May 11, 2026 • 28 mins
Community, feedback, grants and support for indie podcasters.
Remi Roy, creator of The Driven Introvert Podcast and founder of PodGround, shares her journey from a self-taught podcaster recording in a library to building a supportive community for independent creators. The discussion explores the common 'shouting into the void' feeling and how PodGround’s micro-grants and structured resources aim to lower the dropout rate for new shows.
Plus, Sam explains how the new TrueFans co-listen and chat feature helps break the isolation of the 'independent silo'.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Claire Waite Brown (00:00):
Foreign.
Remi Roy (00:06):
I bet there are other people like me who love podcasting, but somehow are discouraged by it because it just feels like it's too hard to actually get any sort of traction, to get people to pay attention, to get it to work the way you want it to. I thought the space for some sort of support for independent podcasters. This way, if you are a celebrity and you have a built in audience and it's like, whatever, you're good, you're fine, whatever. But if you're an independent podcaster and you're trying to, especially if you're doing everything on your own, you have so many questions, you need feedback, and if you don't get that feedback, it's like you're in a silo. You don't know what's working, you don't know what's not, but you're pushing through and it can be discouraging after a while.
Sam Sethi (00:49):
Maybe somebody wants to listen to this podcast with one of their friends and go, gosh, that's Sam Sethii's talking rubbish as usual again. Or we love Claire and you might even join them in the chat. You might just, you know, jump in on the same chat while they're listening as well.
Claire Waite Brown (01:05):
Welcome to Creators from TrueFans. I'm Claire Waite Brown, Head of Community at TrueFans.
Sam Sethi (01:11):
And I'm Sam Sethi, the CEO of TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (01:14):
Download the TrueFans app to not only listen to podcasts from around the world, but interact with their creators and start paying the shows you value.
Sam Sethi (01:22):
Click on the big purple Become a Fan button to be notified or emailed when new episodes of this podcast are released.
Claire Waite Brown (01:29):
And follow @TrueFans.fm on Instagram or Threads to be kept up to date on all the latest TrueFans features designed to improve discovery, interactivity and monetization opportunities for podcasts and their creators.
Sam Sethi (01:46):
Hi, Claire.
Claire Waite Brown (01:47):
Hi, Sam. How are you doing?
Sam Sethi (01:48):
Good, I think. Claire, who are we featuring on this week's episode?
Claire Waite Brown (01:53):
We are featuring Remi Roy, who is creator of the podcast The Driven Introvert, but also the founder of a support mechanism for new and newish podcasters called PodGround. I'm chatting today with Remi Roy. Hi, Remi, how are you?
Remi Roy (02:12):
Hi, Claire. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.
Claire Waite Brown (02:15):
You're very welcome. Now, you are a podcaster, but you have also started a venture aimed at supporting independent podcasters. So tell me a little bit about your podcast first and then I'll grill you more about PodGround after that.
Remi Roy (02:33):
Okay? So my name is Remi Roy. I am the host of the Driven Introvert podcast. I'm an introvert, a huge one. And the whole idea is to provide sort of inspiration for people who find themselves with dreams or passions or ideas that require them to be on, so to speak, to show up, you know, to be confident, to be bold, to be courageous. But because they are introverts, they have sort of believed that that's not the kind of person I am. I'm not the kind of person that wants to be out there doing all of that. So it's just a sort of place to come, to be encouraged, but also fired up so that you can go after your big dreams and hopes and all of the things that we all dream about or we sometimes never take action on. So that's really what I'm passionate about, because that's sort of a huge part of my story, is I grew up very introverted and believing that there's some things I cannot do. But over the years, I have grown a lot and stretched myself in ways that I never thought possible. And I am enjoying being in a place where I can stare down, like, big dreams and say, yeah, I can do that. And I don't have to be the loudest person in the room to do that. So that's why I'm excited about my
Claire Waite Brown (03:50):
podcast, talking of big ideas and doing big things. What about PodGround?
Remi Roy (03:56):
Oh, my gosh, yes. I'll just kind of tell you a bit of how I got there, and I'll tell you what it is. It was born out of my experience as a podcaster the first time around. And I think. And I haven't talked to a lot of people, a lot of independent podcasts, I feel like a lot of people fall into this category. So I started my first podcast in 2016. I was very excited about it. I was very passionate about it, and it was exciting for me because, like I said, as an introvert, I figured out that I love to talk about certain things. And for me to be able to use my voice in that way and be creative and help other people, you know, and inspire and whatever, it just felt very gratifying and satisfying for me and very purposeful, so to speak. So I started to do the podcast, but I quickly realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know how to make it work okay. I knew how to produce the thing. We didn't have all the fancy tools and everything, you know, like we have right now. I remember I would record in my local library because I didn't have any tools at home, and I had fun doing it, but I didn't know how to make it work. I didn't know anything about distribution. I didn't know how to get people to listen to it. So after a while, I felt like, oh, gosh, I love this thing so much, but I don't know how to make it work. And it was discouraging. So I stopped. But I kept thinking about it. I'm like, I want to come back to it someday, but I want to figure out. I want to really know what I'm doing. So 2024, when I kind of came back to it, I got help. You know, I figured out how to get into, like, a community of all the people who were podcasting. And that really helped me figure, okay, this is how this works. And I need to sort of manage my expectations, right, and figure out what I'm trying to say, who I'm talking to. So it helped this time because I was able to narrow down and like, okay, I wanna talk to introverts. I wanna provide this and that based on my experience and provide frameworks around how to think about pursuing goals and ideas and dreams and all of that. So essentially, when I was thinking about my whole experience, that's when I got the idea for. I bet there are other people like me who love podcasting, but somehow I discouraged by it because it just feels like it's too hard to actually get any sort of traction, to get people to pay attention, to get it to work the way you want it to. I thought there's space for some sort of support for independent podcasters this way. So I started thinking about what that could look like, and that's how essentially PodGround was born. And because when it comes to communities online, my experience hasn't been especially great with what's available. And most of them are social media platforms like the Facebook groups and all of that. They're great, but I wish it was better structured for what podcasters really need and for the way it'll be easy for us to connect, find each other, find shows, support one another, and all of that. So that's why I decided to build PodGround. So essentially, PodGround is a platform for independent podcasters to provide community resources, support, and funding now so that they can keep creating. I'm sure you're very much aware of that statistic. There are different versions of it, but, like, over 90% of podcasters give up before the one year mark, and a lot of them don't even do more than three, 10 episodes, you know, and it's over and I'm like, why that shouldn't be the case. I mean, it happened to me, but I found a way to come back to it with more experience and perspective that helps me keep going now. And that's essentially what I want to provide for other independent podcasters through PodGround. So what that looks like is we have the platform itself where people can log in and connect and talk to each other, DM each other, listen to their shows on there. And this is a side note, but I would go on Facebook and I will see someone post about a show. I'm like, this is interesting now. I want to check it out, but I wouldn't find a link. I will go to their profile. I don't find a link and I'm now searching and I see like, I don't know, three or four other podcasts with the same name. I'm like, which one is yours? You know? So right now, inside a podgrad, you have your profile, you have your episodes on there. It's easy to figure out, okay, who I'm talking to, what their podcast is like, and it's great for, if you want to, I don't know, collaborate with someone, you can check out their shows right there and all of that. So apart from the platform itself, we have events and meetups, workshops and all of that. And we also have the grant, which is quarterly and yeah, I guess we're going to talk about that too. Yeah.
Claire Waite Brown (08:21):
How do you see people best using it? When somebody's coming for the first time or they're coming on more regular basis, what do you hope they'll be doing there?
Remi Roy (08:34):
I hope that they are able to ask questions because the truth is, especially for newer podcasters, there are lots of questions. I hope they're able to share whatever might be thorny for them as they navigate their podcasting journey. I hope they don't try to do it alone and understand that this is a community where they can be open about their struggles and where they can get ideas for their shows. If you are a celebrity and you have a built in audience and it's like, whatever, you're good, you're fine, whatever. But if you're an independent podcaster and you're trying to, especially if you're doing everything on your own, you have so many questions, you need feedback and if you don't get that feedback, it's like you're in a silo. You don't know what's working, you don't know what's not, but you're pushing through and it can Be discouraging after a while, but being able to get feedback from your peers to say, oh, this is what I'm doing. It sparks something in you. Like, okay, I could try that, I could do that. Also, we have resources in there. We have videos and workshops and trainings that we've done that you can kind of go through to help you figure things out. One big one, at the last cycle of the grant, we focused on SEO and a lot of people found that helpful. So we're trying to provide those kinds of information and you don't have to pay through your nose to get this information so that it can help your show, help you get found, help you figure things out, how things work and all of that.
Claire Waite Brown (09:56):
So.
Remi Roy (09:56):
And also they can join, like I said, the meetups and these are great because most times you're an independent podcast here. You're doing it in, I don't know, in your closet, in the local library, like me or whatever. You're by yourself. But if you come here, you're able to talk to other people and connect beyond just scrolling in a feed with, you know, thousands of people in a Facebook group and you never feel that connection. We do that in smaller groups, so it's easy for people to connect and, you know, be encouraged and keep going.
Claire Waite Brown (10:24):
Yeah, brilliant. Is PodGround a paid for application?
Remi Roy (10:29):
PodGround has a free tier, so it's open to everyone. If you want to upgrade to the membership pro, you can do that. And then we have more like cohorts and things around that for podcasters who want more connection and support and just accountability as they go through their podcasting journey. That's available too? Yes.
Claire Waite Brown (10:48):
Oh, brilliant. Tell me about the grant and about the application process.
Remi Roy (10:54):
The grant is for podcasters who have been podcasting for three years or less. You have to already have launched your podcast, but as long as you have a podcast and you've been podcasting for less than three years, it is open. The applications will start this next quarter in May, May 4, and it will end on 15. So you have two weeks to put in your application. So the way the application works is it's simple, it's just a form that you fill out and we ask you some just very simple but specific questions about your podcast, obviously what your podcast is, the link and all of that. But we want to know about your goals for your podcast and we want to know that you've thought about it properly and you're working towards those goals, the quality of your content. We're going to be looking at that and also how clear your why is. Like, why did you start your podcast? And is that obvious? When a judge is listening to your show, do they feel like, oh, yeah, I get it. All of this comes together, this makes sense, and that's it. It'll be in the hands of our judges, who are amazing, and we're so grateful that they're able to do this. And yeah. Which is a winner.
Claire Waite Brown (11:57):
Lovely. I will put the details of that in the chapter for this episode and in the show notes. I'm going to move on to your own experiences with your own podcast with PodGround, with the podcasting ecosystem as a whole, and ask you about what one thing frustrates you about it and what one thing really excites you about it.
Remi Roy (12:22):
Oh, my gosh. To be honest, it's just part of the whole reason why I do my podcast. And also PodGround, I think the thing that frustrates me most is that thing where a lot of people just feel overwhelmed, burnt out, and give up on it, because it can feel like nothing is happening. It can feel like you're shouting into the void. And it's very discouraging for a lot of people. And I think there's a bit of a education. But how do you do that? How do you let new people who are coming into this space sort of know how to think about podcasting? Because I feel like you have to have a perspective that makes you resilient and very purposeful to be able to keep podcasting and get whatever it is that you want to get out of it. Because everybody's goals and reasons why you do it is different. Which is part of the reasons why I'm really passionate about PodGround, so that when new people come in, hopefully you can look at these resources, listen to the conversations, be a part of something that kind of gives you an idea what you are getting into. Because I feel like there has to be a mindset of, okay, I want to do this for the long haul. And you don't always get there when you just kind of come into it without really thinking about it. So that frustrates me. And essentially that's why I'm doing something about it, you know, with PodGround. And what excites me is when I find people who actually now the light bulb moment just comes on and they realize, oh, this is what I can do to make this work. Denise, one of the winners of the grant. I mean, talking to her was just such a gratifying experience for me because having just been confused about what exactly am I doing is this working and being able to walk through that confusion and that disillusionment, so to speak, and come to a place where now she knows exactly why she's podcasting. She knows what she's doing with it, who she's talking to, what it means and how she can sustain it. Now, it doesn't mean that it takes away all the difficulties and challenges of podcasting. I feel like a lot of creatives who are in podcasting enjoy the process of, you know, coming up with your thoughts and ideas and putting it together and recording. It's fun and knowing that people are listening to it and enjoying that experience. But how to grow is the thing. How do I get the thing in front of people who I made it for? And it requires a lot of work. It requires a lot of intention, a lot of time and sacrifice because you oblate, you know, trying to create reels and audiograms, whatever it is that you use, and the email lists and the social media and all of it, trying to tweak your SEO. You have to be intentional to be a podcaster. You just have to be. It doesn't take away all the challenges that people experience. But it's amazing for me when I find someone who's like, okay, I was confused about this, but now I get it. A lot of us drift. Even in life and business, we just drift because we're doing everything, because we feel like that's what we're supposed to be doing. But you got to figure out why and what you're doing, and. And that's where the conviction will come. The issue that a lot of people have is, oh, I want to make money from my podcast. If you're coming into podcasting, you want to make money, oh, gosh, I don't know. I'm. I'm sorry for you. That's not the best way to think about it. You can make money based on it, but you have to be strategic about what you're doing. So having people come to that place knowing that, okay, I can do this for whatever my business, or I'm just passionate about it, or for my community, or. Or I can figure out how to sell my products and services, it's such a great feeling for me when I. When I see people kind of able to figure it out that way.
Claire Waite Brown (16:02):
Yeah, I think it's a case of being realistic. Realistic in. In the work, but realistic in what you can actually gain from it, and then to be able to understand what you want to get from it, and then you can enjoy that when that happens. And that doesn't necessarily mean listening to what everybody else says they want from it or they think you should be doing.
Remi Roy (16:24):
Absolutely.
Claire Waite Brown (16:25):
Because you can hear a lot of people telling you what you should be doing, but you really just need to know what you want to be doing and have the conviction in that 100%. I want to move on to Podcasting 2.0. What features of Podcasting 2.0 do you know about? Do you use?
Remi Roy (16:42):
Gosh, I definitely need to do better about this, but the two that. That I have used are the transcripts and the chapters. I don't know a lot about the monetization parts of things, and I know I need to kind of sit down and kind of figure it out. Like, okay, how does this work? And I know that you have a whole thing about that in your podcast, Podcasting 2.0. I should probably go revisit that. But, yeah, those are the ones that I've used, the transcripts and the chapters. But the ones that I'm most curious about because I'm like, how exactly does it work? Is the value for value. That's the monetization. Right.
Claire Waite Brown (17:15):
So since I put that show out in early 2024, as we know, things have changed. Things change all the time.
Remi Roy (17:23):
Yeah.
Claire Waite Brown (17:23):
I think the transcripts and the chapters are the most consistent and the most useful right now for people interacting with your show via the chapters, because they can move between the show or via the transcripts if they need, you know, a bit more processing time with language and things like that. And they're also useful for SEO. So they are the most useful from the money side of things. It. It does come from the listener supporting the creator. And at TrueFans, we've made it as easy as we can by giving you a digital wallet. You can top up that wallet using stripe. So it's not. It's not all the bitcoin.
Remi Roy (18:02):
Oh, I see.
Claire Waite Brown (18:03):
That's all in the background. You can choose whether you see your contributions as fiat currency or as bitcoin. So lots of people will want to use it as fiat.
Remi Roy (18:13):
Oh, I see.
Claire Waite Brown (18:14):
And then the three ways we're looking at are the. That already exists, which is donations, or what are they called? Subscriptions. The Patreon model, that kind of thing. The buy me a coffee model. But yeah, we have that within TrueFans as well. So if you stay in the app, you can be listening to the show and you can click on an icon and donate to that show straight away.
Remi Roy (18:38):
Oh, I see.
Claire Waite Brown (18:39):
We've then got comments. It's just like being on social media. You can listen to an episode, you click on the comment, you can write a comment that anyone that listens to that show will see. You don't have to add a payment to it, but you can add a payment to it. And then the other one we do is streaming, which is you can say for an individual show or for an individual episode, you set a very small amount for every minute you listen to that show and TrueFans just calculates that for you and we're aiming all the time to make it easier and not quite so scary. So that has definitely come on, I think, since I first did that, that podcast.
Remi Roy (19:19):
Oh, that's awesome.
Claire Waite Brown (19:20):
How can people find you as the Driven Introvert and as founder of PodGround?
Remi Roy (19:26):
If you are a podcaster, you should just check out PodGround IO. I'm always in there. I'm also on Instagram, Remi Roy and the Driven Introvert is everywhere you listen to podcasts.
Claire Waite Brown (19:37):
Thank you so much Remi. It's been really fabulous to speak with you.
Remi Roy (19:41):
Oh, thank you Claire. Always wonderful talking to you.
Claire Waite Brown (19:45):
You do still have time to apply for the next round of the PodGround Creators Micro Grant, but as Remi mentioned, it is run quarterly, so if you don't want to rush, then the round after that will be on us before you know it. In the meantime, you can find advice on applying at PodGround.io/grant.
Sam Sethi (20:05):
Sounds great. Now you were on the judging panel for the first PodGround Micro Grant, Claire. Will you be doing the same this time?
Claire Waite Brown (20:14):
I certainly will. So Remi will be sending me some entries to review and as always, I'm looking forward to listening to more fabulous independent podcasts. If you'd like to chat with us about your independent podcast or your music, send a comment or super comment in TrueFans to any Creators episode by clicking on the Speech Bubble icon or on the Comments tab.
Sam Sethi (20:42):
Questions, questions, questions. Claire, what do you want to ask me this week Claire?
Claire Waite Brown (20:45):
Remi talked in that interview about the isolation of indie podcasters, mentioning a phrase I've heard a lot in my chats with fellow creators. That feeling of shouting into the void. TrueFans has commenting and now chat features. How can these help break that silo and provide the feedback loop that creators might be craving in order to keep going?
Sam Sethi (21:10):
So we talk regularly about discovery, interactivity and monetization. So we're looking at interactivity here. And the idea was comments were a couple of years ago, the latest cool thing to do to add to podcasting so you didn't feel like you were shouting into the void. But there was that delayed reaction between recording your podcast, publishing your podcast, getting a comment, and then feeding back. So we've added a co listening chat, the new Netflix and Chill. The idea really is that you can still listen to your favorite podcast, but you can invite two or three friends to join you on TrueFans and you can start chatting away. So maybe somebody wants to listen to this podcast with one of their friends and go, gosh, that Sam Sethi's talking rubbish as usual again. Or we love Claire and you might even join them in the chat. Even though you recorded your own show. You might just, you know, jump in on the same chat while they're listening as well. When we launch our live podcasting, which is coming very soon, the creator will also be in the live chat. So now while you're talking and you're telling the world about what's great about your podcast and the subject, you'll also be able to see who's listening with you live and, and you can also call them into the show, have an interaction with them. So there's lots of things that you can do. Live podcasting really changes the game.
Claire Waite Brown (22:35):
Yeah, I have been to in the past listening parties where oftentimes actually we'll have listened to the show separately and then we'll come together on a call to give feedback or be asked any questions. And this could be good for that, couldn't it?
Sam Sethi (22:50):
Can, and I think over time we will develop it further. I think there are lots of things that we can do. I mean, at the moment, one of the cool things is you can click on everyone's avatar and you can see exactly where they're listening. So let's say you're at 10 minutes and you want to see that Claire's listening at 22 minutes. You can click on Claire's avatar and I would jump to the exact same point with you. The other things that are cool is you can do a mention within the chat. If I want to do alert them, let's say there's 10 people listening together. But I wanted to specifically get Claire's attention. I can go @ClaireWaiteBrown and then the message is flashed up to you as well. So again, there are ways that we can do things that make it a little bit more interesting.
Claire Waite Brown (23:36):
Brilliant. Sounds fabulous.
Sam Sethi (23:39):
Fanbox, Claire. Time for a bit of monetization. Have we had messages since the last episode?
Claire Waite Brown (23:45):
Yes. Martin Lindeskog has welcomed us back saying I, I have streamed 10 satoshis per minute and here is a super comment with a Row of ducks. That is 2, 2, 2, 2 stats. Great new episode. I will invite new listeners to the leaderboard. All the best, Martin. Thank you very much. Martin there.
Sam Sethi (24:06):
We love Martin. Yes, very good.
Claire Waite Brown (24:08):
Sam, you're up on all of these things. Thinking about the podcast world in general. What is this I hear about Rhode been up to recently?
Sam Sethi (24:17):
So Rode is the Australian company that has a lot of hardware. A lot of people move to having rodecasters where they can inject like jingles or they might have a guest and they want to fade up and fade down microphones. Really cool. One thing Rode did last year was a feature called Call Me, which was the ability to have somebody on the other end who has a Rodecaster Pro or a Rodecaster Duo to sync up with your Rodecaster. Yes. It required two pieces of hardware. Let's say you and I had rodecasters. We could have actually used Rodecaster as a way of recording. So Rodecaster have updated that now with something called Rodecaster Studio, which now is a free piece of software that you can do recording, editing and transcriptions. The software for editing and transcriptions isn't free, but the recording part is. So what you can now do is you can say, I would like to record this show with my Rodecaster. I can send you a web link so you don't have to have your guests using Rode anymore as a piece of hardware. And you restore it on your little Rodecaster. You then call up your Rodecaster Studio and then you can do all the clever things that Descript and Riverside do. And you can do things like remove background music. You can remove things like splitting people into two separate tracks. And then, d', Arme, dear. All the good things that we normally do. I haven't tried it yet. It's still a Waite list. So if you go to studio.road.com you can join the Waite list and you can see more about some of the features. And it also is what they call platform ready for export. And I don't quite know what they mean. Is it just a file or do they automatically publish? But it says for Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. But it's interesting that Rode, the hardware company, is now getting into software.
Remi Roy (26:14):
Yeah.
Claire Waite Brown (26:15):
And your favourite time of the year is coming up, Sam, isn't it?
Sam Sethi (26:19):
No, that's my birthday.
Claire Waite Brown (26:22):
Second favorite time of the year.
Sam Sethi (26:24):
Yes. Another time where I drink with friends. Yes. The London podcast show, 20th and 21st of May in Islington. Me and Claire will be there. I'll be there also with James Cridland. I'M looking forward to it. I'll be presenting on Trufant on our hosting and streaming services that we have and our new analytics with watch time and listen time. Plus I'll be demoing co Listen and chat. Claire, you will be the demo with me. You don't know that yet. There you go. Always nice to reveal it early.
Claire Waite Brown (26:59):
You better. You better hope I say something nice on that chat.
Sam Sethi (27:04):
Yes, exactly. Who are you? Stop bothering me.
Claire Waite Brown (27:09):
Brilliant. I look forward to that. I will also be wearing my lanyards. So on my lanyards as well as my podcast show lanyard, I've got my own TrueFans one with QR codes on. I've got a lanyard for creators so a QR code that takes you to creators and then I've got one that takes you to my TrueFans one to one coffee chat thing as well. So you can stop me and ask to look at my lanyard.
Sam Sethi (27:36):
If you are coming to the London Podcast show, please please please try and find Claire and I. Come and say hello. We'd love to see you. And that's it for this week. Our audio's recorded on Riverside, edited by the wonderful Claire and we're hosted by ourselves. TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (27:51):
You can support this show by streaming sats from your TrueFans wallet or leave us a super comment or better still, become a monthly supporter of the show.
Sam Sethi (28:01):
If you would like to promote your podcast in this feed, then go to your Creators Dashboard, click on the pencil icon next to your podcast and locate Podcast Promotions. It's a tab search for this show Creators from TrueFans and you can send us a request and we will feature your show in our feed.
Claire Waite Brown (28:19):
You can find out more about how to use the features of the TrueFans platform by listening to our sister podcast Fanzone and follow us on Instagram or threadsrewfans fm.
Foreign.
Remi Roy (00:06):
I bet there are other people like me who love podcasting, but somehow are discouraged by it because it just feels like it's too hard to actually get any sort of traction, to get people to pay attention, to get it to work the way you want it to. I thought the space for some sort of support for independent podcasters. This way, if you are a celebrity and you have a built in audience and it's like, whatever, you're good, you're fine, whatever. But if you're an independent podcaster and you're trying to, especially if you're doing everything on your own, you have so many questions, you need feedback, and if you don't get that feedback, it's like you're in a silo. You don't know what's working, you don't know what's not, but you're pushing through and it can be discouraging after a while.
Sam Sethi (00:49):
Maybe somebody wants to listen to this podcast with one of their friends and go, gosh, that's Sam Sethii's talking rubbish as usual again. Or we love Claire and you might even join them in the chat. You might just, you know, jump in on the same chat while they're listening as well.
Claire Waite Brown (01:05):
Welcome to Creators from TrueFans. I'm Claire Waite Brown, Head of Community at TrueFans.
Sam Sethi (01:11):
And I'm Sam Sethi, the CEO of TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (01:14):
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Sam Sethi (01:22):
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Sam Sethi (01:46):
Hi, Claire.
Claire Waite Brown (01:47):
Hi, Sam. How are you doing?
Sam Sethi (01:48):
Good, I think. Claire, who are we featuring on this week's episode?
Claire Waite Brown (01:53):
We are featuring Remi Roy, who is creator of the podcast The Driven Introvert, but also the founder of a support mechanism for new and newish podcasters called PodGround. I'm chatting today with Remi Roy. Hi, Remi, how are you?
Remi Roy (02:12):
Hi, Claire. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.
Claire Waite Brown (02:15):
You're very welcome. Now, you are a podcaster, but you have also started a venture aimed at supporting independent podcasters. So tell me a little bit about your podcast first and then I'll grill you more about PodGround after that.
Remi Roy (02:33):
Okay? So my name is Remi Roy. I am the host of the Driven Introvert podcast. I'm an introvert, a huge one. And the whole idea is to provide sort of inspiration for people who find themselves with dreams or passions or ideas that require them to be on, so to speak, to show up, you know, to be confident, to be bold, to be courageous. But because they are introverts, they have sort of believed that that's not the kind of person I am. I'm not the kind of person that wants to be out there doing all of that. So it's just a sort of place to come, to be encouraged, but also fired up so that you can go after your big dreams and hopes and all of the things that we all dream about or we sometimes never take action on. So that's really what I'm passionate about, because that's sort of a huge part of my story, is I grew up very introverted and believing that there's some things I cannot do. But over the years, I have grown a lot and stretched myself in ways that I never thought possible. And I am enjoying being in a place where I can stare down, like, big dreams and say, yeah, I can do that. And I don't have to be the loudest person in the room to do that. So that's why I'm excited about my
Claire Waite Brown (03:50):
podcast, talking of big ideas and doing big things. What about PodGround?
Remi Roy (03:56):
Oh, my gosh, yes. I'll just kind of tell you a bit of how I got there, and I'll tell you what it is. It was born out of my experience as a podcaster the first time around. And I think. And I haven't talked to a lot of people, a lot of independent podcasts, I feel like a lot of people fall into this category. So I started my first podcast in 2016. I was very excited about it. I was very passionate about it, and it was exciting for me because, like I said, as an introvert, I figured out that I love to talk about certain things. And for me to be able to use my voice in that way and be creative and help other people, you know, and inspire and whatever, it just felt very gratifying and satisfying for me and very purposeful, so to speak. So I started to do the podcast, but I quickly realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know how to make it work okay. I knew how to produce the thing. We didn't have all the fancy tools and everything, you know, like we have right now. I remember I would record in my local library because I didn't have any tools at home, and I had fun doing it, but I didn't know how to make it work. I didn't know anything about distribution. I didn't know how to get people to listen to it. So after a while, I felt like, oh, gosh, I love this thing so much, but I don't know how to make it work. And it was discouraging. So I stopped. But I kept thinking about it. I'm like, I want to come back to it someday, but I want to figure out. I want to really know what I'm doing. So 2024, when I kind of came back to it, I got help. You know, I figured out how to get into, like, a community of all the people who were podcasting. And that really helped me figure, okay, this is how this works. And I need to sort of manage my expectations, right, and figure out what I'm trying to say, who I'm talking to. So it helped this time because I was able to narrow down and like, okay, I wanna talk to introverts. I wanna provide this and that based on my experience and provide frameworks around how to think about pursuing goals and ideas and dreams and all of that. So essentially, when I was thinking about my whole experience, that's when I got the idea for. I bet there are other people like me who love podcasting, but somehow I discouraged by it because it just feels like it's too hard to actually get any sort of traction, to get people to pay attention, to get it to work the way you want it to. I thought there's space for some sort of support for independent podcasters this way. So I started thinking about what that could look like, and that's how essentially PodGround was born. And because when it comes to communities online, my experience hasn't been especially great with what's available. And most of them are social media platforms like the Facebook groups and all of that. They're great, but I wish it was better structured for what podcasters really need and for the way it'll be easy for us to connect, find each other, find shows, support one another, and all of that. So that's why I decided to build PodGround. So essentially, PodGround is a platform for independent podcasters to provide community resources, support, and funding now so that they can keep creating. I'm sure you're very much aware of that statistic. There are different versions of it, but, like, over 90% of podcasters give up before the one year mark, and a lot of them don't even do more than three, 10 episodes, you know, and it's over and I'm like, why that shouldn't be the case. I mean, it happened to me, but I found a way to come back to it with more experience and perspective that helps me keep going now. And that's essentially what I want to provide for other independent podcasters through PodGround. So what that looks like is we have the platform itself where people can log in and connect and talk to each other, DM each other, listen to their shows on there. And this is a side note, but I would go on Facebook and I will see someone post about a show. I'm like, this is interesting now. I want to check it out, but I wouldn't find a link. I will go to their profile. I don't find a link and I'm now searching and I see like, I don't know, three or four other podcasts with the same name. I'm like, which one is yours? You know? So right now, inside a podgrad, you have your profile, you have your episodes on there. It's easy to figure out, okay, who I'm talking to, what their podcast is like, and it's great for, if you want to, I don't know, collaborate with someone, you can check out their shows right there and all of that. So apart from the platform itself, we have events and meetups, workshops and all of that. And we also have the grant, which is quarterly and yeah, I guess we're going to talk about that too. Yeah.
Claire Waite Brown (08:21):
How do you see people best using it? When somebody's coming for the first time or they're coming on more regular basis, what do you hope they'll be doing there?
Remi Roy (08:34):
I hope that they are able to ask questions because the truth is, especially for newer podcasters, there are lots of questions. I hope they're able to share whatever might be thorny for them as they navigate their podcasting journey. I hope they don't try to do it alone and understand that this is a community where they can be open about their struggles and where they can get ideas for their shows. If you are a celebrity and you have a built in audience and it's like, whatever, you're good, you're fine, whatever. But if you're an independent podcaster and you're trying to, especially if you're doing everything on your own, you have so many questions, you need feedback and if you don't get that feedback, it's like you're in a silo. You don't know what's working, you don't know what's not, but you're pushing through and it can Be discouraging after a while, but being able to get feedback from your peers to say, oh, this is what I'm doing. It sparks something in you. Like, okay, I could try that, I could do that. Also, we have resources in there. We have videos and workshops and trainings that we've done that you can kind of go through to help you figure things out. One big one, at the last cycle of the grant, we focused on SEO and a lot of people found that helpful. So we're trying to provide those kinds of information and you don't have to pay through your nose to get this information so that it can help your show, help you get found, help you figure things out, how things work and all of that.
Claire Waite Brown (09:56):
So.
Remi Roy (09:56):
And also they can join, like I said, the meetups and these are great because most times you're an independent podcast here. You're doing it in, I don't know, in your closet, in the local library, like me or whatever. You're by yourself. But if you come here, you're able to talk to other people and connect beyond just scrolling in a feed with, you know, thousands of people in a Facebook group and you never feel that connection. We do that in smaller groups, so it's easy for people to connect and, you know, be encouraged and keep going.
Claire Waite Brown (10:24):
Yeah, brilliant. Is PodGround a paid for application?
Remi Roy (10:29):
PodGround has a free tier, so it's open to everyone. If you want to upgrade to the membership pro, you can do that. And then we have more like cohorts and things around that for podcasters who want more connection and support and just accountability as they go through their podcasting journey. That's available too? Yes.
Claire Waite Brown (10:48):
Oh, brilliant. Tell me about the grant and about the application process.
Remi Roy (10:54):
The grant is for podcasters who have been podcasting for three years or less. You have to already have launched your podcast, but as long as you have a podcast and you've been podcasting for less than three years, it is open. The applications will start this next quarter in May, May 4, and it will end on 15. So you have two weeks to put in your application. So the way the application works is it's simple, it's just a form that you fill out and we ask you some just very simple but specific questions about your podcast, obviously what your podcast is, the link and all of that. But we want to know about your goals for your podcast and we want to know that you've thought about it properly and you're working towards those goals, the quality of your content. We're going to be looking at that and also how clear your why is. Like, why did you start your podcast? And is that obvious? When a judge is listening to your show, do they feel like, oh, yeah, I get it. All of this comes together, this makes sense, and that's it. It'll be in the hands of our judges, who are amazing, and we're so grateful that they're able to do this. And yeah. Which is a winner.
Claire Waite Brown (11:57):
Lovely. I will put the details of that in the chapter for this episode and in the show notes. I'm going to move on to your own experiences with your own podcast with PodGround, with the podcasting ecosystem as a whole, and ask you about what one thing frustrates you about it and what one thing really excites you about it.
Remi Roy (12:22):
Oh, my gosh. To be honest, it's just part of the whole reason why I do my podcast. And also PodGround, I think the thing that frustrates me most is that thing where a lot of people just feel overwhelmed, burnt out, and give up on it, because it can feel like nothing is happening. It can feel like you're shouting into the void. And it's very discouraging for a lot of people. And I think there's a bit of a education. But how do you do that? How do you let new people who are coming into this space sort of know how to think about podcasting? Because I feel like you have to have a perspective that makes you resilient and very purposeful to be able to keep podcasting and get whatever it is that you want to get out of it. Because everybody's goals and reasons why you do it is different. Which is part of the reasons why I'm really passionate about PodGround, so that when new people come in, hopefully you can look at these resources, listen to the conversations, be a part of something that kind of gives you an idea what you are getting into. Because I feel like there has to be a mindset of, okay, I want to do this for the long haul. And you don't always get there when you just kind of come into it without really thinking about it. So that frustrates me. And essentially that's why I'm doing something about it, you know, with PodGround. And what excites me is when I find people who actually now the light bulb moment just comes on and they realize, oh, this is what I can do to make this work. Denise, one of the winners of the grant. I mean, talking to her was just such a gratifying experience for me because having just been confused about what exactly am I doing is this working and being able to walk through that confusion and that disillusionment, so to speak, and come to a place where now she knows exactly why she's podcasting. She knows what she's doing with it, who she's talking to, what it means and how she can sustain it. Now, it doesn't mean that it takes away all the difficulties and challenges of podcasting. I feel like a lot of creatives who are in podcasting enjoy the process of, you know, coming up with your thoughts and ideas and putting it together and recording. It's fun and knowing that people are listening to it and enjoying that experience. But how to grow is the thing. How do I get the thing in front of people who I made it for? And it requires a lot of work. It requires a lot of intention, a lot of time and sacrifice because you oblate, you know, trying to create reels and audiograms, whatever it is that you use, and the email lists and the social media and all of it, trying to tweak your SEO. You have to be intentional to be a podcaster. You just have to be. It doesn't take away all the challenges that people experience. But it's amazing for me when I find someone who's like, okay, I was confused about this, but now I get it. A lot of us drift. Even in life and business, we just drift because we're doing everything, because we feel like that's what we're supposed to be doing. But you got to figure out why and what you're doing, and. And that's where the conviction will come. The issue that a lot of people have is, oh, I want to make money from my podcast. If you're coming into podcasting, you want to make money, oh, gosh, I don't know. I'm. I'm sorry for you. That's not the best way to think about it. You can make money based on it, but you have to be strategic about what you're doing. So having people come to that place knowing that, okay, I can do this for whatever my business, or I'm just passionate about it, or for my community, or. Or I can figure out how to sell my products and services, it's such a great feeling for me when I. When I see people kind of able to figure it out that way.
Claire Waite Brown (16:02):
Yeah, I think it's a case of being realistic. Realistic in. In the work, but realistic in what you can actually gain from it, and then to be able to understand what you want to get from it, and then you can enjoy that when that happens. And that doesn't necessarily mean listening to what everybody else says they want from it or they think you should be doing.
Remi Roy (16:24):
Absolutely.
Claire Waite Brown (16:25):
Because you can hear a lot of people telling you what you should be doing, but you really just need to know what you want to be doing and have the conviction in that 100%. I want to move on to Podcasting 2.0. What features of Podcasting 2.0 do you know about? Do you use?
Remi Roy (16:42):
Gosh, I definitely need to do better about this, but the two that. That I have used are the transcripts and the chapters. I don't know a lot about the monetization parts of things, and I know I need to kind of sit down and kind of figure it out. Like, okay, how does this work? And I know that you have a whole thing about that in your podcast, Podcasting 2.0. I should probably go revisit that. But, yeah, those are the ones that I've used, the transcripts and the chapters. But the ones that I'm most curious about because I'm like, how exactly does it work? Is the value for value. That's the monetization. Right.
Claire Waite Brown (17:15):
So since I put that show out in early 2024, as we know, things have changed. Things change all the time.
Remi Roy (17:23):
Yeah.
Claire Waite Brown (17:23):
I think the transcripts and the chapters are the most consistent and the most useful right now for people interacting with your show via the chapters, because they can move between the show or via the transcripts if they need, you know, a bit more processing time with language and things like that. And they're also useful for SEO. So they are the most useful from the money side of things. It. It does come from the listener supporting the creator. And at TrueFans, we've made it as easy as we can by giving you a digital wallet. You can top up that wallet using stripe. So it's not. It's not all the bitcoin.
Remi Roy (18:02):
Oh, I see.
Claire Waite Brown (18:03):
That's all in the background. You can choose whether you see your contributions as fiat currency or as bitcoin. So lots of people will want to use it as fiat.
Remi Roy (18:13):
Oh, I see.
Claire Waite Brown (18:14):
And then the three ways we're looking at are the. That already exists, which is donations, or what are they called? Subscriptions. The Patreon model, that kind of thing. The buy me a coffee model. But yeah, we have that within TrueFans as well. So if you stay in the app, you can be listening to the show and you can click on an icon and donate to that show straight away.
Remi Roy (18:38):
Oh, I see.
Claire Waite Brown (18:39):
We've then got comments. It's just like being on social media. You can listen to an episode, you click on the comment, you can write a comment that anyone that listens to that show will see. You don't have to add a payment to it, but you can add a payment to it. And then the other one we do is streaming, which is you can say for an individual show or for an individual episode, you set a very small amount for every minute you listen to that show and TrueFans just calculates that for you and we're aiming all the time to make it easier and not quite so scary. So that has definitely come on, I think, since I first did that, that podcast.
Remi Roy (19:19):
Oh, that's awesome.
Claire Waite Brown (19:20):
How can people find you as the Driven Introvert and as founder of PodGround?
Remi Roy (19:26):
If you are a podcaster, you should just check out PodGround IO. I'm always in there. I'm also on Instagram, Remi Roy and the Driven Introvert is everywhere you listen to podcasts.
Claire Waite Brown (19:37):
Thank you so much Remi. It's been really fabulous to speak with you.
Remi Roy (19:41):
Oh, thank you Claire. Always wonderful talking to you.
Claire Waite Brown (19:45):
You do still have time to apply for the next round of the PodGround Creators Micro Grant, but as Remi mentioned, it is run quarterly, so if you don't want to rush, then the round after that will be on us before you know it. In the meantime, you can find advice on applying at PodGround.io/grant.
Sam Sethi (20:05):
Sounds great. Now you were on the judging panel for the first PodGround Micro Grant, Claire. Will you be doing the same this time?
Claire Waite Brown (20:14):
I certainly will. So Remi will be sending me some entries to review and as always, I'm looking forward to listening to more fabulous independent podcasts. If you'd like to chat with us about your independent podcast or your music, send a comment or super comment in TrueFans to any Creators episode by clicking on the Speech Bubble icon or on the Comments tab.
Sam Sethi (20:42):
Questions, questions, questions. Claire, what do you want to ask me this week Claire?
Claire Waite Brown (20:45):
Remi talked in that interview about the isolation of indie podcasters, mentioning a phrase I've heard a lot in my chats with fellow creators. That feeling of shouting into the void. TrueFans has commenting and now chat features. How can these help break that silo and provide the feedback loop that creators might be craving in order to keep going?
Sam Sethi (21:10):
So we talk regularly about discovery, interactivity and monetization. So we're looking at interactivity here. And the idea was comments were a couple of years ago, the latest cool thing to do to add to podcasting so you didn't feel like you were shouting into the void. But there was that delayed reaction between recording your podcast, publishing your podcast, getting a comment, and then feeding back. So we've added a co listening chat, the new Netflix and Chill. The idea really is that you can still listen to your favorite podcast, but you can invite two or three friends to join you on TrueFans and you can start chatting away. So maybe somebody wants to listen to this podcast with one of their friends and go, gosh, that Sam Sethi's talking rubbish as usual again. Or we love Claire and you might even join them in the chat. Even though you recorded your own show. You might just, you know, jump in on the same chat while they're listening as well. When we launch our live podcasting, which is coming very soon, the creator will also be in the live chat. So now while you're talking and you're telling the world about what's great about your podcast and the subject, you'll also be able to see who's listening with you live and, and you can also call them into the show, have an interaction with them. So there's lots of things that you can do. Live podcasting really changes the game.
Claire Waite Brown (22:35):
Yeah, I have been to in the past listening parties where oftentimes actually we'll have listened to the show separately and then we'll come together on a call to give feedback or be asked any questions. And this could be good for that, couldn't it?
Sam Sethi (22:50):
Can, and I think over time we will develop it further. I think there are lots of things that we can do. I mean, at the moment, one of the cool things is you can click on everyone's avatar and you can see exactly where they're listening. So let's say you're at 10 minutes and you want to see that Claire's listening at 22 minutes. You can click on Claire's avatar and I would jump to the exact same point with you. The other things that are cool is you can do a mention within the chat. If I want to do alert them, let's say there's 10 people listening together. But I wanted to specifically get Claire's attention. I can go @ClaireWaiteBrown and then the message is flashed up to you as well. So again, there are ways that we can do things that make it a little bit more interesting.
Claire Waite Brown (23:36):
Brilliant. Sounds fabulous.
Sam Sethi (23:39):
Fanbox, Claire. Time for a bit of monetization. Have we had messages since the last episode?
Claire Waite Brown (23:45):
Yes. Martin Lindeskog has welcomed us back saying I, I have streamed 10 satoshis per minute and here is a super comment with a Row of ducks. That is 2, 2, 2, 2 stats. Great new episode. I will invite new listeners to the leaderboard. All the best, Martin. Thank you very much. Martin there.
Sam Sethi (24:06):
We love Martin. Yes, very good.
Claire Waite Brown (24:08):
Sam, you're up on all of these things. Thinking about the podcast world in general. What is this I hear about Rhode been up to recently?
Sam Sethi (24:17):
So Rode is the Australian company that has a lot of hardware. A lot of people move to having rodecasters where they can inject like jingles or they might have a guest and they want to fade up and fade down microphones. Really cool. One thing Rode did last year was a feature called Call Me, which was the ability to have somebody on the other end who has a Rodecaster Pro or a Rodecaster Duo to sync up with your Rodecaster. Yes. It required two pieces of hardware. Let's say you and I had rodecasters. We could have actually used Rodecaster as a way of recording. So Rodecaster have updated that now with something called Rodecaster Studio, which now is a free piece of software that you can do recording, editing and transcriptions. The software for editing and transcriptions isn't free, but the recording part is. So what you can now do is you can say, I would like to record this show with my Rodecaster. I can send you a web link so you don't have to have your guests using Rode anymore as a piece of hardware. And you restore it on your little Rodecaster. You then call up your Rodecaster Studio and then you can do all the clever things that Descript and Riverside do. And you can do things like remove background music. You can remove things like splitting people into two separate tracks. And then, d', Arme, dear. All the good things that we normally do. I haven't tried it yet. It's still a Waite list. So if you go to studio.road.com you can join the Waite list and you can see more about some of the features. And it also is what they call platform ready for export. And I don't quite know what they mean. Is it just a file or do they automatically publish? But it says for Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. But it's interesting that Rode, the hardware company, is now getting into software.
Remi Roy (26:14):
Yeah.
Claire Waite Brown (26:15):
And your favourite time of the year is coming up, Sam, isn't it?
Sam Sethi (26:19):
No, that's my birthday.
Claire Waite Brown (26:22):
Second favorite time of the year.
Sam Sethi (26:24):
Yes. Another time where I drink with friends. Yes. The London podcast show, 20th and 21st of May in Islington. Me and Claire will be there. I'll be there also with James Cridland. I'M looking forward to it. I'll be presenting on Trufant on our hosting and streaming services that we have and our new analytics with watch time and listen time. Plus I'll be demoing co Listen and chat. Claire, you will be the demo with me. You don't know that yet. There you go. Always nice to reveal it early.
Claire Waite Brown (26:59):
You better. You better hope I say something nice on that chat.
Sam Sethi (27:04):
Yes, exactly. Who are you? Stop bothering me.
Claire Waite Brown (27:09):
Brilliant. I look forward to that. I will also be wearing my lanyards. So on my lanyards as well as my podcast show lanyard, I've got my own TrueFans one with QR codes on. I've got a lanyard for creators so a QR code that takes you to creators and then I've got one that takes you to my TrueFans one to one coffee chat thing as well. So you can stop me and ask to look at my lanyard.
Sam Sethi (27:36):
If you are coming to the London Podcast show, please please please try and find Claire and I. Come and say hello. We'd love to see you. And that's it for this week. Our audio's recorded on Riverside, edited by the wonderful Claire and we're hosted by ourselves. TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (27:51):
You can support this show by streaming sats from your TrueFans wallet or leave us a super comment or better still, become a monthly supporter of the show.
Sam Sethi (28:01):
If you would like to promote your podcast in this feed, then go to your Creators Dashboard, click on the pencil icon next to your podcast and locate Podcast Promotions. It's a tab search for this show Creators from TrueFans and you can send us a request and we will feature your show in our feed.
Claire Waite Brown (28:19):
You can find out more about how to use the features of the TrueFans platform by listening to our sister podcast Fanzone and follow us on Instagram or threadsrewfans fm.
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