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Feb. 4, 2025
Inside PodMatch: How PodMatch by Alex Sanfilippo is Revolutionizing Podcast Guest Matching
Are you a podcaster looking for ways to reach new audiences and improve your podcasting game? This episode of podcasting tech is tailored for you and is a must-listen.
In today’s episode, host Mathew Passy sits down with Alex Sanfilippo, the founder of PodMatch, a platform designed to match podcast guests and hosts for interviews. Alex is a seasoned entrepreneur with a deep passion for podcasting. His journey to podcasting began in 2014 when he transitioned from corporate life to full-time entrepreneurship, focusing on the podcasting industry.
Through PodMatch and his podcast titled, Podcasting Made Simple, Alex helps independent podcasters grow their influence and revenue so they can better serve their listeners. Join us as we dive deep with Alex, as he shares valuable insights into his path and the origins of PodMatch.
IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:
- Meet PodMatch: Mathew Passy introduces Alex Sanfilippo and gives a glimpse into how PodMatch has impacted his own podcast. (00:00:00)
- Purpose and Commitment in Podcasting: Alex explains the importance of knowing your "why" and committing to podcasting with a purpose. (00:01:39)
- PodMatch Origins and Mission: Alex shares the inception of PodMatch and its unique mission—Paying Podcasters for the value they deliver. (00:04:55).
- Latest Features and AI Enhancements: Discover new features like workflows and AI-driven match alignments designed to streamline podcast production and improve guest-host collaborations. (00:09:38)
- Future Prospects: Get a sneak peek into upcoming features that aim to serve the podcasting community better. (00:17:20)
Links and resources mentioned in this episode:
- Discover PodMatch
- Follow Alex Sanfilippo on Social Media:
Discover Alex’s favorite podcasts you can listen to:
Strap in for an enlightening conversation that aims to revolutionize your podcasting journey. Happy listening!
**As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases of podcasting gear from Amazon.com. We also participate in affiliate programs with many of the software services mentioned on our website. If you purchase something through the links we provide, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The team at Podcasting Tech only recommends products and services that we would use ourselves and that we believe will provide value to our viewers and readers.**
For additional resources and insights visit podcastingtech.com or follow us on social media:
- Instagram: @mathewpassy
- LinkedIn - /mathewpassy
- Threads: @mathewpassy
- Twitter/X: @mathewpassy
- Facebook - /podcastingtech, /mathewpassy
PODCASTING TECH IS POWERED BY:
- Captivate - Easy, professional podcast hosting to create, grow and make money from your podcasts
- Podpage - Build a beautiful podcast website in 5 minutes
- Riverside.fm - Record Podcasts And Videos From Anywhere
- Castmagic - 10x Audio Content With AI
- Podmatch - Matching Hosts and Guest for Podcast Interviews
- Hostinger for Website
- Podgagement - Engage your audience and grow your podcast!
EQUIPMENT IN USE:
- Rodecaster Pro 1st Gen (No longer available). Consider the Rodecaster Duo or Rodecaster Pro II
- EV RE20 with 309a Shockmount
- Rode PSA1+
- iPhone continuity camera but previously the Logitech Brio 4k
- DCMEKA In-Ear Monitors
- BusyBox Smart Sign
Transcript
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Very excited for our chat today. We have Alex Sanfilippo, the founder of
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podmatch.com. And, yes, I am not just a
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a a an advocate of PodMatch. I'm a user of it. In fact, some of
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the the guests that we've had recently on the show do come from PodMatch. So
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do encourage you all to check it out. We'll have a link, of course, in
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the show notes to sign up for your own PodMatch profile, either as a host
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trying to attract guests or as somebody who's trying to get on more podcasts. It's
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a great platform all all around. But, Alex, thanks for joining us. Matthew,
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Matthew, thanks so much for having me, man. Really excited to spend this time with
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you. So before we jump into the the deep end on PodMatch and all the
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new features that you have that have just been released and some new ones that
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might be coming out very soon, you are serial entrepreneur in
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nature. You've done a lot of different things in in entrepreneurship and
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working, but when did you kinda weave your way into the world of podcasting?
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How did that start? Yeah. It started as a as
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an addition to something. It was actually 2014,
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which in podcasting years, that means I'm, like, ancient in podcasting years. Right? Like,
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the tech has changed a lot. But at that point, I was running a blog,
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and I decided like, I I didn't know what podcasting was, but someone's like, oh,
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it'd be really cool if you turn this into a podcast. And I was like,
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what the heck is that? Like, it's on your phone. I'm like, no. It's not.
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And, like, yeah. It's a little purple button. I was like, oh, okay. I had
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an iPhone. And so sure enough, I listened and was, like, instantly hooked, so I
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decided to try it. So that was kinda like my low key entry into podcasting.
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But fast forward years, when I decided I wanted to leave my corporate job, I
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I really didn't know what the shift from corporate
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life to entrepreneurship would look like or what that would be like. So I started
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a podcast, another one, at that point to actually talk to
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people who had successfully left a 9 to 5 job to become a full time
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entrepreneur and just to hear about how they did it. And, and it worked
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great. I ended up becoming an entrepreneur, but, more than just that, I
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realized I wanted it to be in podcasting. And so I yes. I I started
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in 2014, but I really consider that 2018 is when
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I think it was. 2018 is when I really kinda found my
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bearings in the space and fell in love with the medium and decided that, like,
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when I became an entrepreneur, which I was learning through with podcasting, I wanted to
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be in this space and in this industry. And that was kind of what got
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me into this whole thing. What were some of the things that you were doing
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early on that you think helped you to be
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successful in podcasting that maybe others aren't
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thinking of or, you know, or maybe they're just
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avoiding for for the wrong reasons? Yeah. The very first thing I
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did is is I I I I had a purpose behind it. Like, I I
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knew why I wanted to do it, and I think that that's really important. And
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it wasn't it wasn't so I could become an entrepreneur. It was it was not
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like the I didn't think it was gonna be the vehicle. Right? Like, the idea
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was just like this could help me learn, and maybe I could bring other people
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along the way with me to learn. So I had, like, a I had a
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purpose behind it. And on top of that, I I just committed to it. So
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I committed to achieving that purpose. So when I started before I started, I
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said I'm gonna do 52 episodes before I make any
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other decisions. Like, just 52 episodes, I'm not gonna change a single thing about it,
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which maybe was me being a little bit stubborn, but I was like, I'm not
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gonna do video for the I'm not gonna do any of this. I'm just committing
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to the 52 episodes, and at that point, I can stop. I can keep on
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going. And so for me, that was a full year. I was doing episode a
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week. So I committed to 1 year before I got started. And I I don't
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see a lot of people doing those 2 steps. Or if we do have a
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purpose, it's like, well, I'm gonna build a business around. I'm like, I don't know
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if that's, like, a deep enough purpose unless you already have some sort of business
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that you're kinda running with. Right? People are like, I wanna start a business. I
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wanna start a podcast. I'm like, well, maybe just start your business and not not
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your podcast. Right? But for me, I I felt that I had that deeper purpose
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and then the commitment thing. I think so many of us were like, I'll try
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it and see how it goes, but they don't even define what that
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means. Like, what does try it mean to you? For me, trying it meant a
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full year of commitment with no changes with sticking to the plan. Some people just
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say I'll try it, and they're like, until I get bored. And we all know
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that you you have less than a 50% chance of making it to 8 episodes.
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And so I think that those were, to me, like, a couple of things that
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that I really decided from day 1 to to really go all in
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with it. I love the the first thing you said, though, is, of course, is
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doing it with purpose. The thing that always drove me crazy when I was working
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with podcasters was the person who would say, I really wanna do a podcast, but
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I don't know what I wanna do it about. It's like, that's the opposite. It
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should be, I have some sort of burning passion, burning
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desire. There's something I wanna do, and maybe this is the right vehicle to do
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that. So I like that that was kinda like your your first piece of
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advice. So we met originally a few years ago at a
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podcasting event in Trenton, New Jersey.
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And at that time, pod match was really just starting to come into
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its own. And I remember you telling me kinda like the mission and the
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goal because there have already been a lot of platforms that made it easy for
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people to find and, you know, be a guest on
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other podcasts. But you were saying that the thing that you really wanna
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do was you wanted the podcasters to be
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compensated for what they were doing. So tell me a little bit of how PodMatch
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came about and, you know, what that early mission was. Yeah.
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Sure. You you you know, I actually think we met online first. Maybe maybe in
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2020. I mean, in person, yeah, like, that's that's a real, like that's
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a mile that's something you can, like, put a pin in. Right? You can remember
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that. But I think I met you just before PodMatch maybe initially,
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And, and you kinda helped guide me along the way, which I really appreciate. And
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and, yeah, at that point, I don't really I didn't do great due diligence. I
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don't think there were many platforms doing what we were trying to do, which was
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matching guest and host for interviews. I would say similar to a dating app, how
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it connects people. Right? We're trying to connect people to have a great interview, not
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not a great date. But and so we kinda set out to do that 1st
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and foremost. But beyond that, I I realized really fast, same stuff that you've
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seen, Matthew, is that that podcasters it's it's a labor love, and there's a lot
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of cost that goes with it. And I say a lot of cost. Like, that's
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that's a relevance thing for some people. It might seem like a lot. For others,
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maybe not. But for most of us, it's a hobby when we maybe have a
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spouse or significant other or other bills in our lives. Like, it does seem like
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a lot. And I can just remember when we first started, we ran into what
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I thought was an immediate problem. People were leaving, and it wasn't guest label. It
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was host. They were, like, churning off of our software. And, like so that just
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means, like, signing up, using it for our leaving. And I told my business partner,
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Jesse. I was like, hey, man. We have a problem. This is not working. I'm
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like, I don't know what the problem is, but it's it's just not working. And
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I was like, but I'm gonna I'm gonna talk to these people. So we just
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added a simple email right afterwards that allowed people to book. It was a
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15 minute meeting with me. So let's straighten my calendar,
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and I I literally opened it up from, like, 8 AM till 5 PM. And
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I can remember one day, Matthew, this is a side note. I did 25 calls
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in one day. Never again in my life. It was a terrible decision,
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man. Yeah. No. No. I remember having a job where
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they were like, to be successful at this job, you're gonna have to make 60
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calls a day. I'm like, nope. I'm out. You're like, I'm leaving. That's how I
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felt that day, but here's what I learned. It wasn't a problem with our software.
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It was people leaving podcasting completely. And some people
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said, well, I actually really liked PodMatch, but I'm stopping my podcast.
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And when I asked people the the main reason there there was all kinds of
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reasons, but the main one that I heard was that it was a cost that
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they couldn't they couldn't sell, like, to their to their
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spouse. Their spouse couldn't get on board with the extra cost. Times were already tight.
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And And so I kept on hearing that. And I remember when I kinda went
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back to my business partner, Jesse, I was like, okay, man. Never mind. You built
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great software. Good job. I'm like, well, people are leaving podcasting. Like, as soon
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as they start, it seems like I think our our average time that a host
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to say on PodMatch at that point was, like, 3 months. And and I was
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like, is there anything we can do about this? So we kinda went back to
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the whiteboard, and we came with what we call our pod value initiative. And the
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whole idea is can we compensate podcast host as they're releasing
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episodes? And, yes, we we cut into our profit to do that. We we
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basically and I don't typically share this, but basically, we just look at
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50.50 percent goes back to podcast host. The other 50% goes to running, operating the
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business. And so we just cut that in half, and we split that up among
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podcast hosts that are using PodMatch. I always make sure to tell people
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you're not going to get rich using PodMatch. That that is not the intent of
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it. The goal is to help offset your cost, and if you have low cost,
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even be able to hire some sort of virtual assistant to help you with your
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podcasting efforts. That's what we wanna do. And so the the basically, it
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works. If you find your guests through PodMatch and you book them through PodMatch,
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the system will automatically pay you a commission each time you're doing that. And depending
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on what it is, it can be a lot. It can be a little bit,
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just kinda depending on how how much actually I'm going on in the platform. But
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as we're recording this, we actually I'll announce it in 2 weeks, but we
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just flipped the switch to increase so we could pay podcast hosts by just
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over 9%, on average per interview. So, like, to me, that was a
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huge jump. Like, I'm thrilled about that, and I'll be real. This is my favorite
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part of what we get to do is help enable podcasters to continue podcasting because
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I believe in the message that they're getting out to the world. So, that's the
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idea behind it. I don't know if I've had any fill any gaps, Matthew, if
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I did okay there. But No. No. No. I mean, that was absolutely perfect. And,
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yeah, I I have to admit I've been on the platform, for a little while
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under this profile, and I I wasn't even thinking about it. One day, I
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just got an email that says, by the way, you gotta check for the, you
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know, the last 8 or 9 interviews that you do with people. I was like,
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oh, yeah. This is great. And and it's just been, fantastic.
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So but but you've taken pod match now to the new levels. Right?
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You keep adding new features and and new instruments to help
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podcasters. What are some of the new things that have come up on the PodMatch
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platform that you are most proud of, and are there any other ones coming up
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that, you can reveal to us? Yeah. Sure.
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First off, I mean, I get super excited about this. I'm gonna I'm gonna try
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to keep it brief. But, basically, all the ideas that we come up
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with are not our ideas. They're coming from our community
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directly. It's the people that are using our software that are telling us what they're
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what they what they want, what they need, but also we can see from a
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data standpoint how people are using the platform. So we're able to make updates and
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changes, and we're really big about that. Like, if we see a pain point that
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clearly is causing problems, then we go in there and we fix that. If there's
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an enhancement that just so many people bring up, like, is there any solution for
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this anywhere in the podcasting industry? And we can't find it, they can't
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find it, then it's like, hey. Can we build this in somehow? And so first
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and foremost, like, we're not just pulling ideas out of our head and creating them.
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We're actually listening to people. So a couple of them that I'm really proud of
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more recently is we have, what's called workflows inside of PodMatch, and this is on
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the podcast host side. And it's basically project management software specifically
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for helping people with their production of their episodes. I love that stuff. To
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me, it's it's a really great organization tool. And more or less, it's like
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a a glorified checklist that helps you keep up with all the steps involved every
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time you're releasing an episode. And you push a button, it adds a new episode.
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You can customize it. You can add team members. You can upload files, and it
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won't compress them at all because that's important with audio video. Right? There's all these
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different things that you can do back and forth to make sure that you're staying
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on time. That will probably always be my favorite thing we build, but I'm I'm
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thrilled. We used to have that as a separate software. We brought
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it into pod match and just freely included it for for any hosties in the
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platform. So for me, that was really big. Next thing I'll mention
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here, the the AI enhancements. And and I wanna be careful with AI because I
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feel like, I don't know, Matthew. Do you feel like every company on Earth, like,
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I know where it's like, new AI feature. Right? Like It's right. It's like
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you can't have software without having an AI accompaniment to it,
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and every platform wants to charge you more just to use their AI where it's
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like, is it really that helpful? But anyway, go ahead. You're right. So we did
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not change our pricing, and we did add AI features. But for me, when we
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again, we we always go to whiteboards for everything. We went to whiteboard, and I
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I wrote this down and had it reinforced with both my business partners,
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Alicia and Jesse. I was like, AI is only as good as what we feed
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it. So, like, what we give it is gonna determine how good the result is.
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And and that's why for a lot of people that people are getting burnt out
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on AI tools. Not good AI tools, but, like, the upsell feature that you don't
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have to pay more for that no one wanted and no one asked for. Right?
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That, like, kinda just gives you garbage. I'm not trying to be rude, but there's
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no context for it. It has not been fed anything of value. Therefore, it can't
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give you anything. So with PodMatch, we knew it. Like, you know, we have very
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detailed profiles for both guests and for host. Like, we ask for
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a lot of information, and we do because we want to be very coherent. I
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don't want Matthew to have to ask me 10 questions to know if I'm gonna
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be a good guest on a show or vice versa. We want that stuff to
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be out of the way so you can just get straight to it and have
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the answers. Because we have all that information, we can do a really good
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job of what we call a match alignment feature. And this is an AI feature
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that will tell Alex and Matthew in the in this case, speaking of, like,
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3rd person. It'll tell us why we're aligned. Like, where are our connection points?
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And I used to do this manually. Like, I'd always try to find that initial
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thing that was kinda like the the bullet I put at the top when I
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was gonna be a guest or have someone as a guest. I always wanted to
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know that anyway. Like, what's the alignment between us? And so we found a way
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for the system to do it. And what I'm most proud of is that it's
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smarter than me. Like, when we when we tested it, like, the first round, I
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was like, man, this feels like AI. I'm like, I don't want to feel like
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AI. But by the 3rd or 4th version, it pulled out
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some key points between me and a guest that I would have never thought about.
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It talked about, like, an element of faith that we both shared and how that
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could be used in our marketing strategy as podcasters. And I was like, dang. I
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was like, that is like like, it pulled that out in, like, a single sentence
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line. I'm like, that's where that's the direction I wanna go in. That's good. And
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the idea is not that it's gonna tell you what to do. It just helps
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you understand, like, is this even a real alignment? Is there something here?
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Beyond that, once you actually match with somebody, now the system will also give you
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ideas for questions. It'll tell you if you're the guest, what you might be
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asked. It'll tell you which audience you're showing up for. It'll tell you as
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the host, like, what what this guest can bring your audience that maybe no one
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else could. It's bringing all that stuff together that's really just cutting down the research
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element. Because for me, for a long time, Matthew, the the hardest part of podcasting,
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the most time consuming part was the research. And, yes, I still do it, but
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it's cut my time in half by having these these features and these tools. So
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those are between workflows and these AI enhancements. Those are 2 things I'm, like,
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really proud of, and, I'll be quiet for a minute. Turn it back over to
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you, but I do have I I can share some future stuff if that's helpful
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as well. Yeah. And and I just wanna say, you know, it's it's
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time is money when it comes to podcasting. So even if doing research doesn't cost
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you a ton or or, you know, even if, you know, having these questions like,
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you know, going through writing the questions doesn't cost you a lot of money. It
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does cost you time. And as podcasters, for many of us, this
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is, you know, something else that we do on top of our job. So time
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is already a limited factor. And, you know, with like you said, the
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research is what takes up the most time for me. It's always what happens afterwards.
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But either way, if you could save time on either side of the actual
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interview process, it's it's extremely valuable and,
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something that people should be thinking about and taking advantage of. And, again, if you're
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a podcaster looking for guests, you know, the cost to be on
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here as a podcaster could be quickly offset by
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whatever your right commissions that you can make by having, guests on your
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show. So, yeah, let's talk about what are some, what's some future things
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that current Pod Mattress can look forward to and maybe potential
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ones. Yeah. I'll go to the potential ones first. This is gonna be a really
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simple enhancement. We just believe so much in the the the
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product, the platform, like, how we serve people that we have decided that if you
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join PodMatch, I'll I'll speak the host side first and the guest side. The host
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side, if you join the platform, you do one interview for it, we'll give you
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your 1st month payment back. It's $6 a month for a host to be on
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PodMatch, and that's we're gonna try to keep it that price forever. But we'll just
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as soon as you do it, you'll get your commission as well, but we'll just
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give you your $6 back automatically. We just wanna have people show up there
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because there's always those new podcasters. Like, I'm gonna do this without spending a dime.
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And I'm always like, you can do that, but you're think about the value of
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your time. Right? Like, going with all free tools does have a cost associated with
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it that many of us don't really think about. So that we wanna help people
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understand that, hey. We want you to be willing to invest in yourself, and we're
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willing to to go ahead and and reimburse you if you can just show us,
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hey. You're you're willing to do this. So that that's an exciting thing we have
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coming up for host specific on the guest side. We've got more
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enhancements to help to help them understand how they can
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add the most value to podcast host audience. So they can really,
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like, convert listeners into leads. They can convert listeners into conversations.
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Whatever is it they're trying to do, there's more, and that's all on the AI
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side, but it's gonna help them be able to understand how to convert much better,
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which is a win win that helps the host, it helps the guest, it helps
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the listener. So, be looking out for that. It'll just automatically be part of it.
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So it's kinda hard to even explain, like, where that's gonna be in the platform.
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Like, it's just gonna show up in front of you. But those are those are
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couple things beyond that. Like, just as a platform as a whole, we have a
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we have, like, something new we're working on. We don't have a name for it
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yet, but we we already have something called pod lottery, which is an
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external tool, which is a way to do, like, review swaps among
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podcasters. We're actually bringing that into PodMatch inside of
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it, and, we're gonna enhance it quite a bit to make it
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more collaborative and more community driven to help people exchange reviews. And
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it's not just gonna be for podcast hosting or podcast guests will be involved,
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and there'll be some form of compensation involved for anyone who's
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deciding to get involved in this element of of of community building more or less.
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Like, helping each other shows, listening, and and growing them. And on the guest side,
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we have some fun stuff as well that we're planning on implementing. But, basically, it's
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gonna be a fancy review swap system. That's already what PodLottery
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does, but specifically for podcast hosts. We're just gonna kind of we're gonna bring it
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inside. It's not gonna be an upsell or anything like that. It's gonna be included
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with it, and it's gonna be opened up to everyone to have more of a
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community element to it. And I'm I'm really excited about that. I I don't know
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if people have asked for it, but people are getting what they want with pod
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lotteries. I don't know if it'll, like, cause a bump of the software, but I
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just see the value specifically from a synergetic
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standpoint of our community. And I'm I'm really big about community. So I'd say that's
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the next that's the next really big thing that I'm excited about. You know,
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one thing I've I've always admired about you and I've always noticed is
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you are always trying to provide
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value. There are like, you always have the best
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intentions of the podcasters in mind when you are doing stuff. And,
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yes, you are also very successful from doing all this stuff and, you know, commendable
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and great, but I feel like even if you were only making a dollar, you
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would still be putting in this much effort and this much, you know, thought into
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the platform to help podcasters out. So just something I wanted to just kinda
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throw out there and and let people know about. So with that said, you know,
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kinda turning away from the platform, you've also went ahead and launched your own podcast
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network, the PodMatch Network. What's that all about, and why should people
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consider jumping into the fray with you there? Yeah. We we I I talked to
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a lot of people about podcast networks, and it started coming up among our community.
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Real quick, Matthew. Thank you for the kind words. Sorry. I can't get that in
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my head. I just gotta say thank you. I appreciate it. It means a lot
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to hear, man. Like, I'm very there's a lot of purpose on what I do
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and and love and serve people first is is really what motivates me more than
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the financial side. And maybe that makes me a bad entrepreneur, but I I I
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just love people. Terrible entrepreneur. Right now. We'll still keep supporting
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you. Thank you, man. I I appreciate it. So, yeah, the network.
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So I was talking to the community, and a lot of people started asking about
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networks. And and it started becoming a lot. So I I started building out a
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list of different networks, and I I have to be real. I didn't really
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know these networks. I kinda gave that disclaimer, like, hey. I just found these, and
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it seems in line. I don't know the people. And some of them end up
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being great, and then others, people are like, yo. They're trying to, like, they're trying
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to screw us over. And I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. Like, you're nodding. You've seen
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it too. Right? Like Oh, yeah. It it's called the network centered mindset, which is
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if it doesn't value the network, we don't care about the show. And and
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and I don't mean to to say that to be rude or mean. I just
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couldn't keep those names on the list anymore. And it got to the point where,
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like, the list got small and the fit wasn't right. Like, it
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wasn't it wasn't helpful. And finally, I was just like, you know what? What I
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asked. Like, what if we launched a network inside of PodMatch and just called it
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the PodMatch podcast network? Would anyone be interested? And immediately, I
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had 28, like, 28 key people on PodMatch have been using it for a
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long time, all emailed in saying, hey. I would love to be a founding member
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if you do that. And they all said they all said in their own words,
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of course. But I was like, man, that would be great. Let's let's launch with
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these 28 people, and let's try it for a couple months and see what happens.
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So we did. And, basically, it's built inside of PodMatch. So for us,
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it's not a lot of extra effort. We just kinda pour some gasoline on what
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PodMatch does, the fire that it already builds, right, to to make it go a
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little bit further, be a little bit more enhanced. So the idea behind it was,
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could we build out an inner circle of shows? And right now at time of
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recording, I believe we're right just under a 100 shows total in it. And the
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idea is can we take things further with them? Perfect examples later
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today. I'll be on a call with, 98 of them confirmed that
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they're gonna be there today, which is probably everyone in the network, which is kinda
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crazy. Right? That everyone's gonna I mean, we'll see who shows up, but 98 said
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that they would be there. They had to push a button to to to do
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that, but I'm gonna be sharing some what I consider to be, like, next level,
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audience growth ideas and engagement. So and and we're just gonna dive into that. And
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the idea is I wanna bring in experts with really cool ideas. Yeah. Maybe we
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have to pay the experts to be there, but that's the premium form of education
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I wanna bring to these people. And then we've got, just like Zoom meetings with
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virtual networking, right, among the community that that's inside of that
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network. And so, really, at the end of the day, I just wanna bring people
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closer together and help enable them to go further. It's more or less our inner
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circle within PodMatch now. Nice.
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We are chatting with Alex Sanfilippo. He's the founder of podmatch.com.
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And the reason why I'm I'm kinda pushing us is because I wanna get to
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our 3 questions. The first one, you know, I ask everybody is really about improvements
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of the podcasting space, and I feel like based on some of the things you're
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already doing and the discussions that we're having about the network, I feel like, you
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know, this could be a discussion in and of itself. So I wanna jump right
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into it. So, you know, where where do you
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want to see or where do you think the podcasting space
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needs the most help and improvements, whether it's from recording,
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production, networks, distribution, even just the
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consumption side? Like, what is something that, you know, maybe you're
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not working on? We don't wanna give away too much of, you know, the secret
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sauce, but, you know, where's something that you would love to see, fixed in the
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podcasting world? Yeah. It's it's around to to me, it's all
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around community. When I hear the complaints, people feel like they're kind of alone in
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podcasting. And I a lot of people maybe don't do their due diligence, but they
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kinda feel like they don't have, like, a real tribe. And this is specifically
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on the hosting side of things. Again, I I kinda serve both the guest and
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the host. The guest seem to do fine, and we we see that they they
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hang out as long as they feel like talking about their message and as long
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as it's it's fun for them. That's great. There's not a lot of work that
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goes into being a guest necessarily or nowhere near as much as a host. But
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host, they kinda just feel lonely, and and I get it. Like,
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when I started my podcast, I didn't put it here a single word aside from,
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like, family and close friends for the first, like, 3 years of podcasting.
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Like, just didn't hear anything. And I didn't know that there were other podcasters, which
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I know sounds silly now that I say it. Go back to 2014, there was
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no meetups for it. There was nothing like that. Like, I I just didn't know.
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The first time I found out there was a conference was 2017, and I went
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straight down to Orlando, Florida to Podfest. I was like, yep. There's there's other
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podcasters. I'm gonna meet these nerds. Right? But,
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but, yeah, I think that the community aspect is really what's what's missing. People need
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a tribe, and inside that community, a really important key pillar of it is
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accountability. Talked about it earlier. Like, I committed to 52 episodes,
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and I did that publicly with people that weren't podcasters when I got started. Right?
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But that was okay. But it'd be really great to be in some sort of
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community. All podcasters doing something similar saying, you know what? What? Here's what I'm
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doing. I wanna let everyone know this is what I'm committing to doing. And I
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think that having that accountability, that extra measure of of being
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checked in with, I think, goes a really long way. We'd see a much lower
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churn rate in podcasting.
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Wow. What do you think you said it
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earlier. Right? One of the biggest reasons why people actually drop into podcasting usually
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has to do with resources. Right? Not enough time, not enough money,
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you know, not enough skill. Does do you really
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think accountability is enough to kinda push through those hurdles? Are
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there other ways that podcasters could support each other?
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Yeah. There that's a good point, Matthew. Like, there definitely are more ways
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people could help. Example, occasionally, I've met people who really, really love editing. I
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don't know if you've ever met anyone like that. Right? Like, you have. Right? Guy.
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Occasionally, and our people were like, I really like editing. And some of them even
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said, hey. Like, if anyone needs help editing or needs tips, I'd love to to
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provide that because it's just so much fun for me. And I I don't know
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who that is. Right? And I've seen a number of them now, but it's like,
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man, that's a great way to be able to to help each other. Typically, I
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find that people that are really good at that are really bad on the graphic
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design side of things. Like, even though, like, the Canvas of the world exist. Right?
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They still really struggle with it. The people that like that hate editing. And to
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me, there's could be some sort of community collaboration around, like, hey. Let's help each
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other with these shows. And more or less, I'm describing what I think probably the
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best intent of a network would be a small group of people that are helping
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each other out, doing the things that each other like, it takes a tribe. Right?
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Maybe it takes a tribe with a podcast. And so I think that in many
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ways that people could help each other a lot more, and accountability isn't enough.
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I just I've seen how much it does help. When somebody has accountability, somebody checking
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in, they feel like if I don't do this, I'm gonna let somebody down, and
Speaker:
no one wants to let other people down. Right? And it's not to to give
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them some negative reinforcement. No. It should be positive. Like, hey. You're you're going somewhere.
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Let's keep it going together. But I don't know if it's enough.
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I I don't. I I just when I hear people talk, that seems
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to be the thing that they're missing, and I'm wondering if the motivation from community
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could lead them to say, you know what? I'm willing to put up with x.
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I'm willing to put up with y. I'm willing to spend a bit more money
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because I'm actually part of something here. And I I can't say that that
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necessarily works. I just this is feeling based, which maybe isn't the
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best, but it's just what I'm hearing, and and I wanna I wanna help with
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that side of it because I know community is, like, really my my thing.
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Something tells me that your instincts have been pretty good thus far and will probably
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remain pretty good moving forward. So keep doing what it is that you're, what you're
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doing. What about is there any tech on
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your wish list? Now, obviously, you can build
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software and and add features all the time, but, like, is there something else out
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there maybe in a in a unrelated space that either you're waiting
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to buy or you're waiting for someone to create to make, podcasting better
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or easier for you and your, you know, network and clients
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and friends and customers. Yeah. I think that one of the
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biggest missed points, and this actually kinda speaks to some stuff that you do.
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But people don't understand how to talk about their podcast in real life. You
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ever notice that? Does that does that make sense what I mean? Like, if I
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go to a coffee shop, I'm not gonna tell someone about my podcast there. And
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that to me seems like a really that seems like a missed opportunity. That's a
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real person. And if you strike up a conversation, like, why not tell them about
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what you do? And you have to be like, listen to my podcast. Episode alert.
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New episode out now. Right? Like, you don't need to do all that and make
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it weird. But if they're, like, into something that you're into, like, why
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not give it a shot? So I'll just call it podcasting in the wild is
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I think I think there needs to be solutions to help people understand how
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to do that, but also, like, actual tools that do it.
Speaker:
So, like, they need to, like, teach people, like, hey. Here's how you show up,
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and here's how you talk about it, but here's the tools to help enable that
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to happen. Here here's, like, a little example. I'm literally just kinda pulling this out
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of my mind. Right down the street walking distance where I live, a new coffee
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shop just opened up, and it's, like, an independent small coffee shop. You know, like,
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the little, I don't know what to call them. Like, the the cardboard things that
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go around the mug, the little cups so it doesn't burn your hands. The The
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little sleeves. That's it. Yeah. Could I buy them 10,000 of
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them and put a QR code to my podcast and, like, call out an episode
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on that and then use that? Would would they do that? I don't know. I
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did just look it up before this because I, like, I I saw somebody walking
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by and I thought about it. It only costs, like, a cent each or something
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like that to do that or maybe maybe less than that. So you can buy
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10,000 of these things for, like, almost no money. And it's like, well, would
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10,000 people walking around with my QR code and maybe something seems interesting to
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them be be a good a good thing. Right? That's just one example.
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I know that you're working on solutions in the space that are, like, next level
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stuff, but I think that there's a need for that. And I don't know if
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you have the same thought, but I'd actually be very curious to hear from you
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on this as well, Matthew, if that's okay. I I think what you
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just mentioned is absolutely brilliant
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that getting these custom sleeves and partnering with a local coffee
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shop and, you know, having your name on there would be great. You know, the
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only setback that I would see is that most people, that's
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where they're putting their hands, and so they'd be covering up your name. And so
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maybe you're not getting the exposure, you know, to other people who would be seeing
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it. But what I love is that kind of creative
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thinking when it comes to podcast marketing. Right? Like, we are so
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obsessed with digital hacks, you know, social
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media gurus telling us how to market our podcast,
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even digital ads being the thing. And and I just remember from
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back in the day, the people who tend to be
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successful are always doing something a little bit more old school, a little
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more gorilla tactics. Right? A little bit something, you know,
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simpler. Like, I remember years ago, I was
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writing about this stuff and somebody went to Comic Con shortly after
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the first of the Star Wars sequels
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came out. Right? The the force awakens, I think was the first one that that
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came out. And this guy was going around Comic Con handing out flyers
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with a giant picture of Mark Hamill and the words missing.
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Right? Because he he didn't appear in the first movie, and I was like, well,
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where's Mark Hamill? And then at the very bottom was little text that said,
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these are the kinds of things that we talk about in our podcast. Boom. Link.
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It was like, that guy probably got that flyer in the hand of
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100 of people who are all like, okay. This person is funny and clever. I
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wanna check it out. This coffee sleeve idea, I think, is just
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exactly one of those, like, clever things. And, yeah, if you're maybe
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you're doing a localized podcast so that local coffee shop makes sense or, you know,
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maybe you speak to entrepreneurs, you know, people who tend to sit around the Starbucks
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maybe drinking their coffee and working on stuff. Yeah. That that's the kind of thinking
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that you want, and that's the kind of thing I'd like to see
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more people experimenting with and trying out.
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I'm always shocked how when I see people doing billboards. Right? You have Blip and
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some other platforms out there that allow you to do billboards. I think more people
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should be taking advantage of that because people are driving where they tend to listen
Speaker:
to podcast in their car. So what better place than have a giant billboard that
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says, hey. Thinking about the whatever. Eagles
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today, right, of the playoffs? Check out our podcast on the Eagles. I I think
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that's the kind of stuff that will work better than, you know,
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the tired and repetitive and oversaturated
Speaker:
philosophy and strategies of just blasting it on social media and things like
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that. Yeah. You know, the the one thing I'll I'll share in this to follow
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that up is just, this is the only time having a boring podcast about
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podcasting, which is what I have. Right? You under you understand this world. Like, I
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can't go on the street and meet somebody that's gonna be interested. They're gonna be
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like, you're weird because you have a podcast about podcasting. Right? Like but I'm telling
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you, man, if you have a podcast about, like, continued education, go to go to
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a a university, the the closest thing to you. I think a lot of people
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think, like, I need to get my podcast numbers up. Right? Are people always thinking
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more downloads, more listeners? And, man, like, if you look at the data, like,
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if you have something like 30, 35 people listening every week, like, you're in the
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top half of all shows, man, if you just meet one new listener
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every day for, let's just say, 2 months, let's say, take weekends off, you're gonna
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be in the top 50% if you do this. And that human touch, they're probably
Speaker:
gonna listen forever and tell their friends I met I met Matthew. I I know
Speaker:
this person. Met him at a coffee shop, and now I'm listening to his podcast,
Speaker:
and you should too. Right? Like, I just think there's a lot of opportunity here
Speaker:
to really to do something a little bit more creative than just solely
Speaker:
relying on online. And I digress because I know we gotta move on, but that
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that's I wanted to share that. We can do whatever we want. It's my show.
Speaker:
Great. No. And, you know, actually, I I think you raise another interesting point, and
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that is the best podcast is the most successful ones.
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They're not even doing the crux of their marketing and
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growth. It's their audience. So engage your audience. Put
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your audience to work for you. Let them be your advocates. You know? If I
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tell you, hey. I've got a great podcast. You're like, yeah. Whatever.
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But, right, if Alex goes, I was just listening to my guide, Matthew, doing his
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podcast. You should check it out. That holds so much more sway. So
Speaker:
Sure does. Well said. Think about finding ways to engage your audience. Alright. And this
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one's gonna be tough because, you know, you run a platform. You've got a network.
Speaker:
You know a lot of people in the a lot of folks in the space.
Speaker:
But is there a couple of podcasts or 1 or 2 primarily that
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when they drop a new episode, you're stopping what you're doing and listening, or, like,
Speaker:
you're just you're not gonna let that one go without checking it out?
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Yeah. You know, I I've I've kind of my my first thought
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about this is, like, I wanna talk about podcasts about podcasting, but the reality is
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that I also have interest outside of podcasting, and I kinda wanna break
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sometimes. So for me, podcasting is is a really fun medium.
Speaker:
I really have enjoyed Jordan Harbinger. The Jordan Harbinger Show is is what it's
Speaker:
called. And I just think he does a brilliant job interviewing people. So I've always,
Speaker:
like, learned a lot about his interview from his interview skills, and I've always
Speaker:
really enjoyed his show. I can't say I jumped to every single episode, but I
Speaker:
do look. If it interests me, I'm gonna dive in and take a listen to
Speaker:
it. The other one I'll mention is the James Altucher show. James is
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good. Almost I mean, it's funny. They're they're both, like, j names and
Speaker:
both the name show. Apparently, I gotta I gotta I don't have a type.
Speaker:
Where's the Alex Sanfilippo show? No one can say that or spell it, man. So
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I'll just leave leave that one alone. But James Altucher,
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he's I'm not into chess. He's super into chess right now, but,
Speaker:
man, is that guy fascinating? I always, like, referred him as the most interesting entrepreneur
Speaker:
in the world, like a play on the most interesting man in the world. Like,
Speaker:
he's just the way his mind works for whatever reason
Speaker:
helps me become a better, like, creative, I think. And so I I those
Speaker:
are 2 shows I really have enjoyed. 1, to learn how to be a better
Speaker:
interviewer, the other one, to learn to be more creative as an entrepreneur. Wow.
Speaker:
And it certainly has not worked out well for you at all. So let me
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find other shows to check out. Out. Alex Sanfilippo, the founder of
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PodMatch. Again, listen, Alex is gonna talk it up. I'm
Speaker:
gonna talk it up. Everybody who I know uses it has great things to say
Speaker:
about it. So if you aren't, make sure you check out podmatch.com,
Speaker:
link to it in the show notes, and, you know, follow Alex on all the
Speaker:
socials. He is always dropping, insightful, you
Speaker:
know, great things. And I always look forward to seeing what he has to
Speaker:
say. Alex, as always, pleasure chatting with you today, sir. Thank you so much, Matthew.
Speaker:
I really appreciate it.
Alex Sanfilippo
Entrepreneur, Software Founder, Podcast Host
Alex Sanfilippo is a prolific podcaster and the visionary founder of PodMatch.com, a revolutionary platform that seamlessly connects podcast hosts and guests for engaging interviews. Having delved into the world of podcasting as far back as 2014, Alex's journey from the corporate world to full-time entrepreneurship is a testament to his commitment and passion for the medium.
Alex's dedication to the podcasting community extends beyond technology. He launched the PodMatch Network, fostering a collaborative environment where podcasters can exchange ideas, gain insights from industry experts, and receive support in their creative endeavors.
As the host of "Podcasting Made Simple," Alex shares his expertise and insights, empowering independent podcasters to grow their influence and revenue. His focus on community, commitment to providing tangible value, and relentless pursuit of innovative solutions have solidified his reputation as a leading figure in the podcasting industry.