December 2018

Hi there!

Happy New Year!

This is the 15th full month that I worked on Listen Notes full-time. It's been a wild month!

You can read past issues of this monthly update.

Product updates

1. Launched an iOS app called "Just Listen". It's an experiment. I've got some very positive feedback so far. But people who already listen to podcasts may have a hard time understanding this app :)

2. Launched Listen Real-Time. It's also an experiment. It's like Google Analytics Real-time, but for podcast episodes. It shows what podcast episodes are being listened on Listen Notes right now. Check it out.

3. Use Google Ad Manager to do ads delivery & tracking. I should've used it earlier! It's very powerful & flexible.

4. Added two new endpoints for Listen API.

5. Built a simple self-service ads system. Launched for a few days. Finally, sunset it. It was a failed experiment.

6. Things related to infrastructure hygiene, e.g., deleted dead code, database backup/restore fire drill, disaster simulation, added more system alerts... These belong to the bucket of "don't die" tasks.

Company updates

It's been a wild month. I've got inquiries from three different people who wanted to buy ListenNotes.com. The answer is "no" from me. But I would consider this as a positive signal.

I've built a bunch of things for ListenNotes.com & Listen API in 2018. Now it's time to focus on a narrower scope in 2019.

Some numbers

• Database: 604k podcasts; 38.7 million episodes

• Website: 540k page views & 205k unique visitors (all-time high, again)

Blog posts

• Just Listen™: A simple podcast app for the 99%

• Listen Real-Time: Like Google Analytics Real-Time, but for podcast episodes

Thanks for reading! Drop me a line and tell me what you think about Listen Notes -- just reply this email or hello@listennotes.com :)