This Startup Creates Tailored Podcasts and Personalised Briefs For You – In Short Pod Startup Review

In a world overflowing with content, keeping up can feel like a full-time job. Your daily scroll through social media, news articles, and event reminders can become a chaotic tangle of information. It’s a familiar scene for busy families and individuals between their thirties and fifties, navigating work and life while trying to stay informed. How can one find the time to absorb so much without feeling overwhelmed?

Enter In Short Pod—where personalised audio briefings transform the way you consume content. Picture receiving a tailored podcast each morning that highlights your interests—from the latest news to key calendar events, even important birthdays. Soon, clipping articles from the web for concise summaries will be just a tap away, turning content overload into easily digestible audio bites.

Cory Trimm, the brain behind this innovative startup, initially crafted In Short Pod as a personal project. With a vision to simplify the way people absorb information, he responded to a real need—a solution that turns the overwhelming into the manageable. To learn more about Cory’s journey and the exciting potential of In Short Pod, we did an interview to find out.

What is In Short Pod?

In Short Pod is a unique audio service designed to streamline how busy individuals consume information. Imagine waking up and receiving a personalised briefing that covers your specific interests—whether it’s the latest news, calendar events, or even upcoming birthdays. This service curates content meticulously tailored to your needs, helping you start your day informed without the visual clutter.

The target audience primarily consists of busy families and professionals aged 30 to 50, who often juggle work and personal commitments. These individuals face the challenge of information overload in their daily lives. In Short Pod addresses this issue by synthesising various content sources, including news feeds and personal calendars, into audio briefings, thereby minimising the time required to stay up-to-date.

What sets In Short Pod apart is its hyper-personalisation. Users can select topics and receive summaries that resonate with their interests. Furthermore, the app will soon offer the ability to clip articles from the web, which will then be summarised and integrated into the daily briefing. The focus on creating a tailored and easy-to-digest audio experience distinguishes it from other content consumption tools in the market.

In Short Pod Founder

Cory Trimm is the founder of In Short Pod, a venture inspired by his decade-long experience in software engineering across both startups and larger corporations. This background provided him with a solid technical foundation, but it’s his life experience that truly shaped the direction of his startup. As someone who understands the weight of information overload, Cory aimed to create a solution that would resonate with busy adults, especially families and professionals navigating the chaos of daily life.

Before In Short Pod became a recognised name, it started as a personal project. Cory built the initial version of the app to manage his own need for streamlined information. He developed it on GitHub Actions, testing the waters in his free time. The turning point came when he showcased the tool to friends and family, who expressed that they, too, craved a simpler way to consume information. Their feedback sparked the idea that this could be more than just a personal tool; it could serve a broader audience struggling with the same challenge.

In the early days, the focus was primarily on infrastructure instead of user acquisition. Building a robust backend that could handle multiple content sources was the top priority. Although initial marketing efforts were not at the center of attention, Cory’s goal was clear and simple, to create a seamless experience. This journey has been a learning process, highlighting the importance of balancing infrastructure with marketing to grow the user base effectively.

With no external funding yet, Cory has remained bootstrapped. This independence has allowed him the leeway to freely develop and iterate based on user feedback. Yet, it’s the organic growth that stands out—having doubled the user base recently without much formal outreach highlights the latent demand for such a solution. Through all this, Cory remains keen on understanding user needs, aiming to refine the service into something indispensable for daily information consumption.

Interview with Cory Trimm, Founder of In Short Pod

The team recently got the chance to interview Cory Trimm, founder of In Short Pod. His journey and insights into the startup shed light on its purpose and trajectory.

Q: Can you introduce yourself and your role at In Short Pod?
A: I am Cory Trimm, and I represent In Short Pod as the founder. My experience in software engineering spans over ten years, where I’ve worked with both startups and larger companies.

Q: What exactly does In Short Pod do?
A: In Short Pod gives users the ability to select topics of interest and receive a daily audio rundown akin to The New York Times’ The Daily. Users can integrate their calendar, allowing us to summarise upcoming events and remind them of important birthdays and anniversaries. Soon, they’ll even be able to clip articles from the web to have them summarised and delivered as part of their daily briefing.

Q: Who is your primary target audience?
A: We primarily serve busy families and individuals who juggle numerous responsibilities, typically between their early 30s and late 50s.

Q: What problem does your startup aim to solve?
A: Our main focus revolves around creating and curating hyper-personalised audio content. We want to reduce the overwhelming amount of information people face at the start of their day.

Q: How do you solve this problem practically?
A: We integrate various content sources, such as calendars, news feeds, and different APIs, to deliver a unique audio experience tailored to each user.

Q: Tell us about your early days.
A: In the beginning, I concentrated on building the infrastructure rather than seeking initial users. I faced challenges in setting up the backend architecture, and I realised later that I hadn’t dedicated enough time to marketing. Now, I’m focusing on promoting the product, which is currently free to attract users and gather feedback.

Q: What sets In Short Pod apart from competitors?
A: My startup isn’t directly comparable to anything else I’ve seen. Google’s NotebookLM is somewhat similar but serves a different purpose.

Q: Have you secured any external funding?
A: No, we have not received funding yet. I’ve completely bootstrapped this venture.

Q: Can you share your current user statistics?
A: We have over 30 users, and we recently doubled our user base without significant marketing efforts. This reflects a 100% increase in growth compared to previous months.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: I plan to add support for other languages, expand the range of content sources, and enable users to order the content according to their preferences.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
A: Ship your product to potential users quickly. Don’t get bogged down by perfecting visuals or presentations. Instead, get feedback and pivot based on real user experiences.

Q: Lastly, what additional insights would you like to share?
A: I’m encouraging new users to sign up and try the app. It’s important to understand our retention metrics, but I also want to learn why individuals choose to subscribe, their ideal episode lengths, and what would transform our product into an essential tool for them.

Feedough’s Take on In Short Pod

In Short Pod tackles information overload with a promising solution for busy individuals. Its personalised audio briefings not only cater to user interests but also simplify the daily content consumption process. The focus on hyper-personalisation is a game changer, allowing users to stay informed efficiently. As it evolves, expanding content sources and enhancing integration features could elevate user engagement. The current bootstrapped model demonstrates lean startup principles, but seeking strategic funding might help accelerate growth. Overall, In Short Pod is on a path to disrupt how we consume information, making it a startup to watch in the coming years.