🧱Build in Public #1
Purpose- (un)Supervised Learning is scaling, from 0 as a podcast, newsletter and blog. The intention is to build a community for non-tech natives to learn and utilise locally run AI and opensource too
Intentions up front-
unbiased knowledge sharing
no hype/ no overwhelm
platforming people who can help build better technological infrastructure
to have a true community- not a "top-down" personality cult.
By sharing the numbers, I can be held accountable, be told "hey that seems overblown" or "you could focus more here".
It's a marathon, not a sprint, virality and follower count is not the aim of the game but it is a data point so I will be checking in monthly to see what is working.
Currently, as mentioned later on in the post, I'd like to consider funding options where listeners/subscribers are not charged for content and where advertisements are not plentiful. It's an ongoing conversation and balance I'd love input on.
With that, I give you what's been going on
The metrics (past 30 days)
2 podcasts live (Daniel Han Unsloth AI Alex Atallah - OpenRouter)
2 being edited
12 booked in (folks from Hugging Face , PostHog , @Openinterpreter+ more)
147 Subscribers on Substack
3 paid subscribers
$212 annualised revenue
7 posts on Substack (50.93% open rate)
1600 views on substack
4 crossposted on medium
1 on Hackernoon
11k video views tiktok (12 videos)
7 spotify followers
9 Youtube subscribers (I’m convinced 2 are my dad lol)
397 followers added on Linkedin
76,121 post impressions
11.5k impressions Twitter
Engagement 4.4% increase Twitter Also started an account on Bluesky
Considered
Solo podcasts with Q&A readouts from a dedicated subreddit
How to "monetise" without charging readers/ community members?
What format will work best?
Tested
Boosts on beehiiv- not wanting to continue paid advertising/ paying for subscribers, organic is priority👎
Posting on reddit r/locallama and substack (tbh, I love reddit and have been a big baby about posting there. I’ve reached out to mods to ask permission to read questions and answers for the podcast)👍
Automating podcast research/ outreach- just because we can, doesn't mean we should... 👎 (more on this in a video upcoming but it served as an interesting introduction to LangChain tools and I don't regret it!)
Different tools tested- Podcastle, Riverside.fm, Ghost, Descript (keeping for rn), Notion for workflow, Simplecast , Podkite, Capcut, Capsule + more I'm probably forgetting.
Learnt- How to record, how to set up audio/ filming, VSCode python to test Crew AI, Langchain tools (project tested automated newsletter for self usage). How to import own model into Jan . Podcast workflow (questions beforehand, editing), what it means to incorporate as a business- how I am needing to up my financial literacy.
Curious
Discord or Slack ⚖️
Substack or Beehiiv? (not keen on Beehiiv)
Patreon instead of Kofi? (or neither?!)
Opencollective is a very cool way to operate- would love to connect with others who fund their projects this way
Future
Doubling down on Youtube (to cross-post to tiktok) / local llm set ups/ guides
Writing on others publications (guest posting) (thank you to those who have reached out to host me!)
Meeting with other projects (AI for education- JeezAI S/O Muratcan Koylan)
Costs -💳
Operating costs since inception- 6183 AUD+ 1274 AUD employee fees for month
=$4866 USD spent total. Expected operating cost monthly after initial setup ~2000 USD (in line with this article from Podcastle)
Breakdown of costs
234 AUD- Boom arm for mic, logitech brio (4k streaming- great camera)
200 USD- Beehiiv- 99 membership, 100 their boost program (CPA $2.50- :/) 40 newsletter subscribers (see this post for great breakdown if you go that route)
144AUD-Riverside.fm yearly membership- refunded as was within 2 days of signup (Riverside didn't work for me/my browser/ needs at this time. The support is wonderful however and I may return)
3499 AUD- the big one, video editing, running concurrent processes (streaming + running local llms was freezing my refurbished macbook air). m3 pro means I'll be able to test a bunch more + commit to video production. Still stings as a purchase though
~2000 AUD admin cost- company incorporation, domain, financial admin, insurance, etc.Having always operated as a sole trader- this is a new world to me and something I'd rather not deal with but I know it's important.
Wins- Free Notion for startups (6 months) using opensource + free tools (see f6s)
Priorities for next month (February)
Have a big list of topics to cover based on what is relevant, accessible and interesting Here's a content calender (just started)
Also working on Local AI 101 post
Getting 10 recorded podcasts/ videos under my belt/ shake off nerves
Hear more from others in OS/AI space. Test new repos.
Have fun 😮💨
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