Ship a podcast from idea to RSS feed

The single most-skipped step is also the most-important. Most podcasts die at episode 12 because the premise was 'a podcast about [broad topic]' and the host ran out of fresh angles. A premise that sustains 50 episodes is narrow enough to repeat without staleness ('first 90 days as a CTO', 'how solo founders shipped their first $10k month') and broad enough to fit 50 different stories. Write the premise in one sentence; if it doesn't pass the 'could I do 50 episodes' test, it's too narrow or too broad.

Format: solo monologue, two-person conversation, interview, panel, narrative-edit, AMA. Each has very different production cost. Solo monologues are 1-2 hours of work per episode; high-edit narrative shows are 10-20 hours. Cadence: weekly is the discoverability sweet spot; bi-weekly is sustainable for solo creators; daily is for the burnout brigade. Pick the format AND cadence that you can sustain for 12 months.

The single biggest gear-money mistake is buying a $2000 setup before episode 1. The starter kit that sounds great: a $250 mic (Shure MV7 or Samson Q2U), $20 of acoustic foam for your recording space, $30 closed-back headphones, and a quiet room. That's it. Spend the saved money on editing software and the cover art instead.

Cover art is the thumbnail listeners see in directory grids. Bad cover art means no clicks; clicks compound to subscribers. The constraints: 3000x3000 px, JPEG or PNG, RGB, must read at 100x100 (the smallest size in directories). The pattern that works: high-contrast background, large legible title, simple iconography, strong brand color. Test the art at 100x100 before submitting.

Critique 3-5 podcast cover art candidates.

Inputs (the user attaches images):
- 3-5 candidate cover artworks at 3000x3000 px
- The show premise + audience from the Brief

For each candidate:
1. Does the title read at 100x100 px? (Mockup mentally or describe what would be lost.)
2. Does the iconography survive the small-size test?
3. Color contrast: high or low? Saturation: balanced or muddy?
4. Brand consistency: does it match the show voice (irreverent / serious / technical)?
5. Pattern-match: which existing top-100 podcasts does it visually echo? Is that intentional?

Output:
- A ranking of the candidates from strongest to weakest
- 3 specific iteration suggestions per candidate
- A recommendation on the top 1-2 to ship

Constraints: be specific. 'Too busy' is unhelpful; 'the title competes with the photo background, increase title size by 30% and dim the photo' is actionable.

Before episode 1, ship a 60-90 second trailer that introduces the show: who you are, what the premise is, who it's for, who's coming up. Trailers serve two purposes: (1) submit to directories with a trailer + 1 episode meets the minimum threshold, (2) listeners who land on the show page hear the trailer first and decide to subscribe. Trailers underperform full episodes for downloads but compound subscribers.

Banking 3 episodes before launch lets you ship weekly without the production stress catching you. The first 3 episodes also let you debug the format: episode 1 will be the worst, episode 2 will be 30% better, episode 3 will be the version that defines the show. Don't ship until you have all 3.

The RSS feed is the canonical source of your podcast. Hosts (Transistor, Buzzsprout, Anchor) generate the RSS, host the audio, submit to directories, and provide analytics. Pick one with: unlimited episodes, your own custom domain support, no platform-locked content. Anchor (Spotify-owned) has limitations; independent hosts are safer long-term.

Submission to directories is one-time per show; episodes auto-flow via RSS afterwards. Apple Podcasts approval takes 1-3 days; Spotify is instant; smaller directories take 1-7 days. Most modern hosts auto-submit on your behalf. The only platform that needs manual handling is YouTube Podcasts (now significant).

Launch day: trailer + episode 1 + episode 2 + episode 3 all live. Three episodes at launch dramatically outperforms one episode at launch — listeners who like episode 1 immediately have 2 more to consume, which is the strongest subscriber signal. Cross-promote on every channel: X, LinkedIn, email list, communities, your own newsletter.

Each episode generates 5-10 pieces of distribution content (show notes, transcript, episode description, X thread, LinkedIn post, audiograms, blog post). Without automation, a weekly podcast becomes a 12-hour-per-week project; with agents drafting, it drops to 4-6 hours. Wire the agent to draft show notes from the transcript, episode description from the show notes, social copy from the description.

Process a new podcast episode and draft the distribution content.

Inputs:
- Episode transcript (from Descript / Riverside / host auto-transcription)
- Episode title + guest from Episode pipeline row
- Show premise + voice rules from Brief

Output:
1. **Show notes** (200-400 words):
   - Bullet list with timestamps every 3-5 min
   - Each bullet: timestamp + 1-line summary of that segment + key quote if any
   - 3-5 internal links to related episodes
2. **Episode description** (200-400 chars): hook + premise + ends with "listen + subscribe"
3. **X thread** (5-7 tweets): hook tweet quoting the most-shareable line, body tweets with key insights, CTA tweet with episode link
4. **LinkedIn post** (1200-2000 chars): founder-story shape, references the episode and the most-shareable insight
5. **3 audiogram clips**: timestamps for the 3 most-shareable 30-60 sec segments (for video audiograms)
6. **Blog post outline** (8-12 H2/H3): for the optional canonical written companion piece

Constraints:
- Match the show voice (irreverent / serious / technical based on Brief)
- No 'we are excited to share', no marketing fluff
- Lead with the most surprising insight, not the most expected
- Internal-link 3-5 related episodes from Episode pipeline

Output as a structured update to the Episode pipeline row.

Podcast analytics are sparse: downloads (the only meaningful metric), completion rate (if your host provides it), and Apple Podcasts subscribers. Track which episodes outperform your baseline by 50%+ — those are the format / topic signals to repeat. Drop or evolve formats that consistently underperform after 5+ episodes.

Run the monthly podcast analytics audit.

Inputs:
- Per-episode downloads from the host (paste the numbers)
- Episode pipeline (titles, formats, guests, dates)
- Brief (premise, voice, format intent)

Output to the Brief as a markdown section:

1. **By the numbers**: 30-day downloads, total episodes shipped, average downloads/episode, top quartile vs bottom quartile
2. **Top 3 performers** + the pattern they share (guest profile, format, title style, topic)
3. **Bottom 3 underperformers** + the suspected cause (topic miss, guest fit, length, ship time)
4. **Format insights**: solo vs interview vs panel performance (if mixed)
5. **Title patterns**: which title structures earn the most clicks?
6. **Three concrete recommendations** for next month's episodes

Constraints: data-led. Don't celebrate vanity metrics; analyse what drove the downloads.