Episode #15
Mastering Video Content Creation and Distribution with the CEO of Descript, Laura Burkhauser
In this episode, Lauren Ipsen hosts Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript, to discuss the intricacies of video content creation and distribution. Laura shares her journey from working at Twitter to discovering her passion for content creation, recently becoming the new CEO of Descript, a comprehensive video editing solution. They chat about the pressures of content creation in the digital age, the role of AI in video tools, and strategies for founders to maintain consistent and authentic content. Laura emphasizes the significance of understanding your audience, focusing on long-term engagement over going viral, and leveraging multiple distribution channels for maximum reach. The discussion also covers practical tips like using AI for content ideation and various workflow strategies for busy professionals. 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 01:21 Laura’s Journey to CEO of Descript 05:02 The Evolution of Media and Content Creation 07:41 Finding Your Authentic Content Lane 13:00 Effective Content Creation Strategies 15:56 The Importance of Authenticity in Content 20:12 The AI Content Creation Debate 21:48 Finding Your Creative Lane 23:05 Creating Authentic Content 24:30 The Importance of Consistency 28:57 Choosing the Right Distribution Channels 33:47 Final Thoughts and Advice Want more of Never Too Early? Find us on Tiktok, @nevertooearly1 and subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Transcript Lauren Ipsen: What’s up, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Never Too Early , a YouTube series focused on unconventional talent insights for founders. I’m Lauren Ipsen, Talent Partner at Decibel, and this is my Founder Therapy series. In this series, we will cover early learnings, misconceptions, mistakes, and a whole lot more with folks that have recently taken the lead to start their own venture-backed tech companies or take a step into the CEO seat for the first time. So, with that being said, I am beyond stoked to welcome my guest today, Laura Burkhauser. Laura was formerly running product at X and Rent the Runway before coming over to Descript, where she ultimately just took the step into a CEO seat for the very first time. Okay, Laura, welcome to the show. Laura Burkhauser: Thanks so much, Lauren. I’m excited to be here. Lauren Ipsen: I am really excited to have you. I can’t think of anyone better to discuss this topic in particular, so super excited to jump in. I personally love your content. And kind of fun that I’m gonna be editing all of this on the Descript. So there’s so much that goes hand in hand, and I’m excited to just chat with you about it. Laura Burkhauser: Yeah, absolutely. I am also excited to share this on LinkedIn and our other channels. Lauren Ipsen: Yeah, I know. I love it. Okay, cool. So, I guess, to get started, first and foremost, I would love to just kind of give the viewers an overview on who you are, where you came from, and then if you could just talk to us a little bit about the recent role that you just took on. Laura Burkhauser: Yeah, absolutely. Well, let’s see. I am the CEO of Descript, which is a video editing solution that makes every kind of video. So we do podcasts, we do—when, you know, you turn your podcast into clips. We do YouTube videos, educational videos. You can edit and publish webinars—all of the different videos that so many of us are feeling incredible pressure to create, whether we’re a marketing team or a founder. And we’ll talk about that. And I found Descript. I was a customer, actually, before I worked here. So my background is, I was at—I was—before this, I was at Twitter. And that was kind of my first exposure to, you know, seeing the different use cases that people have for social media and, really, how people are using social media to craft and tell their story and to tell the story of what’s happening kind of beyond their role. And then, when I left Twitter, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do next. You know, it was actually, an interesting lull in tech. It was right before ChatGPT came out and was a consumer product. And so, when I left Twitter, I was like, I don’t really know what I wanna do next. Like, is anything exciting even happening in tech anymore? Isn’t it all just about, you know, trying to pump engagement on the various feeds that we’ve created? Maybe I don’t wanna do this. And when you’re having that kind of an identity crisis in the Bay Area, you know that you are legally required to start a podcast, which I did. And as I was editing that podcast, I found Descript. And the first time that I deleted my filler words, deleted text, and it changed the video, I had this experience that I think a lot of us have had when we find that magical product where I was like, oh, this is why I got into product management. Like, this is why I got into tech. It was to create magical solutions like this. And not just, you know, the experience of using the product, but also that, you know, great products, they don’t just do a job for you. They kind of transform the way that you see yourself. And for me, someone who is, like, much more comfortable in docs and decks, to suddenly be editing video media and publishing it, I was just like, oh my gosh, I’m a creative person. And having that transformative experience made me then knock on the door of Descript. They did not have a job description up. And I said, “Hey, are you hiring product people? I do product stuff.” Like, do you wanna hire me? Yeah. Lauren Ipsen: And now look at you. Laura Burkhauser: I’m the CEO. So this is why you’ve always got to shoot your shot, you know? Lauren Ipsen: A hundred percent. I think that applies to every aspect of life, and I love it. Very, very, very cool. I just think that that context is really helpful for the listeners to get a better understanding of kind of how you stumbled your way into Descript and also. why, you know you’ve found this kind of passion in creating content and amplifying it. So I love it. Super helpful. You talked a little bit about the pressure that so many people feel in the Bay Area and just more generally around creating content now and feeling like they have to be visible and have a voice. Talk to me about where that stems from, if you have any idea. And also just more generally, as a modern-day CEO, why you feel it’s so important to be having your voice out there? Laura Burkhauser: Yeah. I mean, it’s the same thing that’s happening in media in—in every kind of media, right? Where 40 years ago, there were just a few distribution channels, and there were a lot of gatekeepers to those distribution channels. And so, if you wanted to kind of, create the narrative of what’s happening in the world, you needed to have access to a gatekeeper, or you needed to ingratiate yourself into the people that own those distribution channels. Now, over the last 40 years, those distribution channels have multiplied, and they’ve become a lot more democratized. And social media obviously has pushed that, you know, as far as it can go, when—you know. And so, because of that, you see things like maybe in the old days, 20 years ago, you would try to craft the story about your product and try to own the narrative by hiring a PR firm and saying, “Can you go out and just try to get a lot of articles written about how this is happening right now, and try to get people to interview me? And give—and I’m gonna give this quote about why my company is the solution to this problem that’s been happening.” And you try to, like, create these news stories in official outlets. And now, anyone can create a news story and publish it. But so, it’s less about, like, do you have access to the storytellers, and more like, do you have the juice, right? Do you have the charisma? Do you have what it takes to get out there and craft the story? Because if you’re a founder, there’s probably, like, this pitch that you’ve given to a million funders and that you try to give on your website that’s like, here is the problem space. Here is the burning platform. Here’s why my product solves that. Right? Lauren Ipsen: Yeah, right. Laura Burkhauser: And it’s kind of amazing that you have that opportunity. Technically, you have the opportunity to go out and make that pitch to every person in the world right now. And the question is, do you have what it takes to break through? And do you have the stick-to-it-iveness to, like, keep up the momentum and keep pushing that message? Lauren Ipsen: Yeah. That’s the hard part, I think, for a lot of people. Like, a lot of people will get started. I mean, I’m guilty of this, right? I came out of the gates with this podcast. I dropped a bunch of episodes. And then it’s life gets crazy, you know? And you’re just like, oh, shoot. I have a lot that I want to put out there, but you also have a day job for you. You’re pushing product. You know, there’s lots of other things that are happening. So talk to me a little bit about how you continue to stay on it, push out content, and do it in an authentic way, where it doesn’t feel like you’re just doing it for the sake of doing it. Laura Burkhauser: What you need to do as a founder is sort of , think about yourself, and think about your problem space, and think about your product. And out of those three things, you need to figure out, like, okay, what is my content? What is my channel? And what is my practice gonna be? And, like, a helpful kind of two-by-two. You can think about—sorry, I, like, live, breathe, and will die in a two-by-two one day. And, like, the two-by-two on my mind is the content charisma matrix. Lauren Ipsen: Perfect. Laura Burkhauser: So some people who are listening are like, I have a lot of kind of expert content, right, that I can think about. Sometimes this is technical content, so you may be working on a really interesting model. And what you have is, like, technical content about how, you know, to do research in the field today, right? That’s one kind of content. I’ll say that my best performing LinkedIn video was a different kind of content expertise, and it was how to prepare for an interview. And it was, like, the first video that I did. But I just had been doing hundreds of interviews and was like, okay, I just have three things that I think everyone needs to make sure that they do if they’re gonna be interviewed by me. Lauren Ipsen: Wow. Laura Burkhauser: And I think just because everyone interviews for jobs and is hungry for that content, having someone who is an expert, even though “expert” just means, like, I’ve done a lot of interviews. I’m not a professional interviewer. That’s just part of my job. Lauren Ipsen: Right . Totally. Laura Burkhauser: But that was really valuable content. So think about, am I someone who—maybe I don’t think my content is valuable, but, actually, I’ve had a 20-year career. There probably are a lot of people who think that I have valuable content. And what could that be? Right? And then I think—then there’s charisma, which is just, like, am I the kind of person that can be in front of a camera and shine? Right? Do people lean in— Lauren Ipsen: Do you have rizz? Laura Burkhauser: That could make up for a multitude of sins, Lauren. But if you are, high content and high charisma, right? You can be a thought leader—someone who’s going out and guesting on podcasts and creating content where you’re in the camera—that’s great. And probably, if you know that that’s you already, you’ve already gotten started, right? Your life is on the easier side. What do you do if you only have one of those things? And I think if you have a lot of charisma, but you’re wondering about content, I actually think podcasting is the perfect—is the perfect thing for you to do. Because, yes, Lauren, your job is to be professionally delightful and to just have people on the pod. I mean, you’re very— Lauren Ipsen: My job is to have friends. Laura Burkhauser: In this one part of your job, that is your second job. It’s—you have this very hard other job that you do. Lauren Ipsen: This is true, but that job also involves just having friends, really, at its core. Yeah. Best job ever. Laura Burkhauser: And that’s like—yeah, so you can be a podcaster. If you’re someone who has a lot of content and you’re lacking in charisma or, you know, you’re less comfortable in front of the camera, I think educational video is really where you wanna play. That’s where you see a lot of this on LinkedIn, and it gets great engagement. That’s more like screen-sharing to teach a concrete skill. And people are very hungry for that. That gets great engagement; can turn into MQLs really easily. I think, like, Jacob Bank, who’s the Relay app CEO, has a huge following on LinkedIn right now. And he has this—like, his product, Relay is an agent builder. And he just demos for you. Like, “Hey, I made this Reddit agent. Hey, I made this LinkedIn to email agent.” And he’s really just showing you his workflow, which is screen-sharing of him, using his product. And that’s so great. Like, what a fantastic kind of lead channel for him now to just teach people how to use this stuff. And a lot of us who are building AI products—you know, a lot of the education you need to do and the content you need to create is, like, hey, this is the use case. Some of you, like, you know, haven’t even figured out that this exists yet. Like, let me explain what the problem is and why this solves it. And if you can weekly have content where you’re just sharing that educationally, that’s huge. Lauren Ipsen: So I think it’s something we often consult our founders to do a lot of, and they often come back to us. And it’s exactly what you were just speaking about, where it’s like, where do I start? Maybe I don’t want to be in front of the camera. And there’s been a million Substacks that have been done, or whatever it might be. Or, you know, how do I continue to think about things that come up? So, I guess, talk to me a little bit about how you find an authentic lane and also how you continue to find time each week. Is it as simple as putting something on the calendar? Is it as simple as recording it all at once or writing it all at once and then kind of boosting it out into the ether when times make sense? I think these are, kind of the tactical questions that people struggle with, hence the lack of consistency, and then hence why it falls off. And I think you do a really good job of keeping it up. Laura Burkhauser: Yeah. So I think there are a few different workflows that work. The great thing about podcasting is, like, yes, I think if you decide to go to the podcasting route, I suggest that you put a block Friday mornings or Friday afternoons, and you just commit to—you know, it’s basically a meeting. You invite interesting people to that meeting. You do a little bit of prep in advance. You promise to make everyone on your podcast look good, so that no one’s expecting an oppo kind of thing. And you—and you just, like, have a great conversation and get into your editing habit and try and time box it. And you say, I’m gonna spend an hour talking, an hour editing, and then I’m gonna publish the podcast and do, like, 10 clips that I’ll post on social. What’s great about podcasting and clips is those clips are things that you can share, you know, for two weeks. And if you wanna do a biweekly podcast, or even a monthly, it’s, like, great. Those clips can be the thing that you’re sharing in between each podcast. Lauren Ipsen: That’s what I do. Laura Burkhauser: Yeah, exactly. So that’s, like, one workflow. Another workflow I see, if you’re not doing the podcasting route, that I do sometimes is, you know, I’m in a studio right now. I haven’t done my hair and stuff like that. But sometimes what I’ll do is I’ll get in the studio because I have—there’s good lighting and a good camera here. And I’ll just like—I’m—so I think, like, either you’re kind of an improvisational person or you’re a scripted person. I’m often improvisational. And so, I will, like—this is actually a fun hack. You can use ChatGPT voice mode and ask it to interview you on a topic ,and it kind of plays the interviewer kind of character. Lauren Ipsen: No way. Laura Burkhauser: Yeah. And you just talk to it about—like, I can say, like, “Hey, can you, you know, ask me a bunch of questions about how to build great product or how to build a really strong product team.” And it’ll just toss a bunch of questions my way, and I just answer them authentically. And then I can go through and edit it and find the clips, right? Lauren Ipsen: Wow. Laura Burkhauser: And it’s like, oh, there’s a clip. There’s a clip. Oh, I sounded like an idiot there. Let’s just delete that and never speak of it again. And so that’s, like—that’s a really great workflow. If you just wanna, like, okay, I’m gonna sit here for 30 minutes. I’m gonna talk to my computer and just kind of, like, riff. Right? And a lot of us are good at riffing. Lauren Ipsen: And no pressure. And, yeah, I think that also helps with what different ideas can I speak to. And, also, I think naturally, when you’re doing your job, whatever it is, all day, every single day, you start to forget that you’ve got a lot of knowledge, and you know what you’re doing, you know? And there’s a lot that people can learn from whatever your craft is. And so, yeah, sometimes it’s just taking a second to have someone else ask you questions, and then you realize, oh, I actually do have a system to that. Or, oh, I actually do have pretty strong opinions on some of this stuff. Right? Laura Burkhauser: Yeah. Lauren Ipsen: So I think that’s a great hack. I’m for sure going to use it, and I’ll tag you every time. Cite my sources. Laura Burkhauser: Yeah. And I think eventually where you’ll get to—and probably, as a founder, you might already be there. But it’s like, okay, you can make kind of content about whatever you care about ,and sometimes I can’t help that. I’ll just make content about whatever’s on my mind. But ideally what you’re doing is, like, when you go into—and you talk to funders, or you go and you talk to, like, potential people that you’ve been trying to hire, you probably know the ways that they misunderstand your space or the ways where, like, they think one thing is true about your space or about kind of the way that things are going, but you think another thing is true. And out of this, you kind of, like, create your manifesto. Like, this is what I think the space looks like. This is what I think the problems are. And this is why I think my product is an amazing kind of solution. And this is why I think you should work for me, or this is why I think you should fund me, or this is why, you know, I’m really excited to build this as our next road map. Right? And then, if you start there, with that core set of beliefs, that helps you then understand, like, okay, this is my press story, right? This is what I would brief my PR person with. Like, I wanna make this the story that I read and—you know, in the Times or whatever. But instead of that, it’s gonna be, like, great, this is my content lane. The four sub-hypotheses of the things that I believe about this space right now are, one, people need to make more video than ever, ever. Great. Like, that’s a content lane that someone in Descript or something should be out there saying, because I think it’s true, and because we need to start having that conversation. So I’d say that’s, like—you can kind of start to think about what are the sub- bullets of the story that I want out in the world, and how can I create a content lane around those sub-bullets. Lauren Ipsen: Yeah. I think that’s a great point. My CEO is incredibly high on, you know, we have to be pushing content. We have to be owning distribution lanes. We are only eight people at a VC firm that I think the general public thinks is at least 50 people, simply because of how much content we put out. But it’s all meaningful, it’s all authentic, and it’s all very specific to that i
