This week, Kate discusses the layers of a major story involving a wildly popular podcast, Call Her Daddy. In this episode, she first discusses the show's unprecedented success, theories on why the show is popular, and her perspective on when sexual rhetoric objectifies vs. empowers women. But, the discussion of their show's content is simply for musing's sake; more importantly, she wants to highlight that one of the issues with this story's coverage is that their show's subject matter is unfairly being used to devalue or invalidate their success. Throughout the podcast, she talks through different aspects of the story's progression, starting with explaining the existing business deal with Barstool, why their compensation is normal for the entertainment industry (but abnormal for the podcast world), and walks through how podcast networks operate by giving examples of the other financial scenarios that could have generated them a higher percentage of revenue, but not necessarily a comparable volume of audience. Kate also explores the importance of prioritizing your intellectual property, why that could've ultimately generated the bulk of their income, and also explores the confusing nature of media contracts that reward companies who give people their big break, despite living in a world where people can now give themselves their big break. But it begs the question, to what scale? To what level? How can you know when investing in talent what the future holds? Where does the value of the runway you were given end and where does the value of your merit begin? Beyond that, Kate talks about her experience staying private, owning IP, and basically doing the opposite of what they did, and why it's an example of what company resources can do for size and scale, and depends on what you want from something you create. Above all else, she talks through one of the lessons she's learned: money's important, but so are people, and how a respectful, realistic negotiation could've prevented the collapse of one of the wildest success stories that the podcast industry has ever witnessed. Enjoy!