In this episode we discuss why and how we built the new sharing experience (see blog post for v1.19).

Download the Metacast podcast app for free:

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/metacast/id6462012536
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.metacast.podcast.player

Segments

• [00:20] Opening
• [00:57] New weekly update episodes
• [05:22] New podcast sharing experience in Metacast
• [06:52] Why we are working on sharing?
• [09:32] The new sharing experience
• [14:35] QR codes
• [16:51] Optimized image loading
• [17:53] Problems with the old URL sharing
• [23:04] The technical solution for consistently working app links
• [24:43] The complexity of the change
• [28:45] Preview of the next episode about rebranding
• [33:26] Recommendations

Show notes

• New sharing experience announcement blog
• Latest weekly update episode: Weekly Update (May 6, 2025): New sharing experience, new logo & branding
• 67. Attack of LLM bots (podcast) + blog
• Episode with Jennie: 42. Equity compensation at a pre-revenue bootstrapped startup with Jennie Buechner
• Voices in my head by Falling in Reverse

Get in touch

• 🚀 Get the Metacast podcast app: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://metacast.app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👥 Join our subreddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/metacastapp/⁠⁠
• ✉️ Subscribe to Metacast newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.metacastpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👋 Send feedback or say hi: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

Every Tuesday, we meet for a weekly standup. We summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings.

Show notes

• 311: The Long Term on Under the Radar
• When Exactly Did the Roman Empire Fall? on Everything Everywhere Daily

Download the Metacast podcast app for free:

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/metacast/id6462012536
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.metacast.podcast.player

Every Tuesday, we meet for a weekly standup. We summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings.

Show notes

• Calendar Reform on Everything Everywhere Daily
• 10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna on Lenny's Podcast
• 317: Optimizing for Battery Life on Under the Radar

Download the Metacast podcast app for free:

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/metacast/id6462012536
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.metacast.podcast.player

Every Tuesday, we meet for a weekly standup. We'll summarize our progress in short weekly updates that we record right after our meetings.

Show notes

• Attack of the LLM bots (blog post)
• Big Takeaways From Podcast Movement Evolutions 2025 on Buzzcast
• Episode 2 - “Through the Valley” on HBO's The Last of Us Podcast

Download the Metacast podcast app for free:

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/metacast/id6462012536
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.metacast.podcast.player

In this episode we recap our Q1: what we shipped, distribution challenges, siloing engineering workstreams + a bunch of tangential topics.

Download the Metacast podcast app for free:

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/metacast/id6462012536
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.metacast.podcast.player

Segments

• [00:00] Opening
• [02:09] New feature: Chapters
• [05:27] New feature: Following a.k.a. Podcast Inbox
• [06:17] Feedback from Grumpy Old Geeks
• [08:10] Ilya turning into full-time engineer
• [12:02] We don't vibe code!
• [14:49] AI summaries in the web app
• [16:52] Full transcripts in the web app
• [18:39] Web is the innovation platform
• [19:45] Better sharing images
• [21:01] New blogging framework
• [24:08] Restarting marketing
• [26:05] The distribution challenge
• [27:13] Discoverability on App Store
• [28:34] The cold start problem
• [30:04] 1000 fans
• [30:56] Distractions in Q1
• [31:15] Spiking GCP costs
• [33:52] LLM bots update
• [34:28] Taxes
• [37:55] Siloing
• [39:20] Working in person again!
• [40:11] What we're listening to
• [48:20] Where people can find us

Show notes

Blog posts

• Metacast: Q1 2025 Retrospective
• Our biggest struggle — distribution
• Episode chapters now available in Metacast podcast app
• Podcast Inbox now available in Metacast podcast app
• LLM bots + Next.js image optimization = recipe for bankruptcy (post-mortem)
• DIY Delaware C-Corp taxes for a new startup with no funding, no payroll and no assets

Podcasts

• 661: The Nightmare Before Overcast on Grumpy Old Geeks
• Everything Everywhere Daily
• Do trade deficits matter? on Planet Money
• Josh Waitzkin on The Joe Rogan Experience
• #792: Seth Godin on Playing the Right Game and Strategy as a Superpower

Books

• The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

Get in touch

• 🚀 Get the Metacast podcast app: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://metacast.app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👥 Join our subreddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/metacastapp/⁠⁠
• ✉️ Subscribe to Metacast newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.metacastpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👋 Send feedback or say hi: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

Our website got slammed by LLM bots from Amazon and Anthropic, which could've cost us $7k in Vercel image optimization costs!

Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://⁠⁠⁠metacast.app⁠⁠⁠.
Join the ⁠⁠r/metacastapp⁠⁠ subreddit.

Segments

• [00:20] Introduction and episode overview
• [01:31] New features and updates
• [03:02] Why do we keep applying to YC?
• [08:53] The LLM bot invasion incident
• [21:26] We re-allowed LLM bots to crawl the site
• [28:22] Book & podcast recommendations

Show notes

Posts

• LLM bots + Next.js image optimization = recipe for bankruptcy (post-mortem)

Books

• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Little Golden America by Ilya Ilf and Eugene Petrov

Get in touch

• 🚀 Get the Metacast podcast app: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://metacast.app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👥 Join our subreddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/metacastapp/⁠⁠
• ✉️ Subscribe to Metacast newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.metacastpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👋 Send feedback or say hi: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠
• 📕 Get our book! The Pragmatic Podcaster: a step-by-step guide to starting an amazing podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFPMT8WW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👚 Metacast merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://merch.metacastpodcast.com

In the first episode of 2025, we discuss the lowlights of last year and sharing our high-level plans for 2025.

Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://⁠⁠⁠metacast.app⁠⁠⁠.
Join the ⁠⁠r/metacastapp⁠⁠ subreddit.

Segments

• [02:23] User feedback
• [06:48] Fixing the leaky bucket of the intro screen
• [11:00] New feature: Episode inbox
• [15:11] Investing in the web app
• [18:24] The hard parts of 2024
• [23:25] We have to make it work, or else...
• [30:38] Why we're putting energy in SEO
• [33:28] Becoming more pragmatic
• [35:57] Podcast & book recommendations

Show notes

Podcasts

• Bootstrapped Web
• The Panel

Posts

• What's happening with founders over 40 by Justin Jackson

Books

• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• The Pragmatic Programmer by Dave Thomas & Andrew Hunt
• Little Golden America by Ilya Ilf and Eugene Petrov

Get in touch

• 🚀 Get the Metacast podcast app: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://metacast.app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👥 Join our subreddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/metacastapp/⁠⁠
• ✉️ Subscribe to Metacast newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.metacastpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👋 Send feedback or say hi: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠
• 📕 Get our book! The Pragmatic Podcaster: a step-by-step guide to starting an amazing podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFPMT8WW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👚 Metacast merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://merch.metacastpodcast.com

In this holiday edition episode, we discuss the past year's highlights, a recent outage, and the rapid emergence of Bluesky as a social media platform.

Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://⁠⁠⁠metacast.app⁠⁠⁠.
Join the ⁠⁠r/metacastapp⁠⁠ subreddit.

Segments

• [00:20] Welcome to the holiday edition
• [01:24] Year in review: launches and growth
• [04:06] Challenges and user feedback
• [07:12] The big outage and serendipitous solution
• [10:16] Switching to a new transcription service
• [18:39] App updates
• [21:37] The journey of implementing timestamps
• [24:58] The rise of Bluesky
• [37:55] Podcast recommendations

Show notes

Podcasts

• The Joe Rogan Experience

Get in touch

• 🚀 Get the Metacast podcast app: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://metacast.app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👥 Join our subreddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/metacastapp/⁠⁠
• ✉️ Subscribe to Metacast newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.metacastpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👋 Send feedback or say hi: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠
• 📕 Get our book! The Pragmatic Podcaster: a step-by-step guide to starting an amazing podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFPMT8WW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👚 Metacast merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://merch.metacastpodcast.com

We've chatted with a VC-backed founder who is on the brink of closing shop. Listen to our reflections on this. Plus, a breakdown of latest Metacast features!

Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://⁠⁠⁠metacast.app⁠⁠⁠.
Join the ⁠⁠r/metacastapp⁠⁠ subreddit.

Segments

• [01:26] New features in Metacast
• [01:42] Sleep timer
• [06:21] Speed control
• [12:32] Grid view in playlists
• [15:37] Goals for the next month
• [17:07] Our chat with a VC-backed startup founder
• [28:56] Podcast and books recommendations

Show notes

Podcasts

• Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
• Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
• 7. Jason Fried on building products, calm companies and the Jeff Bezos investment - Builders Gonna Build
• My Dad Wrote A Porno
• The Big Porn Debate (3 Experts Debate): The Unseen Dangers Of Nofap, The Adult Industry Is Exploiting Our Brains, How Porn Will Change Your Brain! - The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

Books

• Obviously Awesome by April Dunford

Other

• LinkedIn post about speed control in audio by Ilya

Get in touch

• 🚀 Get the Metacast podcast app: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://metacast.app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👥 Join our subreddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/metacastapp/⁠⁠
• ✉️ Subscribe to Metacast newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.metacastpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👋 Send feedback or say hi: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠
• 📕 Get our book! The Pragmatic Podcaster: a step-by-step guide to starting an amazing podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFPMT8WW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👚 Metacast merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://merch.metacastpodcast.com

We've launched with a price of $49.99/year, but we realized it's too high. We're lowering it to $19.99/year or $1.99/month.

Get Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://⁠⁠⁠metacast.app⁠⁠⁠.
Join the ⁠⁠r/metacastapp⁠⁠ subreddit.

Segments

• [01:14] How we decided to lower the price for Metacast
• [03:03] Initially we had three plans
• [04:48] Pulling the andon cord
• [06:40] One password app's reference point
• [08:21] Why we're not adding ads
• [11:35] Enshittification of consumer apps
• [14:21] Our costs for running the app
• [17:52] Rolling out the pricing change
• [20:05] Podcast and book recommendations

Show notes

Podcasts

• Previous episodes with Jennie: 42. Equity compensation at a pre-revenue bootstrapped startup, 17. From Teacher to Software Engineer at Amazon
• Handsome
• The Mark Zuckerberg Interview - Acquired
• Meta’s Race for Your Face + Google’s Hit A.I. Notebook + HatGPT - Hard Fork
• #446 – Ed Barnhart: Maya, Aztec, Inca, and Lost Civilizations of South America - Lex Fridman Podcast
• #369 – Paul Rosolie: Amazon Jungle, Uncontacted Tribes, Anacondas, and Ayahuasca - Lex Fridman Podcast
• #429 – Paul Rosolie: Jungle, Apex Predators, Aliens, Uncontacted Tribes, and God - Lex Fridman Podcast

Books

• Fast Second: How Smart Companies Bypass Radical Innovation to Enter and Dominate New Markets by Constantinos C. Markides, Paul A. Geroski

Get in touch

• 🚀 Get the Metacast podcast app: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://metacast.app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👥 Join our subreddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/metacastapp/⁠⁠
• ✉️ Subscribe to Metacast newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.metacastpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👋 Send feedback or say hi: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠
• 📕 Get our book! The Pragmatic Podcaster: a step-by-step guide to starting an amazing podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFPMT8WW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• 👚 Metacast merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://merch.metacastpodcast.com