Interesting. I’m going to move up the question that we said was going to be the meatiest question of this interview. So you chose this out of your list of ideas. And this is one of the things that a lot of AI founders are worried about, right? SoImportance of considering the user perspective in AI technology development The AI technology should be built with the user perspective in mind, tailored to specific use cases, and not just as a one-size-fits-all solution. Users should consider who the technology is built for and how it serves their needs. For example, in podcast creation, AI tools are being developed to make the process easier with features like direct posting, intro and outro setting, music, and template creation. Therefore, users should opt for specialized AI tools that cater to their specific needs, rather than generic solutions.
Youssef Rizk
I think typically, when people ask this question in the AI context, they’re thinking of like, okay, you’re a thin wrapper, you’re an application layer thing, as opposed to you’re one Of the like underlying technologies or apis that people use cool i i think that’s fair but i think the reality is that like yeah these apis exist and they probably do serve a million different Use cases but they’re not built to serve these million different use cases so whenever you ask the question of mode it’s always has to be with the perspective of who is the user i’m building This for right i can use chat gpt to do half of my writing but you know but i don’t know jasper claims that they do this much better for marketing so it’s tailored i actually you know don’t Quote me on how well they’re doing after chat gpt came out because they were really big before yeah but some negative data points but i’m sure they i don’t but the point is like you’re you’re Making this easier we we make creating a podcast easier and there is tooling there. There’s, we help you, we can post it directly through us. We have the tooling around, you know, setting the intros and the outros. We have the music, we have an editor. All these things are also getting just much more, more, more and more developed. We’re building templates so that you can do different style of podcast. So the idea is if you’re trying to start a podcast, yeah, don’t go to a generic text-to engine. Come to us. Yes. And the reality is that we then can, in a very opinionated way, actually select which text-to engine we want,Building the Right Product for the Right Use Case The focus should be on building a product for the right use case rather than simply framing a company as an AI company. It is important to prioritize the use case over the implementation. The key question for SaaS companies is identifying their mode as an API, rather than just focusing on being the best at a particular technology. First mover advantage is not always the most crucial factor in technological innovation, as demonstrated by Google’s approach to the GPT technology.
Youssef Rizk
There’s no doubt that companies can do this the question is just like are you building the right product for the right use case? I think particularly if you’re always framing your company as an AI company, then you’re putting the carriage before the horse in the sense that you focused on the implementation rather Than the use case. Focus on the use case and then build a product for it. Because fundamentally, any of the SASSes that exist, think like more traditional SASS. What’s their mode? The technology everyone has access to. So they just pick the thing that does it better than the other. Now, that mode question is super interesting because I think you should actually flip it around, which is, what is your mode as an API? So, chat GPT, like, yeah, fine, they had a first mover advantage and I think, you know, by no means, this is my opinion, but by no means was google like caught off guard with this right it Just google has some half the technologies that google invented are actually what’s used to power all these transformers but you know it went against google’s strategy maybe to like Be the first mover in this because they’d cannibalize their market whatever it was i’m not sure but-
Episode AI notes
- The AI Voice Generation and Podcast Production Platform offers script generation, AI voice creation, video clip creation, support for multiple languages, show notes production, and podcast hosting capabilities. It emphasizes the importance of preserving the RSS feed for open podcasting and discourages hosting on Anchor, Spotify, and Apple Podcast.
- The speaker discusses experimenting with new internal podcasts and expresses interest in creating audio content for platforms like Reddit. They also highlight the challenge of consuming image-based content and mention developing a solution to aggregate and convert Discord content into a daily newsletter.
- Startups often need a push from the founders to succeed, and not all startups succeed simply by building a better product. Reading essays on startups can be influential in motivating individuals. Efforts to produce podcasts with meaningful content are acknowledged and presented as is without playing around with it.
- A successful experiment with a paywall strategy resulted in significant inbound interest and $3,000 in one day. This indicates the potential for monetization and validates the demand for the product. AF owners’ concerns about paywall strategies are addressed.
- AI technology should be user-centric and tailored to specific use cases. It is important to consider the perspective of the user and choose specialized AI tools that cater to their specific needs. Podcast creation is made easier with tooling and templates, and selecting preferred speech speeds is possible. Building the right product for the right use case is crucial, and being the first mover is not always the most important factor in innovation.
- The challenges of dubbing across different languages include the difficulty in determining what sounds good in other languages and the importance of professional translators and QA processes. Leveraging AI tools, such as using scripts for editing, is helpful in content creation and podcast production.
- Optimizing show formats and tooling is crucial for podcast production. The three show formats include the fundamentals show, Twitter spaces show, and a show using SmallPodcastor to generate show notes. Marketing on Twitter can involve various strategies, and promoting podcast episodes can leverage the fame of guests. Handing over marketing tasks to AI may pose challenges.
Building a personal brand requires effort and establishing a unique voice. AI’s tendency to suggest using emojis and hashtags can be limiting. Starting a podcast with help is easy, and for AI engineers, it is important to believe in the value of their work and be smart about spending money. Time 0:00:00
Challenges of Dubbing Across Different Languages The fundamental problem with dubbing is that it is challenging to know what sounds good in other languages, as individuals are not familiar with the nuances and accents of those languages. Professional translators and QA processes are crucial to ensure that the dubbing product meets the necessary standards across diverse linguistic and cultural contexts. Additionally, leveraging AI tooling, such as using scripts for editing, is an important aspect of content creation and podcast production.
Youssef Rizk
Yeah, and I think that’s the problem with dubbing, I think. So the reason, one thing we’re gradually building up, but we already have as part of our dubbing product, is that we have QA as part of that. So we actually work with professional translators to just make sure that the things that we publish… Oh, nice.
Alessio Fanelli
You should put that up front.
Youssef Rizk
So that’s really one of the… Fundamentally, the problem with dubbing, if you ask anyone who’s ever tried to dub, is you don’t know what good sounds like in these other languages. You’re like, I can tell you I dub, but I’m going to tell you that… I think there’s a lot of big podcast studios who have tried this before. There’s one I can think of that’s tried this maybe five times with five different companies in the last five years. Their fundamental problem is that you just cannot… Yeah, fine, Spanish sounds good to me as the person who doesn’t speak Spanish, but like it doesn’t sound good to a Spanish person or an Argentine person who have totally different accents.
Alessio Fanelli
Cool. Well, if you ever need Chinese validation, I know I have some very fanatical Chinese listeners who translate every podcast. Oh, that’s amazing. So we can use that as QA. Yeah, I I would definitely love that. Shout out to the Chinese army. Great, great. Awesome. What do you want to ask me as a podcaster?
Youssef Rizk
This is a whole interesting conversation because we’re at human podcaster, AI podcaster. So as a human podcaster and someone who’s with a really popular show and also someone who can actually like implement this stuff himself, what is some of the AI tooling recently that You’ve like baked into your processes?
Alessio Fanelli
I only use the script for editing. And by the way, this goes into a theory of content, which as a content creator myself, professionally, and as an advisor, I have, which is that we develop a few show formats.Optimizing Show Formats and Tooling for Podcast Production The speaker uses different tooling for each of their three show formats. The fundamentals show requires no tooling as the show is meticulously planned and executed, resulting in high-quality content. Twitter spaces show requires scripting and editing to remove silences and arms, but it allows the speaker to attract high-profile guests without scheduling. The third show uses SmallPodcastor, a 100-line Python script, to convert transcripts into show notes.
Alessio Fanelli
Yes. So we have three show formats right now. And I would say that we have different tooling for each. Right? So the one that I don’t need any tooling for essentially is the fundamentals one because we plan basically every minute of that show. It is a lot of work. But it’s high quality because people love it. It’s got the longest tail by design, right? Yeah. The Twitter spaces require Descript because a lot of silences and a lot of ums. And that’s not good podcast audio. So you got to cut it out.
Youssef Rizk
So you literally just go in, like you edit out the Twitter space that you did.
Alessio Fanelli
Yes. You recorded it and then you edited it out. Usually it’s like two hours. We cut it out to one. Okay. And it’s a lot of pain and a lot of work. But it’s the only way that I get some pretty high-profile people onto my podcast without booking them. They just show up. And that has value to me, right? Like Simon Willison has been on my podcast three times and I never had to schedule him. And people love him. I mean, he’s great. And then this one, I don’t need the script, obviously. But we do use small podcaster, which is a 100-line Python script that throws the transcript into Anthropic and then generates show notes.
Youssef Rizk
Nice.
Alessio Fanelli
So that’s about it for now. Nice.
Youssef Rizk
It’s interesting because I think you’re in a very nice position where you’re able to do a lot of these services. Yeah, we can write our own. You can just do it yourself. Yeah. So it’s an interesting one.
Alessio Fanelli
But obviouslyMarketing on Twitter and Promoting Podcast Episodes The speaker’s main job is marketing, but they find it challenging to market on Twitter. They have tried posting clips, but it’s too much work. Instead, they create a big post about the podcast episode, especially if the guest is well-known, and sometimes the fame of the guest carries the episode. For less famous guests, the speaker introduces who they are and why the audience should care. They feel this is a lot of work, and it would be challenging to hand over to AI. The speaker also criticizes the idea that tweeting requires emojis and hashtags as they find it obviously dumb.
Alessio Fanelli
Right like that is mostly my job so how do you market your podcast?
Youssef Rizk
Twitter Twitter and Hacker News and threads or like you post clips or what do you do?
Alessio Fanelli
I have tried posting clips it’s just too much work so if you guys do a good job of clips, I will use your stuff. But it’s just too much work. So mostly I just, you know, put like a big post saying like, so for like our George Hots episode, we were like, Layton Space is excited to present George Hots on Tiny Corp commoditizing Petaflops. Something like that. And just sometimes the fame of the guest will just lead the episode. So the one I dropped yesterday was Chris Ladner. And people were like, Chris Ladner’s the boss. I don’t care about anything else. I want to hear as many Chris Ladner tokens as possible. Others who are less famous, I have to introduce who you are and why I care about you, why they should care about you. Because most people will not have heard about you as well as you’ve done. So then I need to make the case a little bit more. But that’s fine. That’s my job. I just think it takes a lot of work, and that’s the part that will be hardest for me to hand over to AI. Because I have a very specific voice for myself. And apparently all AIs think that Twitter, to tweet you have to have emojis and hashtags, which is so dumb. It’s so obviously dumb. Makes sense. Yeah. Great answers.Key Insights from a Discussion on AI and Podcasting Building a personal brand can be challenging, requiring a lot of effort to establish a unique voice. AI’s tendency to suggest using emojis and hashtags can be seen as limiting and unhelpful. Starting a podcast with help is easy, and for AI engineers, it’s crucial to believe in the value of what they are building and to be smart about spending money. The success of AI engineers depends on convincing oneself of the value in their work and launching that work without spending too much money.
Alessio Fanelli
Because most people will not have heard about you as well as you’ve done. So then I need to make the case a little bit more. But that’s fine. That’s my job. I just think it takes a lot of work, and that’s the part that will be hardest for me to hand over to AI. Because I have a very specific voice for myself. And apparently all AIs think that Twitter, to tweet you have to have emojis and hashtags, which is so dumb. It’s so obviously dumb. Makes sense. Yeah. Great answers. Obviously, happy to offer any thoughts as you build up for podcasters. What is one message you want all of our listeners to remember and take away with them?
Youssef Rizk
If you would like to start a podcast start we’re going to help super easy if you have a podcast we want to help you make you more expand you know accessible by dubbing it on the other side If you are like a founder and ai engineer i think it’s really important to convince yourself that what you’re building is valuable don’t like listen to people saying i have a motor you Don’t have a Convince yourself of what that is and launch. Launch and like don’t burn that much money. Frequently and often don’t spend your money. Yeah. Yeah. Be smart about it. Yeah.
Alessio Fanelli
I think you are one of the most successful cases of AI engineers so far. I’m really glad to spend time with you in person and excited to see what comes next.
