Craig Hewitt, the founder of Castos, returns to share insights on the startup's growth journey over the past year. He discusses the impact of hiring a growth marketer and the intriguing results of offering a free trial without requiring a credit card. Hewitt delves into merging brands, enhancing user experience, and the rise of private podcasting. He highlights new features at Castos and explores strategies for catering to both small and enterprise customers, emphasizing the importance of understanding user needs.
Castos has successfully tripled its revenue and doubled its workforce, enhancing its focus on strategic marketing and efficiency.
The integration of private podcasting services has opened new avenues for Castos, targeting organizations with specific internal communication needs.
Deep dives
Growth and Milestones at Castos
Castos has experienced significant growth, tripling its revenue and doubling its workforce over the past year. The company grew from four to eight full-time employees, which has allowed for an increased focus on strategic marketing efforts. The addition of a growth marketer, Denise, has proven beneficial, shifting marketing responsibilities away from founder Craig Hewitt and enabling him to concentrate on higher-level strategy. This organizational change has created a more efficient workflow and a stronger focus on long-term business goals.
Revisiting Business Strategies
A year after implementing various business strategies, Castos has opted to continue its practice of not requiring credit cards for its 14-day free trial, recognizing the positive impact on user acquisition. The decision to remove the credit card requirement aligns well with the needs of new podcasters who often require more time to navigate the complexities of starting a podcast. However, plans to introduce a freemium tier have been reevaluated, primarily due to the significant engineering resources required to implement such a feature. This strategic pivot reflects a focus on maximizing the current offerings and avoiding distractions from new initiatives.
Merging Brands for Better Integration
In a strategic move to streamline operations and branding, Castos has integrated its Podcast Motor service into its main platform, enhancing its usability for customers. This merger simplifies the service offering, allowing users to access both podcast hosting and production services under one brand. The decision to consolidate brands was informed by the realization that managing a single cohesive brand can enhance marketing efforts and improve clarity for customers. This has resulted in positive feedback from existing users, who appreciate the seamless experience offered by the integrated platform.
Exploring the Market for Private Podcasting
Castos is venturing into the emerging market of private podcasting, catering to a diverse range of clients, including Fortune 100 companies and health professionals. This feature allows organizations to create exclusive podcast content for internal communications, training, or member engagement, which has gained unexpected traction. The integration of private podcasting capabilities is seen as a way to enhance service offerings significantly and tap into a growing demand for personalized audio content. By focusing on organizations that already have a substantial following, Castos aims to position itself as a leader in this niche segment within the podcasting industry.
Rob welcomes back to the show a frequent guest, Craig Hewitt for a "Where Are They Now?" syle episode. Craig is the founder of Castos and has appeared many times on Startups For the Rest of Us. In this episode, they reconnect and talk about the latest with Castos, from hiring a growth marketer, merging brands, private podcasting, and so much more.
The topics we cover
[3:54] Reflections on hiring a growth marketer 1 year later
[6:92] How did the free trial without asking for a credit card experiment work out?
[8:92] Merging brands and moving into enterprise offers
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you!