Outside the Dollar hits No. 15 | Oct 13

Elena ReyesLear Capital says its podcast, Outside the Dollar, ended August at number fifteen on Apple's business investing chart.

BlakeEnd of August. Hold on to that because we have no idea where it sits today.

Elena ReyesRight. Snapshot, not a live reading. If it's moved since, nobody's told us.

BlakeOne quick note on us too. This episode is AI-produced, hosts included. Moving on.

Elena ReyesMoving on. Lear's press release is dated October eighth. Mato's post and press release came out October twelfth, and they repeat the same rank.

BlakeSo the rank travels from one release to the next.

Elena ReyesWait, does repeating it make it more solid or just more repeated?

BlakeJust more repeated. Repetition isn't confirmation, and that's part of why we're here.

Elena ReyesHmm. So the real question today is what a number fifteen tells you and what it doesn't.

BlakeFor anyone who runs a show, a rank like that can sound like a finish line. It's worth knowing what it's actually measuring.

Elena ReyesAgreed. But we need the reported numbers first so we know exactly what's being claimed.

BlakeFair. Numbers first, meaning second.

Elena ReyesSo that's the headline. Here's what Lear says is behind it. Okay, so the release itself. Lear Capital's press release says the show hit number fifteen on Apple's Business Investing Top Two Hundred, and it says that happened about four months after an April launch.

BlakeFour months? That's quick for a podcast that, as far as the release says, started from nothing.

Elena ReyesRight. And then come the download numbers.

BlakeGo ahead.

Elena ReyesThe release reports roughly forty thousand total downloads and close to ten thousand downloads a month.

BlakeHmm. I'd keep one thing attached to both of those. They're Lear's own claims. The release doesn't hand us anything to check them against.

Elena ReyesTotally. Nobody outside Lear has verified them as far as we can tell.

BlakeAnd notice the wording. Roughly and close to are doing real work there. Both figures are rounded, so I'm treating them as ballparks, not audited counts.

Elena ReyesWhich is normal for a press release. It's just not the same thing as exporting a report from a dashboard.

BlakeRight. And the release doesn't say what tool produced the count, so I can't tell you how it was measured.

Elena ReyesSo a starting point, not a conclusion.

BlakeSo let me press on the monthly one. Ten thousand a month. What is that in practice?

Elena ReyesUh, well, it's a download count, not people. Someone could grab four episodes in a row, and that's four.

BlakeWhich is the foundational problem. Ten thousand downloads could be ten thousand listeners, or it could be a few thousand who binge. The release doesn't say which.

Elena ReyesHuh.

BlakeNow, I'll put the two figures side by side, but only loosely. Forty thousand total and close to ten thousand a month are in the same general neighborhood for a show a few months old. Both are rounded though, so I'd call that a rough fit and nothing more.

Elena ReyesOkay, show-off. Rough is the word then.

BlakeConsistent isn't the same as confirmed, Elena.

Elena ReyesFair. But here's what I keep wondering. If you're a podcaster, what do you do with ten thousand a month?

BlakeMeaning, is it big?

Elena ReyesI mean, come on. It depends who's asking. To a brand new show, that's a nice wall to put on a pitch deck. To an advertiser, they'll wanna know whether those are repeat listeners.

BlakeAnd a sponsor will ask for the breakdown. Unique listeners, completion, that kind of thing.

Elena ReyesWhich the release doesn't give us.

BlakeNo. It also doesn't say whether the downloads come from new episodes or older ones. So that's the one I'd leave open. We have a monthly total and no way to tell how many humans are behind it.

Elena ReyesAnd I don't think we can close it from here.

BlakeNot from a press release, no.

Elena ReyesSo if you could ask Lear one thing, what would it be?

BlakeOne question. How many distinct people are behind the monthly figure? Everything else follows from that.

Elena ReyesBecause a small group listening every week is a different story from a big group dipping in once.

BlakeDifferent story. And the release doesn't pick one. I won't pick one for it.

Elena ReyesHonestly, I'd rather leave it hanging than guess. So anyway, numbers aside, the format is the part that's easy to copy.

BlakeThat you can actually check. It's right there in how the show is built.

Elena ReyesOkay, so the format. I went in expecting some elaborate content machine, and it's the opposite. It's boring on purpose.

BlakeBoring how specifically? I'd like a number.

Elena ReyesEvery Friday morning, a syndicated copy of the release says the show has put out twenty-three episodes so far.

BlakeTwenty-three. Mm-hmm.

Elena ReyesAnd it's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. No exclusive window, no special platform play.

BlakeSo the release isn't claiming a breakout episode.

Elena ReyesNope. That same syndicated copy describes the climb as steady weekly output, not one viral moment.

BlakeWhich is a convenient story for a company to tell, say that, but it's also the only story that fits a show with no obvious spike to point at.

Elena ReyesRight. There's no, "The one where we went big." Just Friday, Friday, Friday.

BlakeLet me add one caution. Steady is the release's description, and the episode count is something we can see. What the steadiness did for the rank, the release doesn't say.

Elena ReyesRight. It describes the climb that way. It doesn't walk us through cause and effect, and I'm not gonna invent one.

BlakeFine. What about the length? Because a weekly slot only works if somebody can actually finish it.

Elena ReyesApples listing covers that. It describes brief fifteen-minute weekly updates on gold, silver, and the dollar.

BlakeFifteen minutes. That's a commute segment. That's one coffee.

Elena ReyesThat's a short coffee.

BlakeAnd three topics: gold, silver, the dollar. That's a narrow beat for a finance show, and I mean that as a compliment.

Elena ReyesTotally. Nobody has to guess what it is.

BlakeAnd a listener can say what it is in one breath, which matters when you're asking someone to subscribe.

Elena ReyesRight. The pitch writes itself.

BlakeIt's also a useful exercise for anyone planning a show. A narrow beat is easier to describe in one sentence and easier to keep describing every week.

Elena ReyesSo the question for a listener who's thinking about starting one is, what's the smallest beat you could cover every single week without getting bored of it?

BlakeNow, who makes it?

Elena ReyesThe syndicated release says Lear Capital's team researches and writes the episodes, and the AI voices narrate them.

BlakeSo people write it, software reads it.

Elena ReyesAnd the original Lear release adds who does what around that. Mato handles editing and distribution, and Lear keeps editorial control.

BlakeHmm. That's the part I'd press on. Editorial control sits with the company that sells the thing the show talks about.

Elena ReyesI mean, come on. It's a branded show. Nobody's hiding that.

BlakeAgreed. It's not hidden. I'm just saying one team writing everything in-house is probably part of what helps a weekly cadence survive.

Elena ReyesOkay. That's fair. Weekly is the hard part. Most shows die around episode 10.

BlakeDo we know that, or is that a feeling?

Elena ReyesA feeling. Scratch it.

BlakeThank you.

Elena ReyesPoint stands, though. Twenty-three Fridays in a row is the thing I'd actually copy.

BlakeAnd that's what I'd wanna test against the rank, because a plain format explains how you keep showing up. It doesn't explain what a chart position means.

Elena ReyesWait, say more.

BlakeWell, if you show up every week, you stay in front of people, sure. But the release leans on a rank, and I'd like to know what number sits behind it.

Elena ReyesThat's the gap, right? Output we can count, a rank we can't decode.

BlakeExactly. Twenty-three episodes is something anyone can check against a feed. A chart position is somebody else's calculation.

Elena ReyesSo slow down on the rank itself. What does number 15 actually measure? Okay. So I went and read Apple's own support page on the charts, Apple Podcasts for Creators, the page about top shows, and it's short on the one thing we want.

BlakeThe formula.

Elena ReyesRight. Apple says the charts reflect a mix of listening, follows, and completion rate. That's the list. No weights, nothing.

BlakeHold on. Completion rate. So someone who starts an episode and bails counts for less than someone who finishes?

Elena ReyesThat's how I read the phrase. Apple doesn't spell out the mechanics, though, so I'm not gonna guess past it.

BlakeFair. And the exact algorithm?

Elena ReyesApple says it doesn't publish it.

BlakeHuh. So nobody outside Apple can take a rank and run it backward into a number.

Elena ReyesNobody. You'd have three ingredients and no recipe.

BlakeWhich means a rank is a fine thing to notice and a hard thing to explain.

Elena ReyesExactly. Noticing is easy. Explaining is where people overreach.

BlakeAnd that's what makes it tricky for a podcaster. You can see your rank on a given day, but you can't tell which ingredient moved it.

Elena ReyesRight. If listening went up or follows went up or more people finished episodes, the page doesn't let you pull those apart.

BlakeWhich matters because the press release gave us a rank and a download total in the same breath. Readers will want to bolt them together.

Elena ReyesAnd Apple says don't. The page says the charts are not a measure of the largest podcasts by listenership.

BlakeSay that again.

Elena ReyesNot a measure of the largest podcasts by listenership. Apple's words, more or less.

BlakeWell, that's blunt. The platform itself is telling you the ruler is the wrong ruler.

Elena ReyesRight? So a number 15 in a category is a position on a chart. It is not a download count.

BlakeAnd notice what that does to the 40,000 figure from earlier. The two numbers sit side by side in the release, but Apple's page gives us no bridge between them.

Elena ReyesNone. One is a company's claim about downloads. The other is a position on a list that Apple calculates its own way.

BlakeOkay, but I'll defend the rank a little. It's not nothing. In a category with a couple hundred slots, being on the list at all means something moved.

Elena ReyesSure. Something moved. I just can't tell you what. Follows? People finishing? Both?

BlakeWhich is my point. Something real happened. A show with a low audience can't just wish itself onto that chart.

Elena ReyesHmm. I'd stop short of that. Apple doesn't say how big or small the audience has to be, so I'd be inventing a floor.

BlakeYou're right. I can't claim a floor, but I'd still weigh the rank above zero.

Elena ReyesAnd I'd weigh it as a good line in a pitch deck and a weak line in a media kit. We're probably not landing in the same spot here.

BlakeProbably not. Though I'll say this, if Lear had led with the chart explanation instead of the rank, I'd trust the release more.

Elena ReyesHuh. Nobody leads with the footnote.

BlakeNobody. But the footnote is where the answer lives.

Elena ReyesHere's what I keep coming back to. Apple tells us what goes into the chart, and it tells us what the chart isn't. It never gives us the one thing a headline like this implies.

BlakeWhich is how many people.

Elena ReyesSo where does that leave us? The rank is real, the audience size behind it is still unknown, and Apple says as much.

BlakeAnd that gap is worth keeping in view when we look at the other thing in this release, how the show describes itself.

Elena ReyesYeah. With the rank in perspective, how does Outside the Dollar actually present itself, and who's doing the talking?

BlakeElena, I went and read the Apple listing itself, not just the press release. It carries a disclaimer. The content is educational and not investment advice.

Elena ReyesHmm. Standard for a gold show, right?

BlakeProbably. I can't say what's standard, only what's there. And the episode descriptions name their sources: Lear Research, Goldman Sachs forecasts, and coverage from Fox Business and CNBC.

Elena ReyesOkay, so points outward

BlakePartly. One of those sources is Lear's own research, and Lear is the company that sells gold. I'm just noting where the arrows land.

Elena ReyesFair. Goldman and the two networks are outside names, though.

BlakeThey are. Whether the descriptions use them to support a point or to decorate one, the listing doesn't tell me.

Elena ReyesHmm, can't tell from a description.

BlakeWhich is fine. A listing is a summary, and I'd rather say that than guess at the writing behind it.

Elena ReyesAgreed. Say what's on the page and stop there.

BlakeWhat I can say is that the disclaimer and the sources do different jobs. One tells you how to treat the content, the other tells you where it came from.

Elena ReyesSo one's a warning label and the other is a bibliography.

BlakeRight. Now, the odd part. The Apple listing names the host as Kathrynn Ward of Lear Capital.

Elena ReyesWait, who?

BlakeKathrynn Ward. And Matos's press release says the show is voiced by AI host Elena Reyes.

Elena ReyesUm, that's me. Hi. I'm apparently moonlighting.

BlakeSo two sources, two different answers to who's hosting.

Elena ReyesAnd I'm not going to pretend I can reconcile them. The listing says one thing, Matos's release says another.

BlakeI won't either. Both are what each source says collected today.

Elena ReyesI will say, on the Matos side, the voice is mine, whoever's name is on the Apple page.

BlakeNoted for the record.

Elena ReyesIt's a small thing, but it's exactly the kind of detail a careful listener would notice.

BlakeAnd a reminder to read a listing next to a release instead of assuming they match, which is a good spot for a short break.

Elena ReyesQuick word from Motto, the platform this show was made on. If you've been thinking about launching a podcast for your company or brand, now's a pretty good time. For a limited time, when you sign up for Motto, we'll also include a custom cover design, white glove onboarding, your own custom jingle, and a spot on our promotional list, a package worth five thousand dollars. Head to heymotto.com to get started.

BlakeOkay, back to the listing then. A disclaimer, named sources, and a host name that doesn't match the press release. That's a lot of small details on one page.

Elena ReyesTotally. And small details are what an operator can actually copy.

BlakeCopy is a strong word. I'd say they're things to decide on purpose, whether to carry a disclaimer, whether to name where your facts come from, and who gets named as host.

Elena ReyesAnd whether those choices read the same everywhere your show appears. That's the one this example puts in front of us, and I'd rather learn it from someone else's page.

BlakeSo what do we do with them?

Elena ReyesLast piece, what anyone running a show can take from all this. Okay, so operators, if you publish on Motto or anywhere, what do you take from a show that posts on a schedule and got a chart mention out of it?

BlakeOne line of caution first. The figures are Lear's own claims, and the rank is a category position. So I'd hold any lesson loosely, and I won't say the format caused the rank.

Elena ReyesFair. So is there even a lesson?

BlakeA small one. Pick a cadence you can keep, not the cadence that sounds impressive in a planning meeting.

Elena ReyesI mean, come on, everybody's planned a daily show for about nine days.

BlakeRight. And the schedule you can actually hit is a decision you make on day one before the enthusiasm wears off. The question is what your team can produce on a bad week, not a good one.

Elena ReyesHmm, that's fair. A bad week is the real test. So what does planning for one look like?

BlakeDecide ahead of time what the smallest acceptable episode is. Not the best one, the smallest one you'd still publish. Then a bad week stops being a crisis and becomes a Tuesday.

Elena ReyesHuh. And a fixed length helps, right? If every episode is meant to land at the same size, you're not renegotiating it every week.

BlakeIt helps. Fewer open decisions means more energy left for the actual content.

Elena ReyesSecond one for me, write down who does what, who researches, who writes, who edits, who signs off.

BlakeMy guess, and it's only a guess, is that a weekly show is more likely to stall at the handoffs than at the writing. Somebody waits on somebody, and Friday comes anyway.

Elena ReyesHmm. I'd flip that, honestly. I think the blank page stalls people more than the handoff does.

BlakeCould be. Neither of us has data on that, so call it two opinions. Either way, writing down who does what helps.

Elena ReyesAnd keep the template boring. Same order, same length, same slot. Then most of the work is filling it in.

BlakeThere's a trade-off there. A rigid template can go stale. I'd rebuild one segment now and then, just not on a deadline week.

Elena ReyesOkay, that's a fair disagreement to leave sitting there. I'd probably change it less than you would.

BlakeNoted. And say the slot out loud to your listeners. A promised day is a small commitment you make to them, and it keeps you honest.

Elena ReyesRight. Third one's short. If you ever quote a rank, name the chart and the date, and keep your own downloads and follows beside it.

BlakeAnd keep a note of where each claim came from. Future you will want the source and won't remember it.

Elena ReyesHuh. Future me never remembers anything.

BlakeOne more. None of this needs a chart to be worth doing. A steady show is useful to its listeners whether or not Apple notices.

Elena ReyesFair. I'll take a show people actually finish over a trophy.

BlakeOkay, so where do people go to read more? Let's get to that.

Elena ReyesEverything from this week lives at heymato.com, the full changelog plus the posts.

BlakeIncluding the one about outside the dollar, if you want to read the claims yourself and check the dates.

Elena ReyesRight. And if you run a show on Mato, we want to hear from you.

BlakeEmail hello@heymato.com. Tell us what you publish and how often.

Elena ReyesUm, and the boring operational stuff is welcome. How long an episode takes, who touches it, what broke.

BlakeEspecially what broke.

Elena ReyesTotally. That's the good part. And if there's a number in a press release you'd like us to pressure test, tell us that too.

BlakeSame address. Hearing how your episodes are actually doing is the best version of this show.

Elena ReyesAgreed. And subscribe wherever you're listening, so the next one just shows up.

BlakeWhichever app you use, hit follow, and you're set.

Elena ReyesRight. And that's all we ask.

BlakeEasy enough. Thanks for spending the time with us.

Elena ReyesThanks, everyone. See you next time.