Creator Science
Jay Clouse
Creating content has never been easier—but breaking through the noise has gotten harder.
The only reliable way to grow as a creator is through systematic observation, experimentation, and iteration. This podcast is your weekly guide to evidence-backed strategies you can test in your own business.
Each episode features candid conversations with creators like James Clear, Ali Abdaal, Tim Urban, and Codie Sanchez. We explore what's actually working for them: the experiments they're running, the data they're tracking, and the frameworks they use to grow their audience, build trust, and increase income.
We dig into why it worked, how you can adapt it, and what constraints or anti-goals helped them stay focused and avoid burnout.
Hosted by Signal Award-winner Jay Clouse, this is a show about the business of content—from a place of curiosity, transparency, and a commitment to sustainable growth.
It's growth for creators, down to a science.
The only reliable way to grow as a creator is through systematic observation, experimentation, and iteration. This podcast is your weekly guide to evidence-backed strategies you can test in your own business.
Each episode features candid conversations with creators like James Clear, Ali Abdaal, Tim Urban, and Codie Sanchez. We explore what's actually working for them: the experiments they're running, the data they're tracking, and the frameworks they use to grow their audience, build trust, and increase income.
We dig into why it worked, how you can adapt it, and what constraints or anti-goals helped them stay focused and avoid burnout.
Hosted by Signal Award-winner Jay Clouse, this is a show about the business of content—from a place of curiosity, transparency, and a commitment to sustainable growth.
It's growth for creators, down to a science.
Episodes
Mentioned books
57 snips
Mar 26, 2026 • 51min
#298: 9 Things I'm Doing Differently in My Business
Reflection on the creator economy's shifting energy and a return to the 1,000 True Fans model. A call to prioritize teaching, trust, and higher-quality content over attention-mining. Plans to experiment more, redesign onboarding, build internal AI tools, and create in-person experiences. A commitment to fewer long-term partnerships and taking November–December fully off.
52 snips
Mar 17, 2026 • 53min
#297: Joy Sullivan — How She Built A Living As A Writer On Instagram and Substack
Joy Sullivan, a Portland poet who built a large following on Instagram and Substack and founded the Sustenance writing community. She talks about growing an audience with written carousels, balancing craft with platform pressure, her two mantras about vulnerability and poetry, choosing slow growth over virality, and the workflow she uses to turn newsletters into Instagram posts.
138 snips
Mar 10, 2026 • 52min
#296: Meet The Man Who Solved YouTube (With Data)—Richard from 1of10
A data-driven breakdown of a four-phase ideation system for YouTube: finding the right audience, five research methods to spot repeatable formats, remixing ideas, and validation tactics. Covers title and thumbnail tactics, ideal video lengths by niche, and why viral growth can attract the wrong viewers. Includes demos and real examples of rewrites that dramatically changed performance.
203 snips
Mar 3, 2026 • 56min
#295: Community Building Trends for 2026 with Becky Pierson Davidson
Becky Pierson Davidson, community-driven product strategist and founder of Affinity Collective, helps high-revenue businesses design memberships and courses. She discusses why course businesses are shifting to memberships. They debate transformation versus community of practice. Topics include avoiding bait-and-switch expectations, forum design, the mastermind paradox, in-person retention levers, and why content drops are fading in 2026.
35 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 48min
#294: Rob Walling — SaaS godfather turned creator talks team building and vibe coding
Rob Walling, serial entrepreneur and bootstrapped SaaS veteran behind Drip, MicroConf and TinySeed, now focuses on content and advising founders. He maps his business ecosystem and explains how a team of 11 and strong producers keep publishing on schedule. He argues why building SaaS is far harder than content and why vibe coding often misses the real challenges of subscription products.
41 snips
Feb 17, 2026 • 55min
#236: Mike Michalowicz – How the author of Profit First stays lean by licensing his ideas [Greatest Hits]
Mike Michalowicz, author and entrepreneur behind Profit First and Clockwork, licenses his frameworks to third-party implementers to stay lean. He explains creating, codifying, and licensing systems, how he structures a small author team, and the trade-offs of licensing versus running services. He also shares how he picks, sequences, and writes books quickly.
207 snips
Feb 10, 2026 • 36min
#293: 12 Ways To Stand Out In 2026
Twelve creative opportunities for 2026 are explored in short, punchy ideas. Topics include a long-form writing comeback, show-don’t-tell demonstrations, and the value of verifiable human experiences. Community building, live learning, local media, niche AI tools, effortful art, unscalable gestures, and leaning into weirdness also get attention.
129 snips
Feb 3, 2026 • 53min
#292: Chenell Basilio — The state of email in 2026, growing your list without social media, and new predictions.
Chenell Basilio, creator of Growth in Reverse who reverse-engineers newsletter growth, joins to unpack the future of email in 2026. She explains why newsletter hype is fading and why “insanely valuable content” matters most. They explore turning recommendation subscribers into real fans, growing lists without social media, YouTube-to-email moves, and using AI to repurpose long-form work.
139 snips
Jan 27, 2026 • 48min
#291: 48 Hours With Clawdbot: How I’m Using It and Initial Reactions
A deep dive into setting up an always-on AI assistant that connects to messaging and many tools. Security-first setup, using a separate VPS and restricted API access. Workflows for research, content ideation from 300+ transcripts, and automated morning briefings. Practical uses like fitness tracking, meeting follow-ups, and recurring task automation. Thoughtful questions about creativity, ethics, and which tasks to keep human.
64 snips
Jan 20, 2026 • 37min
#290: Behind The Scenes: My End of Year Retro
The host dives into a year-end reflection, highlighting December as a record revenue month. They share insights on their signature product lab launch and reveal challenges faced in 2025. An amusing story about a life-changing chair experience also emerges. Discussions on the transition to video podcasts, personal goals, and health improvements create a vivid picture of their creative journey. The host ponders redefining success beyond revenue while balancing community engagement and innovative content creation.
