Dear founder,
The more I work in the world of podcasting, watching the crazy amount of content that people produce, the more convinced I become that we’re living in a time where the age of the gatekeeper — the editorial, the pre-selection, the pre-filtering — is over.
🎧 Listen to this on my podcast.
Working with my customers at Podscan.fm has given me a front-row seat to this transformation, and the implications are fascinating.
There’s a movement in the entrepreneurial world to fill a gap. And I believe it’s a very profitable opportunity.
From Institutions to Individuals
Remember when TV stations decided what you’d watch and when you’d watch it? When video stores’ shelf space limited your movie choices? That world is gone. Between YouTube’s infinite scroll and Netflix’s endless catalogue, we’ve moved from scarcity to abundance. The gatekeepers of old — publishers, editors, curators — have been replaced by algorithms and, more importantly, by ourselves.
This shift becomes crystal clear in my daily work. There are 2.5 million podcasts out there, with thousands of them dedicated to single sports teams, each dissecting every game, discussing coaching decisions, and debating player trades. But here’s the kicker: most of these shows only have a couple thousand listeners. This is Seth Godin’s “long tail” in action — not the ten big shows about a topic, but the ten thousand niche podcasts that speak to specific audiences in specific ways.
And each of them wants to be found by the people it was made for.
The Discovery Dilemma
With years worth of YouTube content uploaded every hour, discovery has become the new frontier. It’s a problem I wrestle with daily at Podscan.fm: how do you help the right content find the right audience when there’s simply too much of everything?
I see this challenge play out in my own life, particularly when looking for cooking recipes. Sometimes I’ll wade through SEO-optimized articles with their mandatory life stories, other times I’m hunting for that perfect recipe that matches my exact ingredients and preferred cooking method. The old world of cookbooks gave you one definitive recipe; the digital age gives you infinite variations.
In that moment, I realize that YouTube is both the best and the worst source of information at the same time. And there’s really no one out there who I can rely on to just show me the good parts.
Or at the very least, things have changed a lot here.
Trust as the New Currency
What’s fascinating is how we’ve started replacing institutional gatekeepers —think editorial tastemakers, newspaper critics— with trusted individuals. Often, with peers. Take those celebrity chefs who’ve replaced nameless cookbook publishers. Their influence doesn’t come from institutional authority but from building personal connections with their audience. When I want a good BBQ recipe, I tend to ask a brother-in-law who they recommend me to check out.
I see this same pattern in podcasting, where successful creators aren’t just content producers — they’re trusted curators. We listen to them because our friends listen to them.
This shift creates an interesting opportunity that I’m exploring with Podscan.fm: gatekeeping as a service. People are overwhelmed by choice and actively seeking trusted voices to help them navigate the content ocean. They want the cognitive load of decision-making removed, but — and this is crucial — they want it removed by someone they trust, not by an faceless institution.
And what I noticed among my Podscan customers is that they facilitate this for their own paid users and clients. I provide the raw data, and they become the theme-specific gatekeeper-of-choice for their own audiences.
The AI Wild Card
Looking ahead, I’m particularly intrigued by how AI might fit into this ecosystem. Seeing people build AI-enabled recommendation systems with Podscan.fm has shown me the potential for AI to become a personal curator, one that understands your unique preferences and can make informed choices based on your data.
But will people trust AI the way they trust human curators? That’s a question we’re still exploring.
I’d certainly trust an AI trained on my own consumption preferences just a little bit more than an influencer who’s chasing the next sponsoring contract. The central issue here is transparency, and I wonder how (and if) that will make it into the AI recommendation process.
The New Rules of Trust
What’s become clear through my work is that trust now flows through networks rather than down from institutions. When I look at my customers and, outside of Podscan, my social media audience, I see how crucial peer recommendations have become. Every interaction, every share, every recommendation builds or diminishes trust within these networks.
Every week or so, some new drama rears its head on Twitter. First WordPress, then boilerplate code security, and every now and then, Pieter Level’s famous single-file index.php businesses. People love to discuss and deconstruct choices we make as founders, and all action are taking in public. People are watching, and they’re quick to judge.
This has profound implications for creators and entrepreneurs.
All of a sudden, everything you share in public is a single retweet away from becoming viral — for better or worse.
At the same time, the barriers to entry have crumbled — you don’t need a business degree or hundreds of thousands in startup capital anymore. With AI tools democratizing production, anyone can create content or build products with minimal investment.
But this democratization creates its own challenges. When everyone can create, standing out becomes the new barrier. I’ve learned that success in this environment isn’t about reaching everyone — it’s about being specifically valuable to someone. You don’t need universal appeal; you need to be trusted by the right people in the right niche.
The Path Forward
What I’ve come to understand through building Podscan.fm and working in this space is that while the age of institutional gatekeeping is over, the need for curation hasn’t disappeared — it’s just changed form. The future belongs to those who can build trust, whether they’re individual creators, brands, or AI systems.
In a world without traditional gatekeepers, the path to success isn’t about getting past the guards — it’s about becoming a trusted guide for your specific audience. And perhaps that’s a better system anyway: one where trust is earned through value and authenticity rather than bestowed by institution and tradition.
If you want to track your brand mentions on podcasts, please check out podscan.fm — and tell your friends!
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