100 Episodes and Counting - The Reason We Are Still Here
This week, the company I co-founded just over a year and a half ago reached a major milestone: we recorded and released the 100th episode of Epicenter Bitcoin (don’t let the episode numbers fool you, some of our early conference content didn’t have numbers). Some might look at 100 as just an arbitrary number, but let’s pretend that it’s significant.
When we started Epicenter Bitcoin back in early 2014, it definitely felt like more of a hobby, or side-project at best, than anything that should be labeled as ‘serious’. Brian (my co-founder) and I had never met in person and we knew nothing about producing podcasts. I had little knowledge about Bitcoin and was still working as a full-time project manager in a digital agency. We recorded and produced episodes on nights and weekends.
Looking back on those times, the furthest thing from our minds was settings goals on how many episodes we should release. I’ve come to realize that when you produce content which is regularly consumed (like a podcast), a big part of what keeps you going is the next episode. Those who have seen 6 Days to Air, the documentary film about how the South Park production team churns out new episodes in just 6 days, may get a better understanding of what I mean.
Very early on, even when we had barely any downloads, we felt strongly committed to our audience. I’m reminded of one occurrence when we put out an episode the day after our regular release schedule, and feeling like I was breaking an important commitment. I doubt anyone even noticed. As our audience grew and we got to know and meet some of our listeners, that feeling of responsibility towards them only got stronger. Because of this, we felt obliged to produce and release only the best quality content. There are countless hours of conference content we’ve never released simply because we felt some listeners would think it was bad. And don’t get me started on audio! I can’t tell you how frustrated Brian and I would get over bad audio, sometimes wondering if we should release a perfectly good interview because of a low quality recording.
What it all boils down to is our audience. The people who tune in every week, leave comments YouTube and our website, tweet our shows, engage in debate on Reddit posts, and to whom we speak on Skype and at events, are the reason we keep releasing shows every Monday. Period.
If that wasn’t enough, we work with an amazing and dedicated team of talented individuals. Ones who make it an absolute joy to keep doing what we do, and without whom, we probably would have dropped off the Bitcoin podcast scene a long time ago. Vedran, Connie, Siân, and Shinoj: working alongside you guys and gal is a real honor and I look forward to what we can create together in the future.
And to top it all off, the motivation is only amplified by the amazing support we continually receive from our friends and family, industry peers, and sponsors.
So here’s to 100 episodes! We will continue to work hard to bring you captivating conversations with the brightest minds in the Bitcoin space. We hope you will still be with us for our 200th episode.
Since I’m a poor sucker for nostalgia, I’ll leave you with this early email exchange between Brian, Adam B. Levine and myself. It dates back to December 2013, when Brian and I entered the Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network contest with our pilot episode. As you will see, we were as excited about the show then as we are now.
From: Sebastien Couture
To: Adam B. Levine
Hello Adam,
I hope your travels are going well.
I just wanted to let you know that Brian and I got a chance to talk last night and realized we have very similar views and goals with regards to launching a new podcast about cryptocurrencies. So I’m happy to announce we will be collaborating for the pilot contest!
Best regards,
Sébastien
From: Sebastien Couture
To: Adam B. Levine
CC: Brian Fabian Crain
Hi Adam,
Hope you’re having a good week. I just wanted confirm you received our podcast pilot, which I uploaded to SoundCloud about 12 hours ago.
Best regards,
Sebastien
From: Adam B. Levine
To: Sebastien Couture, Brian Fabian Crain
Yes! Regardless of the contest, let’s develop this show further.
From: Sebastien Couture
To: Brian Fabian Crain
Date: December 20, 2013
From: Brian Fabian Crain
To: Sebastien Couture
Excellent!
