Zach Moreno, our co-founders and CEO, is officially back from family leave. After spending six weeks welcoming his son into the world, he’s returned to the virtual office.

In this episode, Rock Felder, our CFO and co-founder, welcomes him back. The two discuss how Zach spent his time off, what happened while he was gone, and what he’s excited to dive back into.

Tune in to find out:

  • What book did Zach read to his son?
  • Has Zach’s son listened to a podcast yet?
  • What happened when our DNS server went down?
  • What’s on the agenda for SquadCast v5?
  • And MUCH more

Extras

Our podcast stack

  • ATR 2100 Mics
  • Apple AirPods Max Headphones
  • Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interfaces
  • Adobe Audition
  • Buzzsprout

Episode Transcriptions

Lisa and Agnes: [00:00:00] Hey there, I’m Lisa and I’m Agnes, and together we are Sass and Sips, a watch, re-watch podcast where we’ll be discussing TV shows from two perspectives, one who has seen the show before and one who’s not so sure, while we drink a lot. I me like a lot. A lot. We hope that you will come over and check us out. We can be found on your favorite podcast platform or at sass and sips dotcom. Listen with your bestie, open your favorite bottle and sip and sass with sass and sips. OK, let’s get to this week’s episode of Between Two Mics. [00:00:39][39.3]

Zach Moreno: [00:00:42] Welcome to Between Two Mics, the podcast that brings you remote recording resources from SquadCast. Dot FM. [00:00:48][6.4]

Rock Felder: [00:00:50] I’m Rock Felder, co-founder and CFO of SquadCast. [00:00:53][2.6]

Zach Moreno: [00:00:54] And I’m Zach Moreno, co-founder and CEO. [00:00:56][2.3]

Rock Felder: [00:00:58] 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. [00:01:06][8.5]

Zach Moreno: [00:01:07] 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. [00:01:18][11.0]

Rock Felder: [00:01:19] 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. [00:01:31][12.2]

Zach Moreno: [00:01:32] 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. [00:01:42][9.2]

Rock Felder: [00:01:42] So let’s get Between Two Mics. Hello, Zach, welcome back, man. [00:01:50][7.9]

Zach Moreno: [00:01:51] What’s up, Rock? Thank you. It’s good to be back, but yeah, six weeks is definitely the longest I’ve been away since we since we started this journey and company and helping podcasters. So, yeah, that was really awesome, you know, to welcome our first child to Earth and yeah. [00:02:09][18.4]

Rock Felder: [00:02:10] Welcome. [00:02:10][0.0]

Zach Moreno: [00:02:10] Spent a good amount of time, spent a good amount of time getting his life started. [00:02:14][4.1]

Rock Felder: [00:02:15] How much were you actually able to break away? Of course, you know, you you were technically off, work continues. And of course, you know, we knew that there was some point where you’d be you were going to completely be off the grid. Right. But like, I don’t know. Do you feel like you got a little time away? A little R and R little unplugged, as they say? [00:02:36][20.8]

Zach Moreno: [00:02:37] It’s like a spectrum of of unplugged am I because. Yeah, you’re you’re totally right. And we’re also a remote company and I’ve gotten very good at working async. So, you know, the majority of when I say I was away or off is like not being in meetings, not being like in real time conversations. [00:02:58][21.6]

Rock Felder: [00:02:59] That’s sounds like a vacation to me, quite honestly. [00:03:01][1.7]

Zach Moreno: [00:03:01] Exactly. [00:03:01][0.0]

Rock Felder: [00:03:02] Like a day without meetings is kind of like, yeah, it’s what the weekends for. I still work on the weekends. Right. But like no meetings makes it a different kind of workflow, so. [00:03:10][7.9]

Zach Moreno: [00:03:10] That’s what I mean. That’s somewhere, that’s somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. So I think I was somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. I did I was able to do quite a lot async while Sagan. Babies sleep a lot. So I was able to get have some conversations async. There was one point where our our DNS provider started really getting. [00:03:31][21.2]

Rock Felder: [00:03:32] Oh! [00:03:32][0.0]

Zach Moreno: [00:03:33] Getting in our way. [00:03:34][0.6]

Rock Felder: [00:03:34] What and what a headache. [00:03:35][1.1]

Zach Moreno: [00:03:36] Yeah. Thanks a lot. You know, face-less DNS provider. [00:03:39][3.3]

Rock Felder: [00:03:40] You can say DNS gods. [00:03:40][0.3]

Zach Moreno: [00:03:44] Yeah. I mean WERD had worked perfectly for five years and then you know all of a sudden started acting weird. So that was something we made pretty quick work of and made sure, you know, there’s no interruptions regionally or whatever. [00:04:01][16.2]

Rock Felder: [00:04:02] And that required you to hop in a little bit more. [00:04:04][1.9]

Zach Moreno: [00:04:04] Right. [00:04:04][0.0]

Rock Felder: [00:04:05] Than you wanted to or expected, right?[00:04:06][1.1]

Zach Moreno: [00:04:07] Well, DNS is one of those things like sorry, this is getting a little nerdy, but it’s like it’s one of those things where you set it up in the beginning, five years ago, let’s say. And you don’t really need to touch it because that it’s the connections there. We have infrastructure, you know, in place, tools in place to allow us to to update without needing to touch our DNS, thankfully. So it was one of those things where, like nobody on our engineering team, nobody on our team had ever touched the DNS because I set it up when it was just us. So that was something that thankfully, you know, our community within Tiny Seed, there’s some experts there on the topic of of domain name servers. So it was able to get up pretty quick, pretty quick path forward and worked out. So that was really the only time I got pulled in and Becca had my back, thankfully, and the yeah, everything was cool with the kiddo while I made that happen. [00:05:02][55.0]

Rock Felder: [00:05:02] Well, yeah, I was a headache. And I think, you know, even though maybe not everybody knows what a DNS is, I certainly didn’t before this fiasco. But I think we can all at least relate to, you know, that set it and forget it type of thing where the things we take for granted, you know, it’s always worked. It’s never been a problem. You set it up from the very beginning, but it just wasn’t like a terrible thing to have happen. It wasn’t like the app or anything was in bad shape, but it just had this like it was a bad look. When you go into log into SquadCast and it says there’s a DNS issue and people like, what the hell’s a DNS issue? Yeah. Oh, my gosh, something’s wrong, you know? And it’s like, oh, let’s fix this. And so luckily, it was a quick situation. But yeah, I think we can all relate to that kind of stuff. And I am grateful for you jumping in there because it was kind of one of those situations where it’s like we got to figure this out. We had to figure this out quickly and move on. And now happy, happy days are ahead. But, you know, one of the things you are good at besides working async, and I think you, from my experience working with you at SquadCast, you’ve been really good at finding ways to work, like fit work in wherever you can. You know, this work osmosis, you’ve been really good at that. Like, you know, if you have an hour on the train, boom, you find a way to be very productive and get work in or, you know, waiting between a flight on the airport or just always really good about that. And that’s really something that’s inspired me to get better at it. And I imagine, though, that those times are only going to become more necessary with you balancing fatherhood along with all the other things that you’ve got going on. So I imagine that came into play a lot in this time off when there was times where you need to flip open the old laptop, right? [00:06:41][98.3]

Zach Moreno: [00:06:41] Yeah, it kind of really requires context switching skills, which I have gotten better at it, but I would not say that I’m good at it to be able to yeah, just kind of pop in, pop out kind of thing and try to have, you know, an impact that’s helpful. So that’s where, you know, I like the engineering team got like I think like two updates out while I was away, didn’t contribute anything there other than just kind of review thumbs up. Looks good. How about this? And that’s really great, especially as we we round out our our V4. We’re approaching V4 nine. By the time you’re listening to this, that’s probably already, already landed. And that’s exciting because we’re kind of turning a corner for V.5, so we’re gearing up for that. And yeah, exciting times to to look forward to. And we can well tease you for now, but we can unpack that a little bit later. What what all. [00:07:35][53.9]

Rock Felder: [00:07:35] Yeah, yeah. Stop talking about work. This is your this is Welcome Back episode. Stop talking about work. [00:07:40][4.3]

Zach Moreno: [00:07:41] Well, it’s cool. You know, like I used to be involved with every every engineering update to on a granular degree and good point. Have to have multiple ship. You know, I’m proud of the team and and the work you’ve been doing with the team to highlight their work is really awesome on this podcast. So that’s. Yeah, that’s fun. That was me to listen to. [00:07:59][18.5]

Rock Felder: [00:08:01] Yeah. You’re a listener now, in addition to a creator of Between Two Mics, that’s that’s extra cool. [00:08:06][5.1]

Zach Moreno: [00:08:07] Definitely. [00:08:07][0.0]

Arielle: [00:08:09] Hey, this is Arielle, SquadCast’s, community manager and host of Feedback with EarBuds the podcast recorded on SquadCast. We’re going to take a quick break, but we’ll be back with more from Between Two Mics. [00:08:19][9.9]

Rock Felder: [00:08:21] Hey, SquadCasters, Rock poppin in here to let you know about SquadCast, V4.8. It’s the latest software update of SquadCast and we’re super pumped to tell you about it. So if you’re listening to this podcast, you already know that SquadCast is the best way to record your podcast remotely in studio quality. Well, now it just got even better. So v4.8 comes with an improved green room experience, a Dropbox integration, and audio mastering, plus improvements to the already existing SquadCast that you know and love. If you’re already a SquadCaster, then V4.8 has been automatically updated in your account. If you’re not a SquadCaster and want to become one, you can grab your seven day free trial at SquadCast.fm. You can choose an audio only plan or spring for audio and video to really create some professional level content. Again, head over to SquadCast dot FM to grab that free trial for newbies. It’s seven days. And if you’re already subscribing to Squad Cast try on 4.8 and let us know what you think. We’re super grateful to our wonderful engineers for their hard work on the latest iteration of SquadCast and we hope you enjoy. Now let’s get back to the interview. [00:09:33][72.4]

Rock Felder: [00:09:34] So one of the reasons why I wanted to focus on focus on non-work related things, and I want to know, like, how was your break? Obviously, we know it was largely focused on becoming a father and, you know, starting this new journey of yours. But what what else did you do? My time away, what I like the most about it, even though what I think about I look forward to is like being lazy. But oftentimes what I actually the benefits I get is like just that space and time to, like, think without having to jump in and out of meetings, without having to context switch and play these different roles that, you know, you and I have been playing for the last few years here, which is a lot of energy at the end of the day. Like that’s one of the things that I’ve been finding really interesting is sometimes I have more time than energy because of all the different roles and hats we need to wear and performances we need to give. So, yeah, time off like to just think and and kind of marinate on things a little bit. That sounds pretty nice. Did you do any stuff like that or anything else besides raising young Sagan? [00:10:38][63.7]

Zach Moreno: [00:10:39] Yeah. Yeah. Lots of time to think about the company for sure, but about like him and my wife and I and our life and kind of the big picture of where we’re going together. And yeah, it’s just really exciting chapter to kind of close and, and open and the Yeah. The, the space to think about, you know, I haven’t thought about other opportunities or side projects or creative work outside of SquadCast for a long time. So I started drawing again at the recommendation of my nutritionists. So thank you, Naya. [00:11:07][28.1]

Rock Felder: [00:11:07] There we go. This is what I want to talk about.[00:11:08][1.4]

Zach Moreno: [00:11:09] Yeah, that’s really cool because software engineering and design is typically my creative outlet, podcasting for sure. I do have creative outlets, but I think like my roots are in visual arts and in drawing and and sculpture and a number of different things. So that was really nice. And just time to think about all the possibilities and opportunities of where we’re at. [00:11:31][22.2]

Rock Felder: [00:11:33] Physical? Digital art? [00:11:33][0.0]

Zach Moreno: [00:11:35] I haven’t listed any NFTs yet. Now I’ve considered it. But yeah, unfortunately, if you’re if you’re a fan of the crypto art podcast, the crypto art show, we’re on hold right now. So check that out. There’s a couple episodes that are really good, but we’re finding I’m finding I’m figuring out a way to keep it going and and keep that journey moving. So, yeah, that’s one of the things that I want to do is, is to actually mint some NFTs and publish those and see what happens. It’s very exciting times for that. I didn’t do much digital. I do draw on my iPad occasionally, but usually that’s work related stuff. And now what I primarily get a kick out of my work SquadCast is helping, helping other people express their creativity. That’s how we express our creativity. So, you know, I love that. And then, yeah, also, just like we’re contributors to the tiny seed accelerator that we’re a part of. So getting to know those founders more and collaborating with them, they have a new batch and new, exciting things going on. And then just kind of been recapping and reviewing all the things that have happened in SquadCast while I was away. And I was like super stoked to see that the the Aftershock podcast is recording on SquadCast. So that’s super rad. The updates with Dropbox and new experience joining and bunch of stuff. So yeah, I’m like thinking about all that and of course, like where we’re where we’re headed, resisting the temptation to talk more about V5. But yeah, that’s, that’s where I’m at. [00:12:59][84.2]

Rock Felder: [00:12:59] I want to go back to painting. Yeah. You keep going back to work. It’s, it’s driving me nuts. I want to. This is great. What else did you do? Like did you do some reading. Like what the hell did you, man? [00:13:11][12.5]

Zach Moreno: [00:13:12] Yeah. So I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull to Sagan so that was cool. I’ve been reading a lot of kids books and like. Saying like, oh, I should publish a kid’s book, this is easy. I’m sure it’s not easy, so it takes a lot of time to to be around the kiddo. So I think it’s mostly that, you know, space to think and just kind of considering where where our lives are are going. And, yeah, reading some some things along those lines. Caught up on some podcasts. [00:13:40][28.1]

Rock Felder: [00:13:41] Did you play for Sagan? [00:13:42][0.8]

Zach Moreno: [00:13:43] I listen to the episodes. No, he’s not listened to a podcast yet. That’s actually something I should make happen. I know I listen to a lot of the episodes on Between Two Mics with the team. I think I listen to an episode of The Build Your Saas, the Transistor Founder’s podcast. That was cool. I listened to Rob on startups for the rest of us. The Arielle and Shira episode was was really good. Also listen to some music. And then more recently, you and I were able to attend a live show in San Francisco with the Follow Friday’s podcast interviewed Kara Swisher. [00:14:16][33.1]

Rock Felder: [00:14:17] Yeah, my girl. [00:14:18][0.9]

Zach Moreno: [00:14:18] And that was really awesome to see that production live. And very interesting format in a way that they they put those interviews together. So, yeah, that was that was really awesome. At Manny’s in San Francisco, you know, Lex Fridman podcast, Boring Nerd Stuff. Watch some rocket launches, the usj. [00:14:34][16.1]

Rock Felder: [00:14:34] Good, good, good. Was there anything that, like, you were itching to get back to? Was there? Yeah. On the same token, I said is as much as, you know, vacation unplugging sounds appealing. Another thing I know about myself is after the third day, I’m kind of like, OK, back to work now. That’s all I need, you know, which is cool. But yeah, anything like that after six week? [00:14:54][19.5]

Zach Moreno: [00:14:55] Oh, yea. I have a list. I had a list and I was like resisting the urge to like jump in and do some of that stuff because that’s the kind of person I am, is like stuff doesn’t like sit on my list. Like if it’s on my list it’s like about to get done. Right. So that’s where I [00:15:13][18.0]

Rock Felder: [00:15:14] That list is getting destroyed. Right. Right. [00:15:16][1.3]

Zach Moreno: [00:15:16] It’s a temporary. [00:15:16][0.3]

Rock Felder: [00:15:16] That’s how my lists work. [00:15:16][0.0]

Zach Moreno: [00:15:20] Temporary cache. Yeah. Exactly. Yes. Because I can’t keep everything in my head. Just the timing of things. Right. I wasn’t able to attend podcast movement in Nashville, but the team represented and did a great job, I hear. And then because I wasn’t there, just based on all the feedback and stuff I was hearing from the team, spurred some ideas, products, stuff, ways that we can update our roadmap with new opportunities. And then also we launched our API and Web hooks and Zappier integration a few days before Becca went into labor and Sagan came. So that was something that I wanted to do more with, like talk about on our website, talk about on social media. And since I’ve been out, there have been more integration’s added because now we have this API. There’s other companies adding integrations with with our stuff. And it’s like, man, that really needs to come together because the list is growing in a really awesome way. So, yeah, there’s even some more that all I’ll keep you in suspense on for now. [00:16:17][56.3]

Rock Felder: [00:16:18] Oh, go there. I got my fix. I got to hear what you did. I’m glad you had time off. I’m happy to have you back. Go for it. Tell us what’s coming, Zach. [00:16:26][8.3]

Zach Moreno: [00:16:28] Well, the Camo app where you can record video or use your video as a as a webcam, they added an integration to officially support SquadCast. So thank you to the team at camo. Check that out. Most people’s phones have the best camera that they probably have within reach. So that’s a really awesome collaboration. We have Dropbox, right? We have Zappier. We have I mentioned the rest API and the Web hooks. More to come. Really, really excited for the integrations that we’re going to keep rolling out throughout the year. [00:17:00][32.1]

Rock Felder: [00:17:01] Like I said, it’s great to have you back. I certainly missed you. It was fun to take this show in a different direction without you. But, yeah, it’s not it’s certainly not the same. So welcome back. And it’s been exciting to. [00:17:12][11.6]

Zach Moreno: [00:17:13] Thank you. [00:17:13][0.3]

Rock Felder: [00:17:14] Still keep in touch with you. Obviously, this is the first time we’ve we’ve talked since since you’ve been out. But it is.. [00:17:19][5.4]

Zach Moreno: [00:17:20] Well, thank you, because you’re largely the reason, you know, I felt confident in stepping away and, you know, being seen co-founders. Just thank you to the whole SquadCast team. But you especially, I think, is what gave me the confidence to to step away, that being the first time. So I owe you a big one for that. [00:17:38][17.3]

Rock Felder: [00:17:39] I’ll figure out a way for you to repay me, I’m sure. But I do appreciate it. [00:17:43][3.4]

Zach Moreno: [00:17:43] Deal. [00:17:43][0.0]

Rock Felder: [00:17:44] Well, I’ll let you close it, Zach. So since you’re back, no better time than now to get back into the swing, get things and get that podcaster voice sharp. [00:17:51][6.9]

Zach Moreno: [00:17:52] Thanks, everyone, for listening. This has been another episode of Between Two Mics. We have we have an interview up next. And and then Rock and I will be out back again in about two weeks. So thanks everybody for listening. Have a great day. [00:18:03][11.8]

Rock Felder: [00:18:07] Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of Between Two Mics. [00:18:09][2.8]

Zach Moreno: [00:18:10] We hope you enjoyed our conversation. If you learn something or are we intrigued you a bit, let us know on social media.[00:18:16][5.9]

Rock Felder: [00:18:17] You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn by searching for SquadCast fm. [00:18:23][5.5]

Zach Moreno: [00:18:24] 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. [00:18:29][5.5]

Rock Felder: [00:18:30] 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, [00:18:40][9.3]

Zach Moreno: [00:18:41] Since we’re a podcast about a podcasts, we want to shout out the brands and products that we trust. We’re recording using SquadCast dot FM. And here’s our current stack. For recording: we’re using ATR2100 Mics, Apple AirPods Max headphones, and focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interfaces. [00:19:00][19.2]

Rock Felder: [00:19:01] We edit the show on Adobe Audition and our hosting site is Simple Cast. [00:19:05][3.4]

Zach Moreno: [00:19:06] That’s it for us this week. We’re back next week with more from between these mics. [00:19:06][0.0]