Mark C. Webster

Operating Partner at @ERANYC. Prev: Founder of Adobe Podcast, Founder of @sayspring (acq by @Adobe), Founder of @sidetour (acq by @groupon).

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

After more than seven years, I’ve decided to bring my Adobe journey to a close.

A few years after Adobe acquired @sayspring, I pitched the idea for Adobe Podcast. And since that first day, building this product and assembling the team behind it has been one of the highlights of my career. It’s been incredible to see the impact a small, talented group can have inside a large company. Collaborating with Adobe Research to productize and launch Enhance Speech was especially rewarding.

We built most of our own tech stack, ran our own GTM, and even handled customer support. What started as a five-person effort grew into a scrappy 15-person team that delivered:

Adobe Podcast – Current Performance
• 1.1M monthly active users (last 30 days)

Adobe Podcast – All-Time Impact
• 12.9M total users
• 108M exports

What a ride.

Learning Adobe and Macromedia tools 25 years ago shaped the entire trajectory of my career, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent this time here. I don’t have firm plans for what’s next, but I have a hunch there’s a third startup in me. Stay tuned…

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

This entire thread made my day. Starting Adobe Podcast was a highlight of my career and shows what's possible when a large company fully empowers a small autonomous team to do big things. Thanks @fchollet.

[François Chollet @fchollet]

One of the best AI products I've seen recently: (drumroll)

Adobe Podcast

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@adxm246 💪

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@halfkelly @deepvaluebettor Agreed. One of the things we discuss a lot is that we still have Audition/Premiere/Adobe Express for certain audio/video workflows, so we can offer a more opinionated product for a specific type of user than a sole product company can. We'll try and stay "easy to use" forever.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@halfkelly @deepvaluebettor Yeah, I hear you. It's a constant balance for us to find the sweet spot of being fast/easy to use vs being precise enough for certain folks. Appreciate you kicking the tires and sharing the feedback, thanks.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@vioanchieta 🫡

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@halfkelly @deepvaluebettor Would love to hear more on your thoughts on Podcast. Do you mean technically editing just works ok in the product, or just that the concept of editing audio via transcript without the precision of waveforms is kinda meh?

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@waren_barber237 🙏

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@JonathanBobrow @Adobe Got it. Yeah, we'll get there eventually. There's just a bunch of stuff that customers are asking for more that we're focused on now. But we'll get there.

[𝙶𝙰𝙱𝚈 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙴𝙲𝙷 7.o @gabyconscious]

My Instagram is growing like crazy, bruh. All I’ve got is an iPhone, two rectangle lights, and Adobe Podcast. No $1000 mic. No expensive lights. Just vibes and consistency.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@Nicolas_Sa_ 🙏

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@CaseyAdams No problem, just DM me your email.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

We’re working on adding support for editing video, not just audio, in Adobe Podcast. We have an invite-only early version ready for feedback. If you want to try it out, DM me your email address before the end of today and I’ll give you access.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@yo_tom_o @Galaxriel @evanlawrencex Great to hear that. Thanks!

Just a matter of focus/priorities. More of our customers have issues with spoken audio vs music, so that's what we're working on now. But the plan is to keep expanding over time.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@yo_tom_o @Galaxriel @evanlawrencex Adobe Podcast AI is trained based on speech, won't really work well for singing.

FWIW just a Macbook laptop mic or the standard iPhone mic in a quiet, non-echoey room is a surprisingly decent microphone. AirPods are pretty terrible for recording.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@OusmaneMakaveli (traduction automatique) Si vous êtes client Creative Cloud, vous bénéficiez d'un accès Premium à Adobe Podcast, rendez-vous simplement sur https://t.co/zPv2oPbRIB

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@ZichenWanghere Yeah, we ran into a service outage. Looks like it's coming back online now, but will take a bit to ramp up.

[Mark C. Webster @markcwebster]

@MyEdTechLife @techmyschool @AdobeExpress @Adobe @cobbsclass @JoeSantiagoEDU @ClaudioZavalaJr @annkozma723 @TanyaAvrith @weziRthindwa @TeachBeyondPapr @TheTechProfe Excited to have you onboard!

[Tyler Conrad @tylerjconrad]

Enhance Speech is some of the most impressive software @Adobe has ever released.

Shocks me every time I use it how great of a job it does.