The Pod Stack

Your audio can be excellent and still get skipped because the title sounds like a mystery novel and the description is three vague sentences about "diving deep." Metadata is free leverage. No new subscription required. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack. Today: titles, descriptions, and explicit flags — small fields that help humans and apps understand the episode before they hit play. Some...

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool pick: Fireflies.ai (call & meeting transcription): https://fireflies.ai/?fpr=the-pod-stack

Disclosure: this is an affiliate link; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

There is a particular kind of productive-looking panic where you submit your brand-new podcast to forty directories before you've published episode three. It feels like growth. Mostly it's spreadsheet cosplay. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack. Today: which directories actually matter in year one — and which submissions can wait so you don't burn an evening that should have been a recording...

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool pick: Podseeker (podcast directory & guest research database): https://www.podseeker.co/?via=the-pod-stack

Disclosure: this is an affiliate link; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

You're starting a podcast. And if you've spent any time online this week, you've probably been told to buy twelve tools before you record a single word. A host. A remote studio. An AI editor. A design suite. A newsletter platform. Maybe a mixer. This episode cuts that list down to what to buy first — and what can wait.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool pick: RSS.com (podcast hosting & distribution): https://rss.com?via=the-pod-stack

Disclosure: this is an affiliate link; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

Cover art, show notes, and a simple audiogram are the packaging layer — not the show itself. You can overbuild this stack into a full design studio, or you can ship a clean square image, a readable notes block, and one shareable clip. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack. Today: a minimal design stack that doesn't eat your recording time.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool picks: Podpage (podcast website builder): https://www.podpage.com?via=the-pod-stack · Opus Clip (turn long audio/video into short social clips): https://opus.pro/?via=jesse

Disclosure: these are affiliate links; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

You booked a great guest. They show up on time. The conversation is gold. You hit stop — and when you listen back, it sounds like… a phone call. Thin. Compressed. One side drops for half a second when the Wi-Fi hiccups. And you realize you recorded the cloud mix, not separate clean tracks. That tax is optional. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool picks: Podseeker (podcast directory & guest research database): https://www.podseeker.co/?via=the-pod-stack · StreamYard (browser-based studio for live streaming & recording): https://streamyard.com/?fpr=the-pod-stack

Disclosure: these are affiliate links; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

The internet will tell you your microphone is the problem. Sometimes it is. Usually it isn't. Usually it's the room — hard walls, a fan, you sitting too far from the mic — dressed up as a gear emergency. And a four-hundred-dollar condenser won't fix an echoey kitchen. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack. Today: USB versus XLR for first-time hosts.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool pick: Async (browser recording + AI audio cleanup, formerly Podcastle): https://async.com/?ref=zwu0zjk

Disclosure: this is an affiliate link; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

Hosting is boring. Hosting is also the one tool you can't skip. You can record on your phone. You can edit in a free app. You can design cover art in a browser tab. But without a host, your episode is a file on a hard drive — not a show people can find on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack. Today we're comparing three hosts.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool pick: Captivate (podcast hosting with a growth & analytics lean): https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yze2yza

Disclosure: this is an affiliate link; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

There are two ways to edit a podcast. One looks like a music studio: waveforms, a timeline, a playhead you scrub back and forth until your eyes blur. The other looks like a Google Doc: your episode is text. You delete a sentence — and the audio goes with it. Neither is morally superior. One of them might save you three hours a week. The other might already be fast enough.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool pick: Castos (podcast hosting + done-for-you editing service): https://castos.com?via=the-pod-stack

Disclosure: this is an affiliate link; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

You've got a finished file. Now comes the part that feels bureaucratic: titles, artwork, categories, RSS, Apple, Spotify, and the quiet fear that you missed a checkbox and nobody will ever find you. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack. Today: a clear publish checklist from raw audio to directories — without turning launch day into a second full-time job.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool picks: RSS.com (podcast hosting & distribution): https://rss.com?via=the-pod-stack · Captivate (podcast hosting with a growth & analytics lean): https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yze2yza

Disclosure: these are affiliate links; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

Ads feel like the grown-up monetization path. An email list feels like homework. But if a platform changes the algorithm — or you take a month off — the list is still yours. This is The Pod Stack. I'm Jesse of The Pod Stack. Today: why a simple listener list beats chasing ads too early, and what tool shape actually fits a new show.

Resources & tools mentioned: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOjUFlOwQ8M1lUr5clUK3NUnYiRLiOKTehRcncAtC3A/edit

Some links may be affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure on the Resources page.

🧰 This episode's tool pick: Podspun (website builder for podcasts & creators): https://podspun.com/?via=thepodstack

Disclosure: this is an affiliate link; The Pod Stack may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.