We’re running our third-ever Simplify Listener Survey. We want to understand what you want and the place that Simplify holds in your listening diet—and your life. It's about 6 questions (only 2 required), and your answering it will help us make the show better for you. Please take a little pause and fill it out here!
2017, laughing conspiratorially in our studio at Blinkist—back when my left hip was real and Ben only got quarterly haircuts. My eyes are still closed in most pictures.
We launched Simplify nearly a decade ago as an author interview podcast designed to add a little human warmth to a brand. We had a lot of freedom to make it as we saw fit, and a lot of fun in the doing. For the most part it felt like ours. But in the rafters of my mind, certain conditions flapped around and issued warnings caws: there was a brand to serve, an unspoken code of conduct to keep, a sense that the thing belonged, ultimately, to someone else.
But in 2026, Ben and I own Simplify—no more mothership. The beauty of that is we get to make it whatever we want it to be. And maybe you've noticed: we have been. Topics I wouldn’t have touched in previous years—cults in the USA! a look at capitalism through a mythical lens! an unapologetic deep dive into women’s medical history!—are all up for grabs. We’re taking a slightly wider lens while maintaining what Simplify always offered: calm, un-judgy ways to think about the stuff of our lives and make them little clearer, a little more meaningful, a little better.
We tell you all about what’s coming in this week’s episode, but here’s a quick sketch:
More, different, and frankly weirder episodes that'll surprise and delight.
Conversations with unorthodox thinkers who might not have a book out (yet), but do have something to say.
A new, shorter-format addition to the feed that we’ll be testing.
A live event before the year is out, here in the beautiful Chapters bookshop, where we can swap ideas in person.
And here are some practical changes:
1) Ben and I are working on Simplify for free right now AND ALSO trying to get our own businesses off the ground. But Simplify, when done right, is a full-time job. To cover the couple-hundred bucks each episode costs to make, we're signing on with True Native Media. That means you’ll start to hear some ads.
2) We’ve started a funding platform. If Simplify brings something to your life and you can afford to donate now (we know times are weird and this is not the case for a lot of us), here is our Buy Me a Coffee link. Every bit helps an indie show go.
AND FINALLY: we're running our third-ever Simplify Listener Survey. We want to understand the place Simplify holds in your listening diet—and your life—and what you'd like more and less of. It's about 6 questions (only 2 required), and your answering it will help us make the show better for you. Please take a little pause and do it.
That’s all for now, friends. You’ll get a real interview episode in two weeks and a new newsletter, too.
‘Til soon,
Caitlin
Your faithful hosts in front of Chapters bookshop in Moabit, Berlin.
P.S. Please share with a friend you think will enjoy this episode. It’s the best way you can help Simplify stick around! Also, let me know what you thought by replying here or writing to me and Ben at [email protected].
P.P.S. You can also follow the show on instagram at @simplifypod.
