Scratchpod

Although there was some initial traction, this project would need to become a full-fledged podcast player to be successful, which is not something I'm interested in building. The monetization strategy was also unclear.

I learned a lot from Scratchpod. The most important lesson, however, is that it's really hard to create new behaviors rather than improve upon and encourage existing ones.

I love listening to podcasts but have found it difficult to find new, interesting shows. I often listen to "the top" shows in their respective categories, but I know there are a ton of great creators out there recording shows that I know nothing about.

I started Scratchpod to make it easier for podcast hosts to promote their shows and, thus, making it easier for listeners to find new podcasts.

Despite receiving positive feedback from potential users, getting people to actually use the platform has been slow-going. The biggest reason for this is likely that there isn't much content on the site yet and, so, not much to do.

However, I believe the old design was confusing, so I've stripped it down to the basics. I've also added a landing page that explains the concept. If users don't latch on to the concept now, at least I'll know it isn't the design/lack of explanation.

Quietly, I launched the initial version of the project. I actually hadn't planned on going live until later this month but, since this is a community-based platform, I want to get some early adopters onboard to begin creating content.

I plan to have a "hard launch" on Product Hunt in a few weeks, once there's more content and bugs are fixed.