Craig Hewitt

Founder and CEO of Castos, a leading podcast hosting and analytics SaaS platform. Entrepreneurial figure with deep expertise in podcast production, SaaS scaling, AI-powered content systems, and founder education.

Background

Third or fourth-generation entrepreneur from a family of business owners. Extensive background in sales and marketing with multiple Fortune 500 companies before launching ventures. Has lived across multiple cities—Orlando, Nashville, San Diego, New Orleans, and France—currently based in Providence, Rhode Island.

Business Journey

PodcastMotor

Started with PodcastMotor, a productized podcast editing service addressing the labor-intensive editing challenge for podcasters. Identified market gap and built done-for-you editing services that demonstrated strong market demand.

Castos Platform

Acquired the Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin (~2021-2023) and leveraged PodcastMotor expertise to build Castos, a full-featured SaaS podcast hosting platform with:

• Podcast hosting and distribution
• Analytics and insights
• AI Content add-on (auto-generates titles, show notes, social media posts)
• Castos Productions (editing/production services—25-33% of revenue)
• Castos Commerce (monetization features)
• Castos Originals (in-house podcast production)

Company raised $750K funding, joined TinySeed, and operates as profitable 7-figure SaaS business serving tens of thousands of podcasters.

SEO Machine

Created SEO Machine, an open-source AI-powered content automation system built on Claude Code that automates SEO research, writing, strategy, and editing. Expanded concept into broader “Link Marketing Machine” covering email, paid ads, social media, and SEO.

Thought Leadership & Education

• Founder Insights Newsletter – Strategic advice on entrepreneurship and SaaS scaling
• Rogue Startups Podcast – Entrepreneurial education and insights
• 100 Days of AI Series (YouTube) – AI literacy and practical applications for founders
• Advisory roles with tech CEOs on scaling and competitive SaaS strategy

Key Philosophy

Strategic business operator focused on:

• Product-market fit identification
• Dual-business model management (services + SaaS)
• Customer retention and scaling mechanics
• Practical hiring and team building
• Balancing bootstrapped growth with strategic funding
• AI-augmented marketing and content creation systems

Strategic insight: Recognizes tension between services and SaaS models; while services continue generating significant revenue, acknowledges potential for full SaaS focus in hindsight. Pragmatic approach to leveraging AI agents for content marketing automation.