Coming Soon: The Bitsplitting Podcast

I have really enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy, producing the Core Intuition podcast with my friend Manton Reece. What started as an irregular, very casual podcast more than four years ago turned into a much less irregular, weekly show last year.

The success of Core Intuition inspired me to revisit a long-standing interest I’ve had in interview-style podcasts. I have always been a fan of the humanistic style of interview as perfected by Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, and while I have no illusion of matching Ms. Gross’s impeccable style, I hope to start down the path that ends at being at least a bit more like her. In a nutshell, the gist of my show will be interviewing folks I’ve had the luxury of meeting, who have interesting perspectives. I’ll differentiate my show from some others by focusing more on the personal background of my guests, and on trying to discern a philosophical arc to their life and career choices.

We are currently enjoying a renaissance in podcasting (hat-tip for that assessment to Brent Simmons), and I’m excited to be among the lucky folks who are more-or-less ready to seize on the opportunity. I have learned a lot from producing Core Intuition, and from being a guest on countless other shows. What can I say? I’m a lucky guy. Right place, right time, right skills.

With Core Intuition, we waited over four years before we started accepting sponsorships. For the Bitsplitting podcast, I will accept them from day one. I was skeptical about sponsorship, but I’ve learned that it creates both a positive obligation and a positive reward. Once a sponsor has committed to paying for the privilege of a mention on my show, I feel obligated to not only record and publish the show, but to do so in a way that exudes professionalism worthy of the sponsor’s blessing.

The rewards are more complex. Obviously, there’s the money. Money is good. But less obvious is a certain validation that comes from anybody else sticking their neck out to validate your work. Spending money is a somewhat crude, yet very unambiguous way of sticking one’s neck out. I have found with Core Intuition that while the money is nice, it’s most important that we have an unambiguous message from our sponsors that the show is valuable. It helps us, literally, to get out of bed in the morning to record the show.

So I need sponsors. I understand that with Bitsplitting, “there’s no there there” yet, and that makes this a harder sell. If you work for or own a company with vision and a willingness to take a chance, consider being among my debut sponsors. How many listeners do I have? Zero. How many listeners will I have? Time will tell. To balance your faith in sponsoring something new, I’m offering a reduced-cost sponsorship while the wheels are set to motion. If you’re interested, please check out this preliminary sponsorship information, and drop me a line.

Update February 21, 2013: I am humbled by the reaction to my call for sponsors. We are in good shape for the launch of the show, and I’ll resume booking sponsors for future episodes after the show debuts.

Whether or not you’re in a position to sponsor the show, I hope you’ll keep your eyes on this site, or on the @bitsplitting Twitter account, to learn about the launch of the podcast, which I am confident you will find both educational and amusing.