Breaking Down the Walls

What we are trying to accomplish with Uncut? What is our epic goal?

Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

As I mentioned in my previous post on “building in public”, I have decided to share more of our internal journey and to regularly update you on our "vicissitudes", if I may use a French word. Sharing what we do and think in public not only helps me think, but also makes me more accountable.

Today, I wanted to take the time to explain what we are trying to accomplish with Uncut. What is our epic goal. What is the problem we are trying to solve, because every startup should focus on the problem they are solving rather than the features they are building. In fact, a product is only an ephemeral consequence of a persistent problem that you have decided to solve.

At Uncut.fm, we want to break down the walls that traditional platforms have built between podcasters and their audience. For the first time ever, we're connecting hosts directly with their listeners so they can build strong relationships away from the algorithms and noise of social media...

This is a problem I face myself as a podcaster. I often feel like I'm on the wrong platform. Traditional podcasting platforms do very little for the creators, while we provide all their content. I constantly ask myself why I invest in platforms that act like black boxes with me.

Data about my listenership is locked up in these platforms. There’s no standard for measuring audience size and no way to interact with my listeners.

In Spring 2021, we engaged independent podcasters in conversation. They all told us one thing: podcasting feel like speaking into a void. They know they have an audience. They can see it in the statistics. But it's hard to know who exactly is listening — or what resonates, and why. In other words, because traditional podcasting platforms own the relationship with their audience, creators are left in the dark. They're told that knowing their audience is essential to monetization, but they're left with statistics that are useless.

This is why we created Uncut.fm !

Uncut is a place for podcasters to create strong relationship with their listeners. It is a home base where hosts can build a community around their content, receive feedback and collect data on their listeners.

I like to say it allows podcasters to listen to their listeners. I know it sounds strange, but as a podcaster you never hear the voice of your listeners. You don't know who they are, what they really think about your content. What they like. What they don't like... Personally, the first time I put a face and voice to my audience, I realized how much I didn't know who I was talking to...

Until now, podcast comments are not a thing. Unless the podcaster provides another platform for community, the audience does not have the opportunity to connect with each other as they listen. What is interesting here is that it's not only about creators speaking into a void, it's also about listeners having an isolated experience.

This doesn't make sense in a world that values shared experiences and we are going to fix this.

Carlos - founder and CEO