What does it look like to build a network around removing every obstacle that kills podcasts before they ever find an audience?

Rich Butler started RAGE Works Podcast Network in 2014 after his own long-running podcast wound down and the people around him caught the bug. Rather than pointing them elsewhere, he handed them a blueprint and stayed in the room. What followed wasn't a revenue-first strategy. It was a production-and-distribution model built around making it easier for motivated people to create. His reasoning is simple and consistent: content is what grows a network, and the best way to get more content is to get out of the way.

What makes Rich's approach distinct is what he refuses to optimize for. He won't take a cut of ad deals he didn't facilitate. He won't chase podcasters for their episodes. He won't guarantee listeners or money in the first conversation. The network exists to water plants and watch the garden grow…and he'll tell you that's exactly why it works.

Listen For:

03:08 Network as a Discovery Platform

04:37 How My Take Radio Became a Network

07:41 Why the Dual-Feed Model Still Works

10:01 Revenue Without the Revenue-First Model

13:04 On Downloads, Die-Hards, and Real Numbers

16:25 What to Ask Before You Join a Network

18:47 Removing the Roadblocks That Kill Podcasts

23:53 Audio First, Video Second

27:48 What the Onboarding Process Actually Looks Like

31:04 The Jockey Runs the Horse

36:54 Gary Vee Called His Bluff

39:51 The Case for 10 Downloads

44:02 Be of Service, Not a Gatekeeper

CONNECT WITH GUEST: RICHARD BUTLER

FOUNDER OF THE RAGE WORKS PODCAST NETWORK

LinkedIn | Website | Website 2 | Instagram

Rich's Podcast Rec: The Jay Ferruggia Show

Rich's Book Rec: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

CONNECT WITH GREG WASSERMAN, HEAD OF RELATIONSHIPS FOR RSS.COM

Website | LinkedIn

Greg’s book rec: Return on Courage by Ryan Berman

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Produced by Stories & Strategies

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Podcast Project Management with Northflow