Sometimes when two passions collide, a business is born. That’s the story of Dylan Pugh, an ex-rugby player and previous Spotify employee. He’s brought together his love of sport and technology to found Pomodo, a business that helps sportspeople become podcasters.
“I found that a lot of sports podcasts were similar in format and interviewed similar people. There was a gap for fresher voices,” he says.
Through the company Pomodo, sportspeople are managed and guided through the process of creating a podcast. Dylan approaches sportspeople to ask if they would consider becoming hosts and they work together to create a podcast structure and find interviewees.
Dylan and his team then organise recording, editing and monetisation through advertisements or partnerships. He opened his Starling business account this summer, just before starting Pomodo.
Launching a business post-lockdown
“I had the idea in April, during the lockdown. I had time to reflect, do some research, chat to people and think about how it could work. I thought I could do it on the side but I quickly realised that it needed to be all or nothing.”
He said goodbye to the Spotify team in July and launched Pomodo in August. He’s been charting his progress through his own podcast, Pomodo - the StartUp Journey, and currently manages two other podcasts, including the chart-topping Couples Quarantine podcast with ex-rugby player James Haskell and TV presenter Chloe Madeley.
“My background is in rugby so most of my relationships are there but I’ve also had conversations with footballers, crickets, snooker players and Formula One drivers.”
Dylan, 39, spent the majority of his professional rugby career with the team London Welsh. He played nearly 100 games, before pursuing a new challenge: a career in tech. Over the last 16 years, he’s gained experience with PlayStation, online games provider Zynga, and Spotify. His most recent role was Global Agency Lead at Spotify, through which he headed up podcast monetisation.