Welcome to Between Two Mics! Today, SquadCast co-founders Zach and Rock discuss updates to our team and what’s going on with the SquadPod.

We’ve added some new team members to our engineering department and together, they’ll bring us to the next iteration of SquadCast. We can’t wait for SquadCasters to experience what we’re currently testing. More soon on that!

We also hired a marketing manager! We’re really happy with the team we’re building. Our mission is to amplify collaboration for creators and we’re well on our way.

SquadPod is up and running. Join our dedicated Slack community for SquadCasters! Zach and Rock discuss what community has historically meant for our company and how we’re really embracing it now. Giving podcasters a place to meet, virtually, and eventually in person, is one of our favorite missions. We know that podcasting can be a solitary activity. SquadPod is here to give you some company. Join us!

We’re partnering with Dolby. Product updates coming soon!
Here’s what to expect:

  • Screen sharing
  • Screen recording
  • One-click mastering

Show Notes

Thank you to Phil Ward of Unhinged and Bumbled Up for providing us with a short pre-roll ad! Check out his podcast.

Episode Transcription

Phil Ward: [00:00:02] Hey, I’m Phil, a member of the Squad Pod. And before we get started with Between Two Mics, I want to tell you about another show that I think you’re going to love. And the podcast is called Unhinged and Bumbled Up. And it’s mine. Well, as well as my co-host, Lizz. And what’s it all about? Well, dating and general dating life. So if you’re sick of swiping left, if dating has got you all confused, then you know what? Give us a listen. And another good reason is the amazing sound quality as it’s recorded on SquadCast. So go to your nearest podcast platform, type in Unhinged and Bumbled Up and give us a listen and press subscribe. Thank you. [00:00:41][39.2]

Rock Felder: [00:00:46] It’s been really exciting to get new takes and have new ideas into the mix and, you know, we’re still in the early days of figuring out what that’s all going to look like. So that’s all very exciting to me. But there’s a lot to be optimistic about. And I think for any of you of our dear customers out there, that’s only going to make your experience better. So expect more good things to come. [00:01:04][17.4]

Zach Moreno: [00:01:09] Welcome to Between Two Mics, the podcast that brings you remote recording resources from SquadCast.FM. [00:01:14][5.6]

Rock: [00:01:16] I’m Rock Felder, co-founder and CFO of SquadCast. [00:01:19][2.9]

Zach: [00:01:21] And I’m Zach Moreno, co-founder and CEO. [00:01:23][2.2]

Rock: [00:01:24] On Between Two Mics. We bring you interviews with podcasters, experts in the field of remote recording. We discuss current events in podcasting and so much more. [00:01:33][8.6]

Zach: [00:01:34] Twice a month you’ll hear a founders’ episode. That’s just the two of us chatting about all things remote recording, updates to SquadCast, what we’re up to, and what we’re listening to [00:01:45][10.9]

Rock: [00:01:46] the other two weeks of the month. We’ll bring you interview episodes. Zach and I will sit down with experts in the podcast space to discuss their companies, their podcasts, their thoughts on podcasting, creating content, and more. [00:01:58][12.2]

Zach: [00:01:59] The most exciting part. We’re recording all of this on SquadCast, the best place to record remote audio and video interviews in studio quality. [00:02:08][9.1]

Rock: [00:02:09] So let’s get Between Two Mics. [00:02:12][2.8]

[00:02:16] What’s up, Rock? [00:02:17][0.4]

[00:02:17] What is up, Zach, how are you? [00:02:19][1.5]

Zach: [00:02:20] I’m awesome, about you? [00:02:21][1.2]

[00:02:21] Pretty good. [00:02:22][1.0]

[00:02:23] We got some exciting things going on in the world of SquadCast. And I think that’s what we’ll be covering in today’s conversation where we’re at on a bunch of things that are moving forward with a lot of momentum. I think just to sum up real quick, we got new new faces at SquadCast, new people joining the team, and a lot of really exciting skills from awesome people. And then we got a lot of things going on with our product updates and improvements there, as well as community and the ongoing conversation that we have with podcasters. So you want to kick us off on on the team? Who’s joined SquadCast? [00:03:00][36.6]

Rock: [00:03:01] Yeah. So I don’t know if we’ve mentioned it on this podcast. I feel like we have, but in case we haven’t like we’ve viewed 2021, for SquadCast as really the year that the growth is in the team. And that’s where our focus as leaders and founders of the company are, less so like focused on, you know, day to day activities, whether it’s building the product or business, but helping us find folks that’s only going to make it bigger and better. And so, you know, really starting to accomplish some of those goals that we set at the beginning of this year by growing our engineering team, growing our support team as well, and then adding a marketing manager to the team. You know, it’s the first focused marketing role. I know Arielle’s role as our community manager is certainly marketing related, but it’s different in my opinion. And that’s why I’m so excited to, you know, help us get our communication and messaging just improved and continue to reestablish ourselves as, you know, a premium option for podcasters and video content creators to look and sound amazing when they record remotely and just reinforce the fact that you’re taken care of, that we got your back here at SquadCast. So, yeah, really exciting stuff, Zach. I mean, it’s something that personally keeps me up at night. But just as far as, like hiring folks and now that we have it, you know, people working here, it’s just I want to make sure that they’re they’re having a good experience and that they’re enjoying themselves and that they feel like what they’re doing has an impact here. That’s why you would work at a smaller company. A startup like SquadCast is you know, you really have the opportunity to have meaningful work done and have your input and ideas like throughout all the aspects of the product in business. But it’s not easy to to find great, talented people. And you know, something I think we’ve worked really hard at, but, man, couldn’t be more proud of the folks that we’ve we’ve brought on board. What’s what’s your take been on with the team growth recently? [00:04:54][113.1]

Zach: [00:04:55] Our mission is to amplify collaboration and to see that happening. You know, of course, for the creators that we serve. But amongst our team, with new people, with new skills, really bringing a lot of of insight into our our path forward is really awesome. The collaboration between the founding team and all the new people who have joined over over the past few months, but also more recently, like within, you know, a short amount of time, we we were able to to make some really great additions to the team and add a bunch of capabilities like like you said, across a couple of different teams. So it’s it’s a great time and really proud of the work that’s already happening. That’s, of course, going to flow from the work that we do together to to you all are our listeners and people recording on recording amazing content on squad cars like this is how we keep moving at a good speed move at a faster speed, bringing more to life from our vision to empower remote content production at the highest level. [00:06:01][65.9]

Rock: [00:06:01] Yeah, I think that’s what’s exciting for any SquadCasters out there, is that any of those products that you’ve been wanting or like the integrations or, you know, any any changes to the app. Like those things are going to happen a lot quicker. And the way that the app that we communicate to folks in the way the app communicates, that’s all going to improve. Like, you know, we just have more more people in like a new fresh set of eyes, I think are always good, too. And that’s been really exciting to get new takes and have new ideas into the mix. And, you know, we’re still in the early days of figuring out what that’s all going to look like. So that’s all very exciting to me. But there’s a lot to be optimistic about. And I think, you know, for any of you of our dear customers out there, like, that’s that’s only going to make your experience better. So so be prepared to, you know, expect more good things to come. But I guess on that note, Zach, there’s changes that are happening now to the product. Right? Like even though these folks are relatively new to SquadCast, they’re already having that impact by in this V4 update that’s coming. Tell us more about it. [00:07:02][60.6]

Zach: [00:07:03] Yeah, a lot of momentum in the product space, the product team engineering design, the beta group that we’ve been putting together and fostering all of these pieces are coming together and moving, moving in a cohesive direction towards our next major release, which is is in collaboration with Dolby to bring a lot of the a lot of their capabilities to the SquadCast platform, all in the service of, you know, an ever improving experience that looks and sounds and feels closer to reality with some of the technology that compliments from from from Dolby. So, you know, screen share, notifications, screen recording, so many awesome things that we’re bringing to life. One click mastering. So I think we’re going to have an update just to focus on episode excuse me, just to focus on that. So look out for that in the coming weeks. All of this is in service of just continuing our work to make sure that the app is, you know, making you and your guests feel very taken care of while you’re recording on SquadCast. That’s that’s what we want at the end of the day so that you can focus on the conversation at hand, stay in the moment, present and active listener, so that you can have flowing, engaging conversation that really translates through to the fantastic experience for your listeners and your audience, not just from the quality, but also, you know, the quality of the conversations. And that’s where we feel bringing some technology to the equation to make the conversation as close to reality as possible and also just other forms of collaboration beyond that. So we’re very excited with where we’re at with product and, you know, some very talented individuals joining the engineering team. That’s really cool to see. Moving at a good speed. [00:08:51][108.1]

Rock: [00:08:51] Yeah, I think we’ve done a great job of taking the uncertainty of accessing the recordings that are being recorded due to SquadCast because of the primaries and our, you know, progressive upload technology. But then also, you know, the backups in that, you know, one one percent scenario that folks actually need to rely on the backups we got there back in that way, too. But I think what we’re realizing here is that there’s just still plenty of opportunities to go beyond just that, but just an overall experience where you don’t have to worry about not just the recordings, but like anything like you can send folks a link and with confidence, know that they’re going to be able to join you in the studio as if it’s a literal door, like there’s not going to be anything stopping you. And then also just know that you’re going to stay in connection the entire time. Again, no, no worries. No uncertainty of like a guest dropping off or not knowing what to do and how to respond to that. I think we’re seeing plenty of opportunities to improve that. And, you know, there’s a lot to be proud of. And that’s what we love to celebrate on this show. But also, like plenty of things that we’re going to start doing and trying out to just continue to double down on the premium service and brand that SquadCast is establishing. [00:10:07][75.5]

Zach: [00:10:08] In a lot of ways, the app has never been better than it is right now. But it’s going to be like night and day within within a short amount of time here. And that’s that’s really cool. That’s what we do. We’re constantly reinventing ourselves and striving for the best experience, the most reliable, quality experience. And we don’t do that by standing still and thinking we got it all figured out. It’s really that beginner’s mind approaching things head on and and finding new innovative ways to continue to provide an experience where there’s not any anxiety as to yeah, getting your recording, staying connected, having a flowing conversation and making sure that that’s the highest quality. I’m really proud of that work that’s going into the product and the experience, as well as bringing that product and experience to more places and more people and and expanding accessibility with mobile apps and development for for Android and iOS, desktop is is shortly thereafter and it’s exploding in every direction. So it’s our job to to control that explosion and make sure that it’s benefiting our customers. So I look forward to a lot of great things to come. [00:11:14][65.3]

[00:11:16] We’re going to take a quick break, but we’ll be back soon with more from Between Two Mics. [00:11:21][4.8]

[00:11:24] Hey, SquadCasters, while we’ve got you here, we want to tell you a little bit about our YouTube channel [00:11:29][4.7]

Rock: [00:11:30] Since we released our video feature in January, allowing podcasters to record both their audio and video on SquadCast, we’ve been working hard to walk the walk ourselves. In addition to listening to this podcast, Between Two Mics enthusiasts can also watch snippets of our show. [00:11:45][14.3]

Zach: [00:11:45] We’re working with our friends, Tristan and Justin at Motion Agency dot IO to bring you highly produced, colorful and exciting video elements to further illustrate the points that we make with our guests on the show. [00:11:58][12.5]

Rock: [00:11:59] The first video we produced features Between two Mics guests, Ona Oghogho. In her interview, Ona walks us through what it means to truly invest in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. In the podcast space. [00:12:10][11.1]

Zach: [00:12:11] We encourage you to check out our YouTube channel. [00:12:13][1.6]

Rock: [00:12:13] So just head over to YouTube.com And search SquadCast.FM in the search bar and please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button. [00:12:19][6.1]

Zach: [00:12:20] Thank you. Now let’s get back to the show. [00:12:22][1.6]

[00:12:25] So the community, we got a lot going on in the podcast community with a capital P, but also our SquadCast community and then, you know, all of the groups that have been kind of forming within the SquadCast community is a super awesome. So I think we we have some new developments in this area. What’s been your experience, Rock, with the new SquadPod community that that we’ve been working to establish with Arielle’s leadership? [00:12:51][26.7]

Rock: [00:12:53] Yeah, as I mentioned earlier in the episode, Arielle, our community manager, has been doing a lot of cool stuff. And, you know, she’s been put in the the lab coat on and not afraid to try new things. And I think we really found something here with Squad Pod. I’m really excited about it. It’s it’s an active community that’s I think just went live. End of April, I believe the end of April is when we went live and many very long at all. It’s on fire. Yeah, it’s on fire though like the we have a dedicated Slack channel and I really like how there’s all these different, you know, channels within the greater channel of like amplify this. So if people want to get their show, you know, shared around social like that’s a place to do it and just to see how it’s getting carried over to social and how they’re all there helping each other, you know, that’s awesome. And then just the general discussions that are going on there, like it’s really fun. I’m not like super active above, you know, adding an emoji to someone’s, you know, post and stuff like that. But like, it’s been really fun to see what the conversation has been about and they’re just hanging out with each other. So anyone that hasn’t joined this group, please join us. It’s the best way to find it is in our newsletter. But we’ll add links in the show notes, of course, too, just to make that super easy for you. But in addition to that, we’re having meetings, I think it’s every week, but we alternate where we meet at. So we have Zoom meetings once a week or once every other week just because the community wanted the opportunity to see each other and put some a lot of people’s faces to the voices that we’re seeing on Clubhouse or the faces that we see on like Facebook or whatever. And then the other week we’re meeting on Clubhouse, but this one’s a little bit unique. It’s where someone from the community is leading the discussion and the topics. And so we’ve been experimenting with Clubhouse quite a bit. So been having fun there. But now this is more of a focus type of community group. It’s more it’s very similar to our local meet ups here in the Bay Area, like the San Francisco Podcasters Association. That’s how it’s really starting to feel where folks are building relationships and really coming there with the intention of helping each other. Of course, not all of them are SquadCast customers, but certainly fans of SquadCast. And we’re grateful either way. And, you know, a lot of it is going to touch on remote content production topics. But, of course, you know, we’re talking about all things podcasting. And actually, you were just on one of the recent Zoom calls. It was more of like a product focus of the developer team came on board. What was that like? [00:15:20][147.5]

Zach: [00:15:21] Yeah. Yeah, exactly. The engineering team was eager to share some of the recent developments that are landing in this next update that I mentioned and questions from the community and thought, wait, let’s just establish a conversation and do some screen share, ask some deeper questions, get some feedback about kind of some choices that that we we have going into the product. And if you’re if you’re into that, you know, that was just kind of a first step. But we also have a growing beta community within that is kind of early access to some of the things that we’re building so so we can gain feedback and insights and continue to use that to drive our product forward and new designs, new experiences and lots of cool things. So if you’re into that, that’s another reason to come and check out the the SquadPod community, as well as those conversations where you can talk to us, talk to Arielle, talk to the team and and really have a kind of a front row seat to the work that’s going on. [00:16:22][61.3]

Rock: [00:16:23] Yeah, it’s just to make a better experience for everybody, whether you’re a customer or not. Like, we just really love podcasting, podcasters, content creators of all sorts, but especially podcasters. And, you know, it’s all about just continuing to make them feel supported. And as much as we you know, podcasting has a lot of collaboration in it. But as as we talk about on this show, Zach, like there’s a loneliness that comes with it, too. And so that’s why I think podcasters especially are yearning for community. But it seems like really the world is now, I think, you know, has been, you know, such a buzz word lately, but it’s been a core competency of podcasts or SquadCast, rather, from from the get go. And I think we were just following some of the folks that we look up to in the podcast community. So I’m really excited to see our our vision and our, you know, just how much we love the podcast community and want to continue to give back how Arielle is really running with it and really improving it in ways that we would have would have never thought. You know, I think our hearts and minds were in the right places, but, you know, someone like her is really taking it to the next level. And so it’s starting to really show what this SquadPod community. And I’m super excited about it because, you know, I mean, we’ve tried a lot of things and it’s not all of it has worked out. Some of it has been good. Some of it has been not so good. And I but I don’t think we have a great yet. And this might be great. [00:17:45][82.4]

Zach: [00:17:46] So if that sounds interesting to you. Yeah, like Rock said, there’s links in the show notes, newsletter, all of those things. It’s it’s an exciting time to be, you know, a voice in that in the community that that we’re working to build. And yeah, there’s like people listening to each other’s episodes and giving very detailed feedback and, you know, more technical things like strategy. There’s a lot of really great conversations going on in there. And it’s you know, it’s it’s frankly inspiring. Having recently started a new podcast, I’m like, oh, I, I need to do that with my show notes or I should get my website, you know, in better shape and, you know, using those conversations to really assess like, oh, what should the next, like, webinar that we put together be about? And, you know, if getting people featured on Instagram or our newsletter and a bunch of different cool things that that are that are ways to participate and engage with the other podcasters, creating content remotely. [00:18:41][55.5]

[00:18:42] All right. Well, anything else you wanted to cover? [00:18:45][2.7]

Rock: [00:18:46] No. I think, you know, we’ll keep you posted what’s going on. This has just been a quick update of what’s going on in the world of SquadCast and what we’re looking forward to, what we’re thinkin. And, you know, really thank you for checking out this episode. And we’ll be back for more updates and more news what’s going on with us. [00:19:03][17.4]

[00:19:09] Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of Between Two Mics. [00:19:12][2.8]

Zach: [00:19:13] We hope you enjoyed our conversation. If you learned something or we intrigued you a bit, let us know on social media. [00:19:19][6.0]

Rock: [00:19:20] You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn by searching for SquadCast FM. [00:19:26][5.5]

Zach: [00:19:27] And if you want to show the podcast some love, you can leave us a rating or review wherever it is you’re listening right now. [00:19:32][5.5]

Rock: [00:19:33] This show is put together by us, Zach and Rock. It’s mixed and produced by Vince Moreno with help from Arielle Nissenblatt. Our logo is designed by Alex Whedbee. [00:19:42][9.3]

Zach: [00:19:43] Since we’re a podcast about podcasts, we want to shout out the brands and products that we trust. We’re recording using SquadCast.FM and here’s our current stack. For recording, we’re using ATR2100 Mics, Apple AirPods Max headphones, and FocusRite Scarlett 2i2 audio interfaces. [00:20:03][19.6]

Rock: [00:20:04] We edit the show on Adobe Audition in our hosting site is Simplecast. [00:20:07][3.4]

Zach: [00:20:08] That’s it for us this week. We’re back next week with more from between these mics. [00:20:08][0.0]

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