Team Simplecast Spotlight: Aaron Dowd

Whether you've seen them in your inbox, at an event, or on a webinar, you've probably met someone on Team Simplecast! Here's your chance to get to know them a little better. Today we've got...

Aaron Dowd, Customer Success Lead

Where do you live?‌‌
Fort Worth, Texas. It’s kind of a hidden gem just a few hours north of Austin. Housing is affordable, traffic is light, the drivers are polite, and we have great food that’s just as good as the food in any of the big cities.

How long have you been working for Simplecast?‌‌
I joined the Simplecast team at the end of 2017, so just over a year now.

How long have you been podcasting?
‌‌I started podcasting in 2012. My first show was a general tech discussion show with some strangers I met on the now-defunct App.net social network. It wasn’t a great show and I was only able to participate for half a dozen episodes or so, but I did learn a lot about podcasting in the process.

What's your show about?‌‌
My show is called The Podcast Dude, and it’s all about how to make a great podcast. I started it in 2015 after noticing that people interested in podcasting were getting stuck on the same things and asking the same questions over and over. ‌‌‌‌I figured answering questions in a podcast would be the best way to scale helping people with podcasting (answering the same questions over and over via email is exhausting and not scaleable).

What's your favorite thing to help customers with?‌‌
My favorite thing is helping people realize how easy it is to publish a podcast with Simplecast.‌‌‌‌ A lot of people initially think that getting a podcast out to Apple and Spotify and the other apps will be a big challenge, so it’s rewarding for me when they learn that it’s actually really easy. It’s like handing someone the keys to a brand-new car when they thought they were going to have to build the car from scratch.

What's one tip you wish you could give all podcasters?‌‌
Find other people who share your passion and podcast with them! Podcasting is so much more fun with friends or people who love the same thing you do.

What blog post/newsletter/youtube video/conference/etc has been the most helpful to you as a podcaster?‌‌
There were two blogs that really helped me get started with podcasting, recordingrevolution.com and homestudiocorner.com. Both were about recording music, but I found the advice applied perfectly to podcasting too. I still think process of creating music is very similar to the process of creating podcasts.

Who or what inspired you to start podcasting?‌‌
I remember being most inspired by all the regular people who were podcasting back in 2009-2010. It really made me feel like it was something anyone could do, which meant that it was something I could do.

What's your favorite podcast that you're listening to?‌‌
That’s hard: There are 4-5 shows that I’m really loving right now. But if I have to pick one, I’ll give it to Kara Swisher: She’s been cranking out amazing content in the past year on Recode Decode. She’s sharp, funny, and asks really good questions.

What are you most excited to see in the podcasting world in the next year?‌‌I’m most excited about Simplecast 2.0! The team has been working hard on the new version of Simplecast for over a year, and I’m excited for the upgrade. I know people are going to love it, and it’s only the beginning of the great things that are coming from Simplecast.

What did you want to grow up to be when you were a little kid?
‌‌Before 12, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. Something about flying fast planes seemed like it’d be the best thing ever, and I was obsessed with world world 1 and 2 era planes as well as modern fighter jets like the F-16 (although those didn’t seem quite as fun as the prop planes). Unfortunately my parents told me I wasn’t disciplined enough to make it in the Air Force, and I believed them.

When I was 12, I decided that being a musician would be more fun and less dangerous, so I decided I’d tour the world playing music instead. I tried a few different instruments before trying the drums, which felt right. I did end up getting to tour with a band in my late 20’s, and plan on doing it again soon.

What skill are you trying to learn in 2019?
‌‌I’d love to learn Spanish! I’d love to travel through Mexico and South America, and I know I’d have a better time if I could speak the language of the people there.

Follow Aaron on Twitter at @thepodcastdude!