We spent all last month filling in the world's longest and most detailed application for a multi-week accelerator training program designed to "help mid-career podcasters 'level up' with a renewed focus on business development, audience growth, optionality, video strategies, and long-term sustainability."
Hey, that's exactly what we need!
They said they're looking for "applicants that have already been producing media and podcasts for at least 3 years. Specifically, creators looking to take a current podcast past creative development and into business strategy."
That's us!
Applicants "must be able to demonstrate success and enthusiasm with current or past podcast(s) either through audience retention and growth, conceptual rigor, diversification of podcast offerings, revenue and/ or partnerships"
That's us too!
Also, applicants "must be willing to pause production during the program," "represent a range of geographies, backgrounds, views, voices, and styles," have "baseline technical and editorial skills," and be "interested in making their podcast sustainable through teamwork, openness to iteration and change, and pursuing revenue and audience growth."
That's four more yeses! We figured we'd be a shoe-in for the program.
...we weren't. The rejection email arrived yesterday.
But we did spend weeks creating a bitchin' Hollywood blockbuster cinematic audio trailer for our Asteroid Arnie episode and a mock interview episode to answer their questions:
1. Explain to us what this podcast, brand, and/or creative project would look like in its most fully realized form.
2. What are the key accomplishments and milestones you are striving to reach?
3. If you had unlimited resources and support, where would you take it?
The way we figure, they're both pretty darn good pieces of audio we spent a long time making, so why let them go to waste?