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vibe coded The Epstein Files podcast with Claude in a weekend and just crossed 100,000 downloads in its first week.
to put that in perspective:
the top 1% of all podcasts globally get around 5,000 downloads in their first 7 days. this did 100k. that's 20x the top 1% threshold.
the average podcast gets 141 downloads in its first 30 days. most spend 18+ months trying to crack 1,000 per episode. a lot never get there and there are 4.5 million podcasts out there right now.
no fancy studio. no production team. just Claude, a mac mini, and a weekend of focused work curating the right approach to this series.
still processing this one honestly.
gave claude the epstein files to create a 64 ep podcast.
millions of data points, names, themes, and timelines connected.
listen on apple/spotify no ads. sources: epsteinfiles.fm
great sourdough starter for your next content prompt
You can literally take any TikTok that got 4 million views, make the 12 minute version of it for YouTube, and get paid many times over for an idea somebody else already proved...
TikTok pays pennies per 1,000 views on short clips. A long YouTube video aimed at adults pays roughly $10-30 per 1,000
So 4 million people told a TikToker they care about a topic & he got lunch money for it
Take the same topic to YouTube, do it properly at 12 minutes, and 200k views at $20 is about $4,000. For an idea you didn't have to guess
TikTok is a free focus group. YouTube is where the invoice gets paid
How to run it:
1. Scroll TikTok for 30 minutes. Screenshot every video over 500k views on a topic with depth behind it. Money, history, health, scams, how something works
2. Take the TOPIC & leave the clip alone. Reposting his video gets you a strike. The subject is free
3. Read the comments. The questions people ask under a 60 second video are the sections of your 12 minute one
4. Search the topic on YouTube. If the long version doesn't exist or it's from 2019, go
5. Script it as a story. What everyone believes, what's actually going on, what it costs you
6. Title it the way the TikTok hooked. That line already beat a million other videos
Why almost nobody does this: the TikTok crowd thinks YouTube is too much work & the YouTube crowd thinks TikTok is for kids. They never look at each other's homework
You don't need to be clever or original. 4 million strangers already voted on the idea
(we build & run YouTube channels at Viral Bangers for businesses that already sell something. we find the proven ideas, write the scripts, edit, title & thumbnail every video, 10 in 90 days. DM me PLAN & i'll show you how we'd run yours)
/goal build this and make no mistake
every week someone tells me they’re going to vibe-code their own @beehiiv alternative over the weekend.
wishing them the best, here’s the backlog of things to make sure to include:
> 99.3% email delivery rate (industry-leading)
> team of deliverability experts with decades of experience
> infrastructure to send 3M+ emails per minute
> validating every single email submission (1st and 3rd party)
> automated bot-detection to prevent spam signups
> registering for every mailbox provider’s feedback program
> ingesting data from said feedback loops and building suppression lists
> tagging every email so gmail reports complaint rates per newsletter
> classifying every bounce (hard, soft, mailbox full, DNS failure) and knowing which ones mean “try again” vs. “never again”
> three layers of suppression: global, per-publication, and transactional
> temporary suppressions that expire on their own, and permanent ones that never do
> one-click unsubscribe, the way gmail and yahoo now require it
> warming new IPs and domains on a schedule
> watching blocklists around the clock, and pulling an IP from rotation the moment it’s listed
> retrying deferred mail for 24+ hours before calling it a bounce
> blocking disposable, invalid, and typo’d addresses before they ever reach the list
> rate limiting every signup endpoint a bot can find
> filtering bot clicks out of every report (something we pay an ungodly amount of money for)
> an acquisition source on every subscriber
> engagement history for every reader, across every post
> multiple sender addresses for different emails
> custom domain configuration that is aligned with DKIM, SPF, DMARC
> a true WYSIWYG editor: what you write is what lands in the inbox, with no HTML required
> turning that editor into table-based, inline-styled email HTML that holds up in outlook
> real-time collaborative editing, so the whole team can work on the same issue at once
> dynamic content: different sections for different readers, all in a single send
> separate email and web versions of every post, from one draft
> free and premium versions of the same post, split by a paywall break
> merge tags that personalize every email, and a simulated subscriber to preview them before you send
> templates with saved colors, fonts, and spacing, plus a default style for every post
> columns, tables, buttons, blockquotes, sections, file attachments, and a table of contents with anchor links
> native embeds for X, youtube, tiktok, instagram, bluesky, stocktwits, and podcast episodes
> polls, referral blocks, recommendations, and ad slots, built right into the post
> an AI writer, AI images, and a built-in AI agent one keyboard shortcut away
> images resized and optimized automatically, however they’re uploaded
> a live email-size gauge that warns you before gmail clips your newsletter
> custom HTML blocks, cleaned so a stray script tag can’t break your post
> automatically hiding anything an inbox can’t handle (video, iframes, audio) in the email version, while keeping it on the web
> links and embeds made clickable even in outlook, which ignores links wrapped around tables
> vertical alignment in columns, because a layout that looks off by 4px looks broken to readers
> converting your newsletter to audio versions for readers who prefer to listen
> random cohort sends to randomly split your list to test different content and conversion
> slash commands: type “/” and insert any block without touching a menu
> markdown and keyboard shortcuts for people who never want to touch a mouse
> pasting from google docs with the formatting intact
> search and replace across the whole post
> comment threads right in the draft, so editors and writers stop living in google docs
> footnotes and citations that work in the inbox and on the web
> code blocks, for the technical newsletters
> an AI writer that rewrites, translates, and fixes spelling and grammar in place
> autosave, so a closed tab never costs you a draft
> subject line A/B testing, built into the send flow
> drag-and-drop images, from your computer, your media library, or a URL
> rich-text image captions, plus image titles and alt text for accessibility
> audio files that play inline
> file attachments, so a PDF can ride along with the issue
> sections with their own backgrounds, borders, and spacing
> blockquotes with custom borders, colors, and styles
> content breaks and dividers that render cleanly in every inbox
> a REST API for subscribers, posts, segments, automations, and more
> a send API to create and send newsletters programmatically
> creating, updating, and deleting subscribers in real time
> reading and writing custom fields on any subscriber
> tagging subscribers from your own app
> enrolling subscribers into automations via API
> pulling opens, clicks, and engagement for every post
> fetching post HTML rendered for free vs. premium, email vs. web
> creating posts from a template, then appending or prepending content
> fetching segments and every subscriber in them
> managing tiers and premium subscriptions
> pulling referral program data and milestones
> reading poll and survey responses
> pagination that holds up across millions of records
> rate limits that protect the platform without blocking real integrations
> API keys you can create and revoke anytime
> an MCP server so claude, chatgpt, and other AI tools can work inside beehiiv
> drafting and editing posts from an AI chat
> asking for open rates, CTR, and revenue in plain english
> comparing performance across dozens of posts in one request
> looking up any subscriber's full history and engagement
> building segments by describing them
> creating and editing automations
> generating AI images straight into your media library
> managing website pages, redirects, and SEO
> reading and replying to community posts and DMs
> reviewing ad offers and ad revenue reports
> managing podcast shows and episodes
> creating digital products, coupons, and promo codes
> running subscriber growth and earnings reports
> setting up subject line A/B tests
> deliverability by mailbox provider for any post
> searching docs without leaving the chat
> inviting teammates by email
> admin, member, and contributor roles
> admins who control billing, exports, integrations, payments, and domains
> members with full access minus admin permissions
> contributors limited to drafting posts and automations
> roles at the workspace or publication level
> multiple publications under one workspace
> workspace grouping and search for people on multiple teams
> multiple authors per post, with bylines
> guest authors for one-off contributors
> author profiles with bios, avatars, and social links
> community roles mapped to workspace roles (admin, manager, moderator)
> real-time collaboration and comment threads on every draft
> removing access the moment someone leaves
> publication transfers between owners, with written consent
> secure, single-use magic links to log in from desktop
> a no-code website builder on your own custom domain
> an AI website builder that works from plain-english prompts or screenshots
> AI custom elements for live widgets
> drag-and-drop editing, plus HTML access for full control
> site-wide theme tokens for fonts, colors, borders, and shadows
> global navbar, footer, and signup and login modals
> saving sections, blocks, and pages as reusable templates
> version history with one-click restore
> custom pages with their own SEO settings and paywalls
> redirects, so old links never break
> custom robots.txt
> auto-generated meta titles and descriptions for every post
> google news schema
> pages up to 80% faster on largest contentful paint
> image carousels and grids
> youtube blocks that update when you post new videos
> an automatic page for every podcast episode
> pop-ups and gated content to turn visitors into subscribers
> a visual automation builder, no code required
> triggers based on signup source, behavior, purchases, and engagement
> welcome sequences that start the second someone subscribes
> delays and wait steps
> branching logic based on subscriber attributes
> reusable condition sets across automations
> email steps built in the same editor as your newsletter
> webhook steps that call your own systems, with automatic retries
> enrolling subscribers via API
> per-subscriber journey tracking
> opens and clicks for every email in every flow
> editing a draft version while the live automation keeps running
> comparing draft vs. live before you publish changes
> reordering steps in bulk
> segment conditions based on whether an automation started
> product delivery and follow-ups triggered by purchases
> selling files, links, guides, templates, and ebooks
> memberships and time-based products
> 1:1 coaching sessions and appointments
> 0% platform fees on every sale
> a storefront on your beehiiv website
> products sold inside emails and automations
> free products that double as lead magnets
> product variants
> discount codes and promotion codes
> product reviews, with moderation
> product tags for organizing your catalog
> orders dashboard with buyer details
> sales totals per product
> duplicating a product in one click
> automatic delivery the moment someone buys
> payouts through stripe
> live webinars with up to 10,000 attendees
> ticket sales in 10 currencies
> native streaming with video, screen sharing, and chat
> no zoom required
> up to 5 automated reminder emails
> calendar invites sent automatically
> a recording of every session
> selling the replay as its own product
> 0% platform fees on tickets
> free webinars that grow your list
> discount codes on tickets
> 1:1 coaching bookings
> buyers linked to their subscriber profile
> promoting events in your newsletter and on your site
> orders and revenue reporting for every event
> a community built into your newsletter: channels, posts, and comments
> channels that are free or gated to paid tiers
> syncing newsletter posts into the community
> direct messages between you and members
> threaded comments
> pinned posts
> a moderation queue for reported posts and comments
> banning and unbanning members
> admin, manager, and moderator roles
> inviting subscribers, segments, or specific emails
> surfacing your most engaged subscribers to invite first
> community metrics: new members, posts, and activity
> notification emails with your own from name
> channel ordering and a default channel
> luma calendar integration for events
> discord integration that syncs roles with subscription tiers
> native podcast hosting with zero platform fees
> distribution to apple podcasts, spotify, and youtube
> an automatic webpage for every episode
> automatic transcripts
> IAB-standard analytics by country, app, and device
> bot filtering on downloads
> downloads and unique listeners per episode and per show
> private feeds for paying subscribers
> bundling your podcast with your paid subscription
> importing from other hosts with episode GUIDs preserved
> RSS redirects so listeners follow you over
> scheduled episodes
> apple podcasts categories and metadata
> podcast players embedded in your posts
> a full episode library on your site
> webhooks for episode and private-feed events
> segments built on behavior, attributes, and engagement
> dynamic segments that update automatically
> static segments that stay fixed
> filtering by acquisition source, including magic links
> filtering by custom fields and tags
> filtering by subscription tier and paid trial status
> filtering by whether an automation started
> reusable condition sets
> recalculating a segment on demand
> sending to a segment, or excluding one
> segments that power dynamic content inside a single post
> segments as automation conditions
> adding a whole segment to a newsletter list
> multiple newsletter lists in one publication
> exporting any segment
> webhooks for new, confirmed, and deleted subscribers
> upgrade, downgrade, pause, and resume events
> tier created, deleted, paused, and resumed events
> newsletter list subscribe and unsubscribe events
> post sent, scheduled, and updated events
> survey response events
> podcast episode published, updated, archived, and deleted events
> private podcast feed access events
> choosing exactly which events each endpoint receives
> a signing secret on every endpoint
> automatic retries on failed deliveries
> a log of every delivery attempt
> manually retrying any failed message
> disabling an endpoint without deleting it
> versioned payloads
> webhook steps inside automations
> survey forms with multiple question types
> polls that readers answer with one click, right in the inbox
> every answer tied to a real subscriber
> live poll results
> per-question response breakdowns
> aggregate results across every survey
> individual responses you can browse one by one
> webhooks the moment a survey is submitted
> survey and poll data available via API
> polls on the web and in email
> signup flows that send new subscribers through a survey
> surveys that tell you what to write next
> polls for picking topics, products, and pricing
> response data you can turn into segments
> no third-party form tool required
> a library of professionally designed post templates
> custom colors, fonts, and spacing on every template
> a default style applied to every new post
> content outlines baked into templates
> separate email and web styling
> theme design tokens per template
> duplicating templates in one click
> a custom email footer applied to every post
> templates with sponsor slots, referral blocks, and recommendations built in
> creating posts from templates via API
> template changes picked up instantly by API-created posts
> website templates
> saved sections, blocks, and pages for your site
> welcome email templates
> templates your whole team shares
> the largest native ad network for newsletters
> brands like netflix, hubspot, notion, and nike (and 525+ others)
> ads available to claim for your upcoming posts
> dropping an ad into a post with one click
> earnings and payouts reported for every placement
> ad revenue reports post by post
> a history of every opportunity you accepted or declined
> bot-filtered clicks advertisers can trust
> custom link parameters for advertiser attribution
> brand safety review on every campaign
> payouts to your beehiiv wallet
> direct sponsorships: selling your own placements
> sponsorship products with your own formats and pricing
> scheduled sponsor placements with advertiser details
> 0% platform fees on paid subscriptions
> multiple paid tiers
> monthly and annual plans
> free trials
> paid trials, like $1 for 30 days
> metered paywalls, new york times-style
> a paywall break inside any post
> discount offers
> gift subscriptions
> group subscriptions: one buyer, many seats
> custom group deals for teams and companies
> pausing and resuming subscriptions
> private podcast feeds and gated community channels as paid perks
> payouts through stripe connect
> recommendation network with 60K+ active newsletters
> getting recommended by thousands of other newsletters
> free, reciprocal recommendations
> paid recommendations: pay to grow, or get paid to recommend
> discovering newsletters to partner with
> AI-suggested recommendation partners
> applications for paid recommendations, with accept and reject
> engagement and spend insights for every partner
> pausing, resuming, or ending any partnership
> fraud detection on paid recommendations
> clawing back payouts for fake subscribers
> recommendations inside your newsletter, not just at signup
> attribution for every subscriber a partner sends you
> one-click subscribes powered by magic links
> one-click subscribe links, no form needed
> UTM parameters carried through on every link
> rate limiting on every request
> bot detection and honeypots
> a confirmation step only when a click looks suspicious
> double opt-in respected
> redirecting new subscribers straight to your site
> magic links as a filterable acquisition source
> links you can drop into other newsletters, socials, and ads
> login magic links so paid subscribers can read premium posts
> single-use tokens that expire in minutes
> rate limits on login requests
> protection against timing attacks
> logging in on desktop from a link sent to mobile
> faster logins across every beehiiv publication
> embeddable subscribe forms for any website
> full-width, fixed-width, and slim embeds
> an attribution script to track where signups come from
> custom colors, fonts, and styling
> theme design tokens per form
> a draft and publish workflow for form changes
> comparing draft vs. live before publishing
> multiple forms per publication
> custom success behavior: a message or a redirect
> pop-ups on your beehiiv site
> gating posts to subscribers only
> readers picking which newsletter lists to join
> signup flows that run right after subscribing
> bot protection on every submission
> forms that work on wordpress, webflow, and anywhere else
> a customizable link-in-bio page
> hosted on your own beehiiv site and domain
> a subscribe form built in
> your brand colors, fonts, and buttons
> social links for every platform
> links to your latest posts
> links to your products and paid tiers
> a linktree integration that captures newsletter signups
> every visitor a potential subscriber
> traffic from instagram, tiktok, and X turned into owned email subscribers
> visits tracked in your website analytics
> signups tagged with their acquisition source
> mobile-first design
> no third-party link tool required
> updated in seconds, from the same dashboard as everything else
> real-time website analytics, no third-party tools
> traffic by channel
> filters for location, device, OS, and referral source
> website and newsletter analytics in one place
> breakdowns by page, referrer, and more
> custom conditions to slice any report
> AI crawler and bot analytics: what was served vs. blocked
> control over which crawlers can index your site
> UTM tracking on every link
> custom link parameters at the publication level
> an acquisition source on every subscriber
> google analytics integration
> podcast analytics alongside your site
> trends over time
> website traffic connected to the subscribers it produced
> native integrations with linktree, hubspot, manychat, meta, and dozens of other apps
> human support team with a dozen experts ready to assist with whatever you need
oh, and besides having to manage all of this on your own indefinitely forever… your vibe-coded solution will still require paying for and stitching together a ton of software:
> email sending (sendgrid, amazon SES, postmark)
> web hosting (vercel, AWS, render)
> database + queue (supabase, neon, RDS)
> payments (stripe, memberful)
> auth (clerk, auth0, supabase auth)
> monitoring + alerting (sentry, datadog, pagerduty)
> workflow engine (inngest, temporal, upstash qstash)
> bot protection (cloudflare)
> email validation (zerobounce, kickbox)
> email rendering (litmus, email on acid)
> click verification (omnivery)
> media storage + CDN (S3, R2, vercel blob)
> product analytics (posthog, mixpanel)
…but at least you saved $59/mo not paying for @beehiiv anymore 🫡
levy retweeted
If I had to compress one important idea I've learned about podcasting, it would be this:
"notice what you have an contagious irrational passion for -- and bottle it up for the rest of us"
Contagious, irrational passion.
If your interest level is rational...you're not gonna make it.
Irrational is you fall asleep listening to old talks on youtube about it. You read everything you can get your hands on. You care about it far beyond it's usefulness to you.
Contagious is also important. You know how some people's laugh makes you laugh, even when the joke isn't funny to you? You need that as a creator. Your passion must be so contagious that you get me excited about stuff I don't even care about. I watched a youtube documentary yesterday on the best scrabble player in the world.
5 minutes before that, I didn't care. But 5 minutes into it, I was hooked. The guys excitement about this scrabble god was contagious.
Most people don't have anything they're irrationally, contagiously passionate about. That's fine. Most people don't need/deserve to have a popular channel.
But I suspect many more people could have one, than currently do. That's because most people underestimate themselves. They think they need some special skill or experience. Nope.
And even if you do notice it, most people lack courage to actually go for it. They're so afraid to fail, they will instead will try to fit for what they're guessing people want. No no no. bad bad dumb dumb.
Gotta own what you nerd out about.
For me, that's business & life wisdom. I love underdog entrepreneur stories. I'm a sucker for a good quote. I love brainstorming bad business ideas. I love marketing/growth hacks. So I bottled that up into a podcast. 100M+ downloads later, I get paid handsomely to talk to my friends who are also business junkies.
Not everybody has contagious irrational passion, but if you do -- don't underestimate it.
You can tap dance to work everyday, and make hundreds of millions of dollars as a byproduct.
Bill Simmons has an irrational, contagious passion for sports & pop culture. For 20 years he's been podcasting & blogging about it with his friends.
David Senra is irrationally passionate about biographies of great men. There's a dude on youtube called "Ryan Hall Y'all" who's obsessed with the weather. I don't care about the weather, but he's so into it, I'll get sucked in.
True crime, food, business, movie breakdowns etc.. there's an infinite number of niches. But it's harry potter. you don't choose the niche. the niche chooses you. It's already chosen you. You just have to notice & accept it
im sunsetting @nbnfm_.
open sourcing what i tried, what i learned, and why i stopped.
detailed post below. onto the next!
a War Desk listener who subscribes to NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg, and The Atlantic just told us we’re the only one giving him the facts behind the conclusions
levy retweeted
The Epstein Files: Are AI Podcasts the Future? @levychain xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1vJpPreEb…
levy retweeted
2.8 million downloads. #1 podcast in the UK. Fully AI-generated
@levychain used Claude to untangle the Epstein files. Now he’s proving it’s a repeatable business model
Livestream with @mattmedved Tuesday at 2pm ET 🎙️
levy retweeted
There is a podcast that did more than 2.8 million downloads, hit no.1 in the UK on Apple, and... is entirely AI-generated
Enjoyed chatting with @levychain about how he built "The Epstein Files" pod and what it means for the future of content 🔊⬇️
just dropped a new @nbnfm_ original series, 25 episodes covering the full story of Rex Heuermann and the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, told through the news, court documents, forensic evidence, and firsthand testimony.
"Rex: The Gilgo Beach Architect" is out now on Spotify and Apple.
first 10 episodes are live, with the rest published every other day.
site -
nbn.fm/rex-the-gilgo-beach-a…
spotify - open.spotify.com/show/3P6tIS…
apple (still indexing) - podcasts.apple.com/podcast/i…
the stories we tell about neurodivergence tend to go in one of two directions:
1) either it is framed as a deficit, something to manage, accommodate, or medicate, or
2) it gets romanticized into some kind of superpower narrative that does not match the actual lived experience of struggling through systems that were not built for you.
what Neurodivergent is looking for is something in between, something that looks honestly at real people, at the full complexity of how their minds worked and how that played out across their lives, and lets you draw your own conclusions about what it means.
pretty crazy how many of the most iconic builders, athletes, and creatives in history were told their brain didn't work right.
we got inspired by this idea from Alex Karp of @PalantirTech and built a whole series around it called 'Neurodivergent'.
the goal behind this series is to show that the traits society tried to medicate, suppress, or fix were usually the exact traits that made these people impossible to ignore.
first 10 episodes live now. new episode everyday.
listen: nbn.fm/neurodivergent
pretty crazy how many of the most iconic builders, athletes, and creatives in history were told their brain didn't work right.
we got inspired by this idea from Alex Karp of @PalantirTech and built a whole series around it called 'Neurodivergent'.
the goal behind this series is to show that the traits society tried to medicate, suppress, or fix were usually the exact traits that made these people impossible to ignore.
first 10 episodes live now. new episode everyday.
listen: nbn.fm/neurodivergent
two months ago i spent a weekend pointing an ai at millions of epstein court documents, financial records, and deposition transcripts.
by monday it was on the charts.
a few weeks later it had 2.8 million downloads across 83 countries, and i still hadn't spent a single dollar on marketing.
that weekend changed how i think about media - everyone knows it's broken and i'm gonna try and fix it.
i realized the biggest bottleneck in media has never been the stories. it's been the human capital required to find them.
so i started a company to create media that i wanted to consume. i'm calling it the neural broadcast network (nbn.fm).
we're a technology-first media company producing original shows across politics, culture, business, science, and more, all sourced from public records, all cited, no spin. two shows live now, many more on the way.
the next great media company will make you wonder why you ever trusted the last one.
full story in today's newsletter.
