Produced By - Why He Started Stepsero: Turning Personal Struggles Into Meaningful Conversations | 172: Matteo Casini

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

Matteo Casini is a partnerships and business development professional and the host of the Stepsero Podcast. After studying across Italy, the UK and Belgium, he eventually moved to Berlin, where he built a career across tech, sales and partnerships. Matteo created Stepsero during a period when he was experiencing stress and anxiety. Today, with more than 100 episodes published, the podcast explores the complexities of modern work and the challenges people face within it. Listen to this episode to discover Matteo’s journey of moving abroad, finding his place in a new country and building a community in Berlin. We explore why he started Stepsero, how it evolved from conversations about mental well being into a broader exploration of modern work, and where he hopes to take it next. Matteo also shares the reality behind building a podcast, his perspective on AI and why he believes genuine human connection could become even more valuable in an increasingly digital world. Connect with Matteo:https://www.linkedin.com/in/matteocasini1988/https://stepsero.com/https://open.spotify.com/show/0UF90EPdKGgK4ia3sHcw4n?si=7119435ece4f491ehttps://www.youtube.com/@stepseropodcast Timestamps: 00:00 - Why Matteo Started Stepsero 01:11 - Meet Matteo Casini 02:05 - Languages & International Background 02:41 - Studying & Living Abroad 05:36 - Finding His Career Path 07:49 - Building a Life in Berlin 09:31 - The Reality of Moving Abroad 10:18 - Finding Community Through Football 10:47 - What University Doesn’t Prepare You For 15:27 - Career in Tech, Sales & Business Development 17:55 - The Story Behind Stepsero 18:39 - Stress, Anxiety & Mental Wellbeing 19:55 - What the Name Stepsero Means 20:24 - From Mental Wellbeing to Modern Work 23:46 - How Podcasting Has Changed Since 2020 27:03 - AI & the Future of Podcasting 30:08 - Why Video Matters for Podcasts 33:13 - The Return of Human Connection 35:55 - Matteo’s Favourite Podcasts 38:22 - The Reality Behind Growing a Podcast 40:12 - The Future of Stepsero 42:44 - Having Difficult Conversations About Wellbeing 46:02 - Why Impact Matters More Than Followers 47:24 - Football, Reading & Life Outside Work 50:21 - Matteo’s Book Recommendations 51:48 - Could Stepsero Become a Book? 53:16 - Matteo’s Dream Podcast Guests 55:14 - Where to Find Matteo & Stepsero 56:14 - Career Plans, Drawing & Jiu-Jitsu 59:18 - Final Thoughts Connect with Tomas:Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Patreon: https://patreon.com/tomaslouckyNewsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRiverside: https://riverside.partnerlinks.io/2752q1ai767zRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Step Sarah is an interesting name. I came up with it a few years ago. I started the whole thing. I believe it was around 2020. So more or less pandemic times. And back then, I was going through my fair deal of stress and anxiety. And I realized that I really needed to talk to someone about those things. I wasn't really feeling the best version of myself at work and outside of work in my private life. And so I started looking into mental well-being as a broader topic. I started reading about it. I read. read a few books. I spoke to a few people about it. I was looking into even scientific articles, whatever I could get my hands on. And then I slowly realized, okay, I'm clearly not the only one who is feeling anxious at times or exhausted or confused, all of those things. Or why not to throw there a big word a bit depressed? I started talking to people who were going through similar things, experiencing burnout and we're going through a tough time. I realized, okay, I'm not the only one. and clearly there is more and more people who are willing to talk about these things. Before we dive into today's episode, please hit that subscribe button.

Your support helps us grow and inspire more people on their journeys. Thank you. Hello, Matteo, thank you for join us today and welcome to the show. Thomas, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. Likewise, and Mattel, for those who don't know you, can you please introduce yourself? Yeah, let's see. Obviously, Mathe was born. and raised in Italy by an Italian father and a Belgian mother, so I'm a bit of a mix. I currently live in Berlin, Germany. I've been here for a few years now, and prior to this, I have studied across Italy, the UK, Belgium. I love sports. We were just touching on this prior to the recording. I appreciate

things like kindness and politeness. I have a thing for kind people. I love animals. I have an 11-year-old rescue dog. And I'm currently working on my podcasts. And that's pretty much what I'm busy with 24-7 these days. Firstly, as you said, you've got quite diverse background. It's also lived in different places. But of Christy, what languages do you speak? So obviously Italian is my native language, English.

I am decent at Spanish. I'm currently playing in an almost fully Spanish-speaking football team here in Berlin. My German is quite basic and which is a shame because I've been in Germany for a while, but I do understand it pretty well. And I do speak Flemish because of my mom being Belgian. So that's a bit of a hidden language that most people don't know about me. But yeah, it's an extra one. That's interesting. And then, as you said, that you moved to whether it was London or Berlin now, what did you actually study? And did you, let's say, always have like a mindset that you wanted to live in a different city and move around the world. Yeah, that's a good question, Thomas. Yeah,

I mean, my father is Italian, my mom is Belgian. I never really had deep, deep roots tied to where I was born. Of course, I love the place where I'm born in, it's in Tuscany, but there was always this idea of at some point leaving Tuscany and going somewhere else. So that was always in the back of my head. And since we're kids, we've been traveling a lot, you know, going to Belgium to visit our family. And so that was always in the back of my head. And I've studied first languages. I have a bachelor in languages. Part of that bachelor degree included an exchange in the UK. So it was an Erasmus for about a year, nine months in the UK, which was super, super fun. And maybe my very first experience or long experience abroad, you know, you had to figure out the basic things

of surviving by yourself. And sorry to interrupt, but was it in London or a different city? That was in Coventry close to Birmingham. I think they call it the Midlands. I'm not sure if I say it correctly, but a couple of hours maybe from London. It was Warwick University, which is pretty good university, but it was just part of the exchange with my university back home.

And after that, I studied a master's in Belgium, and that was in international business, so to speak. So I kind of corrected from languages to international business. And as you can see, I was one of those people who didn't have exactly a clear idea about what they wanted to do. I know some friends who for the longest time, they wanted to be designers, and then they just went for it. And they studied design, they specialized in design, and then eventually became designers. I never really had that. I started with languages because I thought I was pretty good at languages.

Then I realized, okay, languages alone might not make it too easy for me to land a job or start the profession. So I went to international business and then somehow I landed working in tech as a salesperson. So my start or the start of my career was a little maybe serendipitous or lucky or rocky, whatever you want to call it. That's interesting to hear because I actually studied international business as well, although it was international business management, but it's pretty cool. It brings me memories as well, so it's good to hear this. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty much what I've studied as well. I call it international business to keep it broad and unspecific. Then although you said that you didn't really know what to do, but what then at the end of your studies, you like maybe how did you end up in what you were doing or what?

What was then like your plan actually that you were about to do? Yeah. Look, I've always had a lot of interest for things, places and people. And that was as general as it sounds, that was the only driver. I knew that I wanted to travel as much as I could. I wanted to explore different places. I've never been a fan of traveling just for the weekend, let's say. So when friends were suggesting, okay, let's go to Greece for a weekend.

I, in my head, I would go, I'd love to be in Greece for six months, you know, not just for a weekend. So that was always a bit of a mindset that I had. And that helped me because when I started looking for jobs, I was pretty much open to many different places. And Germany was one of them. I didn't know anyone back then in Germany, specifically in Berlin. I had no clue about what to expect from Berlin. But it sounded interesting. There were a lot of opportunities for people like,

me who spoke English plus an extra European language in my case Italian and obviously some Flemish. And so I just I just went for it. But I had a pretty broad scope of action, I would say. So I started applying for jobs in tech but also different industries. I landed in a tech job. I had no clue about tech. I am not a tech person. And that's why I started with sales because I thought, okay, I'm comfortable around people. I am probably not the worst communicator and I can, maybe there's something there for me. So this is really how it started.

And that's how I landed a job in tech, in Berlin. That was a few years ago now. And it all went, yeah, it all went downhill from there or maybe uphill, depending on how you see it. Downhill, I was, I didn't want to hear that. I was hoping uphill, positive. Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly. Depending on how you want to see it.

But it was a pretty interesting journey. No, no negatives in there. Yeah. Okay, okay. And I'm not sure if you mentioned it before, but for how many years, have you been living there? In Berlin, it's been many, many years. In total, it must have been 10 plus or something like that. It's been a while, yeah, yeah.

I was about to ask if you have planned in the future to relocate to another location or stay there. Yeah, that's the million dollar question, right? Look, Berlin is great for anybody in your future. your audience who hasn't been to Berlin. Berlin is a very interesting city. There's a lot happening, a lot of opportunities. And so I do highly recommend it. Berlin has been really good to me. I've had a decent career, good jobs, an incredible community around me. I've now really good friends over here. So the longer I stay here, the more difficult it will be to leave. Also, because you reach a certain age. You have your people around. And so moving anywhere

else means pretty much starting over. So yes, it is in the back of my head. There is always a chance that I may try somewhere else, but there is no rush at this point to move. And Berlin is a good place. It's very international, a lot of good people, a lot of good opportunities. It has given me a lot. So let's see, you know, being Italian and coming from Tuscan and coming from a countryside, that is something that is always in, you know, in my thoughts. Maybe retirement or something like that would be interesting to think of. I like peace and quiet. But for now, Berlin is good.

So let's see. Or maybe we'll see each other in London a few years. Who knows? I have not good. Or what if I move to Berlin? One never knows either. In that case, I'll stay and I'll wait for you and then I'll discuss it. Thank you.

I appreciate it. And actually, when you moved there, what was your experience like? Because I remember, for example, when I moved abroad, it was both exciting, but at the same time it was scary. So what did you feel like and maybe what was the reality after moving? Yeah. Look, I'm probably not going to tell you anything that you don't know. I think moving to any place is is a mix of scary and exciting. And for me, being someone who likes to have a circle of people around, the first thing that I was struggling with is feeling quite lonely. You know, you move to a new place. You don't know anyone. You need to figure things out by yourself.

you don't really have anyone to experience things with. And that's probably the most annoying thing, let's say. So my go-to approach has always been to join a local football team. You know, I'm not a professional player, just a local team with a bunch of guys as an excuse to go for a drink afterwards or have a meal, nothing serious. But that has always been a really good approach for me to introduce myself, to a larger group of people, usually international people, who are exactly in the same boat as I am,

and everything feels a lot easier after that. So that's what I've done. That's what I've done everywhere. I've done that in Belgium. I've done that in Berlin. I obviously played football in Italy. So that helped a lot. And then obviously there's the work part.

One interesting thing that I realized after moving abroad is that you're fresh of studies, and you think, oh, I have a bachelor degree or have a master's degree. I graduated with pretty good marks. So I thought, okay, I must be really smart. You know, I must be probably one of the best out there. The world is waiting for me. Exactly that. The world is my oyster. I can do whatever I want. And then very quickly after I landed anywhere, I realized, okay, there is a lot more to that than what I see on paper. And I clashed with reality pretty quickly. I realized there is a lot of very, very smart people, a lot of, a lot of,

of people who have similar but different stories, a lot of different backgrounds, very, very intense competition. And that brought me back to planet Earth very, very quickly. And that was another thing, that it is very difficult to know unless you experience it yourself. And once you're in it, then it's a bit like a circle, a vicious circle of, okay, I see that person is very interesting. Maybe I want to hang around that person. And then you acquire some more. knowledge, some more insights, and then you become that person for someone else and so on and so forth. And it's a very, very, in a way, liberating, interesting experience that I think gets maximized if you actually travel and you move abroad. So moving abroad and traveling, they say

it opens your mind. And I think that's why. That's one of the reasons why, at least. So difficult and challenging at the beginning, but it's all worth it after a while. I'm happy to hear that then I can very much relate to it felt scary, but was excited at the same time. And I totally agree that it kind of changes your mindset, really opens the doors. And it's just a different. I encourage people to experience it. So I'm glad to share your experience. And it was a great idea that when you move somewhere, obviously, it might feel lonely.

You don't know what to do, no one that you know, no friends, and find some kind of interest. For example, as we discussed before, whether it's sports, martial arts, or anything that people are interested in. great idea, join something and find people there. I agree. I couldn't agree more. And I know we had probably a similar experience in that sense, so I know you can relate. Yeah. And then with Berlin, maybe it's different now to before,

but you as someone who moved from abroad, were there people like in the same position as you, such as international, or was it more like locals, Germans, or what was it like? Yeah, it was a mix, you know? Like I said, I think almost by chance, I was gravitating towards international people because of the circles that I was attending.

So if I go to, if I look for a football team or local football team, I would naturally look for a football team that is obviously not a pro team and maybe a bunch of guys who gather on a Sunday outside of work and maybe a bunch of guys who are also looking to make new friends. So most likely that would be a bunch of international people. And so naturally, I was gravitating mostly around international people, but then within my first company in Berlin or the first company that I joined in Berlin, it was a mix, really. There were a lot of international people, obviously German people as well, but there was never, let's say, one group being disproportionately larger than the other. There was always a good mix. I've had really good German friends, really good international friends. So I've never seen in a way German people or international people under a different light.

They were always sort of like the same group, the same group to me. I've always been used to, thankfully, very diverse set of people. Yeah. Yeah, I like that too because not only you meet people from different cultures, different parts of the world, but at the same time, since those people are from different places, it makes you to relate because they are in a similar situation as you are. So I think that's beneficial and it makes it easier as well. Exactly, exactly.

You enjoy things together. You suffer together in a way. And that makes things lighter and easier. And when some things happen where you're not sure because you're in a foreign country and maybe you don't know if you did some things right, you can always laugh about it with someone who's been through it before you. You can ask for advice. So all of these things are extremely useful.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And then if we go, of course, it's been a while, as you said, around 10 years. since you move there. Can you bring us to what you actually do now? I know that we could discuss it, but it will take long, so maybe just somehow jump. If there was anything interesting, and then just tell us what you focus on now. Yeah, sure. I mean, look, I have worked in for the longest time in the tech sector. Like I said, I'm not a techie person myself. I'm not an engineer. I'm not a software developer or anything like that. So when I say I work in tech, I always take it

with a grain of salt, or that's what I tell people. I'm a salesperson. I'm in business development. I love being around people. I love communicating with people. And that's how I ended up in this role. And then I realized, okay, I'm not bad at it. And I started somehow specializing in it.

But that's really how it started. And it was almost a chance that it was in tech. And then over the years, I became obviously very interested in that field. And so I've done that for a while now in either advertisement, technology, so ad tech or financial technology or fintech, but tech is tech nevertheless. And I've done that for a number of years until this year, where I decided to pretty much fully focus on, you know, taking a beat, taking the rest, and focus on my podcast while looking for other job opportunities, right? So the podcast has always been,

has always been somehow the common denominator behind the scenes while I scout for different opportunities or I look for what's around in the market. And as you probably have heard, I think it's the case in Berlin, but it's probably the case everywhere. The market is very competitive. It's very difficult for anybody who's looking for a job, I see you, I feel you, I know the pain, hang in there. And for me, podcasting has been obviously a great passion that I've developed in the

last few years, but also a way to keep me sane outside of things. Yeah. So that's what I do, I think, or what I think of most of the time, if not all the time. I'm very passionate about podcasting. I love being a podcast host myself. It does feel a little bit weird

being on the other side of things, but it's also very, very interesting. Yeah. So this is what I'm busy with these days. Yeah. Yes, and to give to the audience a bit of context, as we are recording now, you released 116 episodes, if I'm not mistaken. So you are not a beginner. It's impressive. We discussed it before that for the people from the outside, they may not know what it takes, but it's impressive.

And firstly, I was curious, actually, what is the reason behind the name Stepsaro? Yeah, thank you for asking. And thank you for the shout-out. I really appreciate it and means a lot coming from you, Thomas. Thank you. So Stepsero, Stepsero is an interesting name. I came up with it a few years ago. I started the whole thing.

I believe it was around 2020. So more or less pandemic times, I'm sorry to bring up not exactly a happy period of our lives. And back then, I was going through my fair deal of stress and anxiety. And I realized that I really needed to talk to someone about those things. I wasn't really feeling the best version of myself at work and outside of work in my private life. And so I started looking into mental well-being as a topic, as a broader topic. I started reading about it. I read a few books about it.

I spoke to a few people about it. I was looking into even scientific articles, whatever I could get my hands on. And then I slowly realized, okay, I'm clearly not the only one who is feeling anxious at times or is feeling exhausted or confused, all of those things. Or why not to throw there a big word a bit depressed or, you know. And so I started talking to people who were going through similar things, who are experiencing burnout and we're going through a tough time. I realized, okay, I'm not the only one.

And clearly there is more and more people who are willing to talk about these things. And so why not expand the circle and why not think of a way where I can have actual conversations and go a little bit deeper onto the topic. And this is really how the whole thing started. And the reason why I called it Step Serro, it's a combination of Step and Serro, where Serro is short for serotonin. And serotonin is this feel-good chemical.

They call it a happy hormone that gravitates around your brain and your gut. And so the idea was that with every conversation, you would take a step closer to being a happier version of yourself. I think this was the process behind what I wanted to do. And then over the years, the podcast has evolved a little bit

from being exclusively focused on mental well-being at work to focusing on modern work as a more broader concept. The reason behind it is that I've had many, many conversations about mental well-being at work, extremely interesting.

But after a while, I felt they were getting a bit clinical. So we were touching on a lot of theory. So we were discussing, for example, the origins of burnout and how you define burnout and what to do and all of that. But I thought that in a way we were still gravitating around the theoretical part of things. And what I was missing is, okay, that's interesting. But if I go back to my desk on Monday at my job and I want to know how to tackle the week, how to focus better, I need something practical, something that I'm.

and implement and there is a lot more to that than just theory and so I expanded the scope and it went from mental being at work to modern work and the future of work and the premise behind it is that and this is also the tagline of the podcast modern work is a lot so let's take it one conversation at the time so we dissect many different aspects of modern work we go a little bit deeper into them in each episode and hopefully that provides knowledge work specifically with a bit more clarity around how to navigate these complexities of modern work. And that's the, let's call it the mission I am after. I'm really happy to hear like this mission and that you try to help people and spread awareness.

Because I spoke like with some people as well and obviously it's not easy to discuss this topic. But the reality behind the scenes is that many people experience whether it's burnout or I don't know, you are not motivated. You don't want to go to work on Monday or something like that. So it's great that you are helping people with this. But I'm happy also that I asked you about the title of the podcast because I was thinking, what does it mean? And I would never guess this. And it's good.

I like when there is a meaning behind it. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. And I don't know if you went through a similar process. It was funny for me to come up with the name. I stressed so much about coming up with a good name for the podcast. It was back then.

Did you have the same? Because back then for me, it was like, oh my God, I need to find a name. name that is very unique, that is recognizable, and I went through different iterations, and then I was asking my girlfriend back then, like, what do you think of this name? It took a lot longer than it should have, but in hindsight, I'm happy. I came up with something that is really meaningful to me, and you see, like, I kind of light up when you asked me, because it does, it does mean a lot to me, the reason why I started and what I'm doing, as I'm sure the same is

for you. So, yeah, thank you for bringing it up, but I do remember it took a while to come up with that name. I remember as well, like even the whole concept and how to do it, how to approach it and over thinking, but I know it's going to sound kind of obvious, but in the end, what's important is just to start and just improve along the way, because if you keep overthinking, it takes forever. It's not going to be perfect. And that one person who takes step ahead of you, it's just better than you. So I know it's also about this. That's exactly it. I was spending way too much time into the research and it took me a while to get started and move exactly that step. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And you said that you started actually year 2020, if I'm not mistaken, which

is a while, it's like a proper OG. And back then, can you compare maybe the market? Because I feel like that now, there are like so many podcasts, literary podcasts about everything. I sometimes see some kind of topic and I'm like, wow, I cannot imagine there is audience for this. But from your experience then what was it like before when before podcasts were so you know so popular everywhere et cetera and to compare it to now yeah it's such an interesting question you know the first thing that comes to mind when when i started in 2020 and there is podcasts that obviously date far longer back in the past but when i started everything was on zoom meaning that when i was recording now we have platforms like Riverside that are incredible. They helped with so many things. But back then,

back then you were doing everything on Zoom, or at least I was doing everything on Zoom. And I was recording everything. I actually started as well. Yeah. It was funny. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. Sorry to interrupt, but I started on Zoom in a free version and always after 30 minutes, I was like, okay, now we have to stop and then put it together. It was funny. Exactly that. I had the same, I had the same experience and I was I was panicking to tell guests exactly that. That, okay, we need to restart. Do you mind? And most of my guests, thankfully, were so nice to me. And they were like, no, no, it's fine. Don't worry. I get it. And a couple of them at some point were like, maybe you should consider, you know, upgrading. Yeah, I had exactly the same issue and thinking about it now. I laugh about it. But it was so much work.

I was recording on Zoom and then I was extrapolating that recording into audacity which is this I used it as well it's just for the audio isn't it? Yes.

With this old school interface. Oh my God. Yes. Incredible, incredible software. Super useful. And at some point I think I became quite proficient at it and I was very, very proud of it

because it took a while to get there. But yeah, there was no such thing as a very sleek U.S. why like you have in Riverside. Riverside is such a good, it's such a good product. And there was nothing like that. So it was Zoom, interrupt after 30 minutes, come back,

and then export everything into Audacity. And for every, let's say, 45 minutes, one hour of recording, I was spending, I don't know how many hours, trying to nitpick and cut all the audio waves and trying to get rid of the ums. the ums and the and the butts and it took it took forever so it was a very very long process so for people who don't know when you see a podcast episode that dates back a few years imagine imagine the kind of process that that went behind it especially if it's like in our case we are a one-man

show right like back then we didn't have anybody to help us with with editing or anything like that so we had to record and while recording i was thinking oh my god this is going to be painful to edit Yeah, so that's how it starts. Yeah. It breaks good memories as well. And it's going to be a bit of predicting, but what do you think that podcast in space is going to be like in the future? As now we discussed, like, for example, development of the tech.

Do you think what is it going to be like in, I don't know, a few years? Yeah. So look, the obvious thing to say that everyone is discussing these days is AI will take over and AI will take care of a lot of things. It already is, right? AI is already embedded in a lot of software and programs that we use that have something to do with podcasting. So AI makes things easier very much

for a lot of processes that are involved into the... involving the editing or things like that. I do think there will be a market for entirely AI-generated podcasts. I think there's already a few. I probably won't be one of the listeners, right? So I'm not saying it will not happen because, of course, AI is taking over all these sectors quite aggressively.

And like I said, it's very useful, even for me, for a lot of things. I do think that there will be entirely AI-generated podcasts, but the reason why I podcast, the reason why I love podcasting, the reason why I love conversations like the one we're having, is that there is a human behind the camera and that we're establishing an actual human connection.

So for me having this conversation, I know that after this conversation, you and I have a connection, a proper human connection. And I know that if I happen to be in London, a few months from now, I might send your message and be like, hey, Thomas, are you around?

You want to get a coffee or you want to discuss podcasting or whatever. And that for me is everything. It's way more important than anything else. is way more important than the recording, is way more important that the number of listeners is way more important than anything else. And so where do I see this going in the future? I think that, like I said, it's not a zero-sum game.

It's not that there will be only AI-based podcasts or human-to-human podcasts. I think there will be a mix of both. There's space and room for every option these days. But I do think that because we are pushing the agenda, the tech agenda, so aggressively with AI and almost in certain cases shoving it down people's throat, even when it's not necessary, I think more and more people will start appreciating offline and human connection even more in the future. So I am positive about the future of podcasting. I think that people will appreciate more and more the fact that there's interesting conversations that are

the result of a good relationship or experience or research. And that to me is something that will never die. It's something that will always be around. So I am positive about the future of podcasting. I do think that it will be much easier in the future to do anything like editing, snippets, reels, which brings me to the second part of my prediction, let's call it, but it's quite obvious, already now podcasts compared to a few years ago are going into the video space, right? So it's probably less common for people to discover your podcast by being on YouTube,

for example, or Instagram or TikTok or whatever that is. They see, oh, look at this 30 second reel. That's super interesting. Who is it? It's produced by. Let me go check the audio as well. So now many podcasts are discovered through video. And not just that.

I think a lot of listeners, and it happens with modern wisdom, I believe, and Dyer of a CEO and all this gigantic podcasts, a lot of people even just stop at the reels. I don't think that everyone who watches a reel actually then goes on to listen to one, two or three hours of the audio, right? There is a big, big portion of listeners who just love the video, the reel, the attention span is getting. getting shorter. So the video component is going to be extremely, extremely important. And I do understand why some producers want to keep it audio only. I respect that. But in my case, I am trying to do a bit of both. I'm trying to be better and better with video production as well as audio production. And then let's see. So long story short, I think human to human podcasts to me will always be there and video, especially short reels, yeah, it's just too important to be to be left outside of the picture.

I like how you said it. I can only agree. For example, now, as you mentioned, the video, I can see that just as example, sometimes you've got episode, I don't know, two hours long. I mean, Jorogan is probably a bit extreme, but people sometimes have, like, very long podcast. And I can see on YouTube that's very popular or very frequent to even cut the clips, not necessarily shorts, but even like a clip's five, five to ten minutes and share it even more frequently throughout the week, which I think, again, if people don't have time to listen to everything and also YouTube becoming a very popular platform where I don't know, everyone goes, whether it's to listen to music, listen to podcasts or any video. So I think that's going to be big as well.

And on the previous point that you said about the person behind the podcast, I very much agree with that because sometimes they're like a podcast that I enjoy listening to because of the person who's actually behind the mic. You've got all kinds of podcasts about interesting topics. But again, for some reason, if you don't like the guest, I don't know, maybe just don't like the wipes or the questions or for any kind of reason, I just don't really listen to it. But again, if there is someone who's interesting, engaging,

in charismatic, et cetera. That's what I like. And it gives me like some hope that we will not be replaced by the AI. So you said the great points. I totally agree. And look, I will add something to that, which maybe, I don't know if it falls under the prediction bracket, but it's something I really believe in. Because of this push into everything digital, everything optimized, everything, everything hyperproductive,

there will be, in my opinion, a bit of a backlash. It's like a pendulum that is swinging way too hard on one end, and at some point it will come back swinging. I do think there is also a space in the future for more and more, let's say, offline experiences. So whether it's podcasting or book clubs or whatever that is, but people coming together and having these conversations in person. And then you can record them, you can put them online, great. But I think people will crave more of, more this actual human experience. Like I said, it will not take over digital or online. That's impossible. But there will be, I believe, Renaissance, so to speak, offline. I do think that people will appreciate live conversations. Even more, I think that people will crave a bit of connection.

They will crave having a meeting or a coffee at an actual cafe or a bar rather than do it over a screen and this will be more and more and more present and maybe in a way it will affect also who knows our podcast in the future maybe we'll both have our own studio and do it in person and i think that's a thing that it will not disappear i think if anything it will be more and more evolved over time and i think offline will play a big big big part in that i think it's a good idea and I actually wish that it was true because the truth is that we spent a lot of time behind the screens and even though it's obviously different if you score social media and if you record a podcast as we do now but still at the end of the day you want to get away from

the screen because it's tiring and just looking into the screen and doing some work you just need some kind of break so I can relate to it and I do hope that something like that happens in the future. I think so. I think so too. Yeah. A quick note before we continue. One of the things I've realized from hosting this podcast is that I spent a lot of time thinking about the conversations long after they end. That's one of the reasons I started unproduced,

a solo podcast where I share ideas, lessons, observations, and questions I'm still figuring out myself. If you'd like to check it out, you'll find a link in the description. Now back to the episode. You mentioned a few podcasts. podcasts before, but what are some of your favorite ones and why? Yeah, look, I'm probably coming up with the same names that anybody's coming up these days. I do listen to, I do listen to modern wisdom now and then, I do listen with, you know, Chris Williamson, I do listen now and then to Diary of a

CEO. One podcast, if you can call it that, that I used to love, love, love in the past was the hot ones, you know, where guests were called over. They were eating. Every question was one hot wing that you need please. And it was a it was a podcast on YouTube. I think it's still there probably under a different name. I'm not sure. But that I found I found the concept extremely funny for the people who are listening and don't know the format. You basically had this phenomenal host who was calling all these celebrities over sitting at this table with I believe it was a tray of 10 wings going from mild to extremely hot. And every question during the conversation, at every question you needed to taste a wing with the sauce that was getting hotter and hotter.

And so by the end of the conversation, the sauce was extremely hot. Your mouth would burn and you could barely speak, but you still had to answer the question. And I thought the concept was phenomenal. The questions were very well researched. The guests were very interesting. I think even Gordon Ramsey was there at some point. So that was one of the podcasts that I did. think got me passionate about the idea of interviewing people and not just that also researching people

their their history researching good questions that is something that I that I care for very very much so I would say these two or three podcasts are the ones that come to mind and there's there's plenty of them and you know you keep discovering really really good podcasts that are that fly under the radar because there's so many there's so many of them I mean look at your podcast look at produced by I made a complete deep dive into produced by the last few days. You had some phenomenal guests, some really good conversations. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Of course. Like, you know, and I'm very happy to be able to be one of them. But there are so many podcasts that are really, really good that can share so much information and knowledge, but they fly under the radar. So, yeah, I think we all gravitate towards the famous ones, but there's a lot of good material out there. Yeah, I think so too. we discussed it.

Firstly, thank you for kind words. I really appreciate it. But for the people from the outside, they see like, for example, reels on LinkedIn, because we've got audience on LinkedIn or we come from LinkedIn. And they think that,

I don't know, you record the episode, you share it and everyone suddenly starts listening or everyone discovers that. But as we discussed before, the reality is that there are loads of podcasts. And it's quite hard to stand out and especially get people like listen to the episode for, I don't know, one hour or anything.

So that may be one little clip that people see on LinkedIn, YouTube or whatever. There is so much work behind it. And it's nice to hear it from actually someone else who knows what it's like. Because I think that people outside, I guess it's pretty much with all the other stuff that you see online, that people don't see the background, the context and all the hard work behind it. They just see that one little highlight and everything seems to be very successful. Yeah, the, look, you touched on a interesting point. Discoverability is key these days, right?

Pushing the record button and speaking is no longer enough. You really have to stand out. There is an ocean of content out there. Good and bad content, whatever you're, you know, depending on your taste. But it's really difficult to stand out. It's the same on every platform, on LinkedIn, on Spotify, on YouTube, everywhere. It's very, very difficult to stand out. And so, yeah, I think you're right.

Whenever you see a 30 second clip, we tend to quickly check it. If we don't like it after one second, we scroll through. But there is always usually a lot of work behind it, a lot of thought, dreams and visions behind those podcasts. So it's a very different way of consuming content, I think, once you know what's going on in the background. Agreed. And what will be like maybe our vision with actually your podcast?

Obviously, to keep recording, improving, growing, but do you have any specific plans for the goals that you aim to achieve? Yeah, thank you for asking. You know, I do think I started the podcast, obviously, with this mental well-being topic in mind. So it's always, and now it gravitated towards a larger category of modern work. So I do want to be more and more present in the future within companies, within businesses. So bring those conversations in actual businesses.

and maybe have a more direct connection with sea level and boards of companies who are interested in having a conversation about modern work and the future of work. And it doesn't have to be necessarily about burnout or mental well-being. I've learned over the years that it does a lot more to someone's well-being to know about, for example, how to deal with politics at work, how to prepare for a difficult meeting, how to handle a challenging colleague. All of these things, it's something that everyone goes through on the day to day. So from a very practical point to a very broad standpoint of, is AI going to replace me? Am I going to lose my job in a few years? All these conversations, I think, would be very relevant for any employee at any level in any company.

So I'd want to bring these conversations more and more within companies. And then like I said, I think offline will play a big role. So I do envision or I do dream about having my own studio at some point and maybe starting in Berlin, maybe starting inviting people over physically, having that actual human connection because I am building a great network of contacts at the moment, but I rarely have the chance to meet these people in person. And this is something that I would like to change in the future. I do very much value building that relationship and strengthening that relationship.

So let's see where that goes. But I think being present in businesses and hopefully having my own studio at some point, those two points would be or those two aspects is something that I want to be intentional about. I will be excited and hoping that one day I'll see you posting about the studio about the physical and it would be really cool. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you. And I was curious that since you have like this kind of.

conversations with people on the podcast. Obviously, those topics are not probably always positive or not easy to talk about. So from your experience, what is it like when or how is it when people talk about it? If it's easy, how do you maybe feel like, you know, when asking such a question because it's not positive or it's not such easy topic to discuss, you know, how you burnt out or any negative experience at work. So what is it like for you? And what's your experience in this?

Yeah, look, at the beginning, when it was, when the conversations were more centered around actual direct mental well-being topics, it wasn't easy, but you'd be surprised there are so many people who go through the same thing. You know, when we have a, we have a bad period, you think, ah, like, why me? Why am I so unlucky? But you quickly realize that so many people go through the same concerns. they go through the same things. No one that I know is 100% fine. Of course, if you zoom out, I would argue we have it pretty good. We have a good life, right?

There's always someone who has it worse, unfortunately. So I do feel very lucky, very privileged. It doesn't take away from your own problems. But at the same time, you know that so many people are on the same boat. So many people are experiencing the same issues. And so when I was having those conversations, I quickly realized that people were in fact eager to talk about these things, were in fact happy to be asked certain questions

and finally put it out there and finally have those conversations. It's a bit like reaching out to people on, say, LinkedIn, and you're afraid to write that DM, you're afraid to connect with people, but then you'll quickly realize that most people are actually friendly and most people have actually something to say, and most people are happy to talk about something that worries them or something that they are passionate about. And this is something that I saw during the interviews.

And now expanding the scope to discussing things like politics at work or discussing AI or even one of the recent episodes was about communication and presentation. at work. How do you, how do you craft a presentation for your clients? All these things are very, very practical. And so people are, especially people that are expert in their topic, they're very eager to share their knowledge and tell me what they've learned over the years. And it's a win-win, because I can learn through the podcast. They can share their message to the audience. And so it's a lot better than I expected. I think most people are very, very willing to share. I'm happy to hear that.

And I think it makes it even better when you realize that there are people outside to whom it might help. Because if you share it, there are people who may go through the same thing or it might help them to prevent actually from happening that in the future. So actually making that impact, I think it helps you kind of with the whole mission or with the impact. So it's another positive thing about it. 100%. It sounds cliche. We always say this. but if our podcast impacts even one person,

then we will be happy. It is actually like that, right? That's all I think about it. I'm not concerned, at the moment, at least, I'm not concerned about having a million followers. I do want to nail the message. I do want to make sure that I go through the right research and I pick the right guest.

And if the conversation is great and the guest is, as it usually happens, lovely and easy to talk to, then someone will listen to it and someone will get a nugget of wisdom out of it and that's a win for me. Anything else is secondary. Yeah. And once in a while you get a message in your inbox when someone texts you that they listen to it and actually help them and it's really nice to read it. That's the best. That's the best. It doesn't happen super often. I'm not going to lie. I don't get

hundreds of messages like that. But when it does happen and when I hear positive feedback, it's like fuel. You know, you want to keep going and we were discussing this prior to to hitting the record button. Sometimes it feels like, especially in the first episodes, you are recording, you're kind of screaming into the nothingness, you're doing all of this for nobody. But actually, there might be someone who is just lurking and taking something out of your message.

So keep doing it, keep it up. It's a lot of work, but it's very rewarding. I do agree, agree. And Matthew, just to be aware of time, I want to ask you kind of lighter questions at the end. So what is it that you like to do in your free? time or what are some of your hobbies? Some of my hobbies. So, well, we'll start with the easy one. I play football. And did you say before that it's a Spanish football team? Or is... It's a mostly

Spanish-speaking football team. So it's a lot of people, I think it started as a Spanish-speaking community, people from Latin America and Spain. And for some reason I joined. I joined through friends and my Spanish is gradually improving thanks to them. cool. Yes, yes. It's an international, it's an international team and right now I'm playing seven aside. So seven against seven, you know, reach a certain age where I'm no longer fast. I never, I never was fast. But now even even less so. And so seven against seven is my, is my element. I don't need to run as much, but it's very fun. And it's a good, it's a good thing to create your own space, I believe, outside of home and outside of work, somewhere in between. I,

I do want to assume that you have something like that with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, right? It's something outside of home, outside of work, and you have your own community, your own group of friends. So I'm big into sports and team sports in general. I also read quite a bit. I read mostly non-fiction books. Sometimes I read comics. I love anything that has to do with drawings. I really appreciate anybody who is able to draw and is in a way an artist of any kind.

I really love that. And yeah, I spend a lot of time, probably way too much time with my dog. So these are the things that I mostly spend my time with outside of work. I think reading and doing sports are a big part of it. I also, in my own time, sometimes I draw. I love doodling. It was a thing. It was a thing when I was in meetings at work.

I always had a pen and a paper or something to scribble or doodle on because it helps me focus. And you may have seen it from some of my posts on LinkedIn. I love to sometimes draw something. And that's my way of meditating. That's my way of being offline and being not thinking about anything else. It's just my time, a bit of music and my pen and paper. And that's it. And first, as you mentioned, football, what is your favorite football team that you support?

I used to be a big fan of Ace Milan back in, you know, Shevchenko Times and Kaka Times. So it's been a few years now. Now I don't really follow much football except for big occasions like Euro Cup or the World Cup. So I followed obviously, especially the final games of the World Cup, but that's about it. I prefer right now to play it than to watch it. Yeah. And actually the next question was if you read books, which you answered, and if you can give us some recommendations.

Yeah. So, I mean, you see a little bit, like I have a library of books. I love reading actual books. I love smelling the book. I love touching the book. So I have a thing for actual books. I think speaking of offline, I think in the future, books will actually be something of a collection item. What books would I recommend?

There is one book that I always recommend, which is by Scott Galloway. It's called The Algebra of Happiness. It's a really good book to me, at least. It's very easy to read. It's short chapters. So you can read it for five, ten minutes and then put it down very easily. And there is another book that I really appreciated recently. It's actually by one of the people who was on my podcast not long ago.

And the book is called Timeless Presenter. The author is called Andrea Pacini. And it's this book about communication and presentation skills. every page is pretty much one timeless principle that helps you, helps you communicate and present better. And it's very, very easy to read, very smooth, but extremely practical. And I like that a lot. So these two books are the ones that I would recommend to the audience at the moment.

I will have a look. And considering your experience, your podcast, is it like maybe on your list in the future to write book as well? you know what I would love to I for the longest time I thought that collecting all the learnings from our conversations would make for an excellent book and it would also be a great way to pay tribute to the guests who've been on the on the show so yeah why not it could be it could be a great great great great yeah a great project to work on something maybe like I'm not sure if you're familiar with humans of New York it's a great book there's they also have a

massive channel, I believe, on Instagram or all over social media, and they really go deep into knowing the history of a person around New York or around whatever city they're in. And I always was fascinated by that concept. And it's pretty much what you are doing. I think with your interviews, you really want to get to know that person. You want to give that name, not just a face, but you want to give that person a story, a background, some more depth. And those things are, I think, are very valuable. So if I could achieve something like that in the future and also combine it with learnings about modern work, that would be something that would make me very proud. But yeah, so maybe in the future I'll think of a book. Who knows?

I mean, you are on a great path. So I think foundation is there. So we'll be looking forward to it and hope it happened. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. And as you mentioned, that one person who appeared on your show and wrote a book, do you have like a dream guest that you would like to interview on your podcast? podcast. Wow. I do have a list of people that I keep an eye on and I keep following, you know, I keep following their content. I keep lurking around what they publish. Maybe Scott Galloway,

maybe Scott Galloway would be an interesting guest because it's someone, some people love him, some people hate him, but regardless, I think is a very, very good communicator and probably relevant to what I'm researching these days, which is modern work. and the future of work. And I appreciate someone who is a very strong communicator, has a strong point of view that you can discuss or debate. So he's probably on the wish list, yes. Yeah, that will be cool.

Yeah. But I know that he does the podcast on his own as well. And being too many shows too. So experienced person, and it could be interesting to have a conversation with someone who knows what it's like and who's professional. Yeah, don't get me wrong. It would be terrifying to have him on the,

the podcast. I mean, I... Oh, it's filled this. Yeah. Another one that I think is very interesting and maybe a pioneer of social conversations is Gary V. Right. Gary Vaynerchuk. He's been repeatedly posting for the longest time. And I think most of his content is very positive. It encourages people to pursue their dreams. And he has this constant message, which is, you're never too old to do something. And I that content always very positive, very encouraging, very inspirational. And I think we need more of that, especially in these times where a lot of the content

that we see is either sad or depressing or violent. So a bit more of that positivity is necessary. So yeah, Scott Galloway and Gary V would be phenomenal guests, but equally terrifying. Yeah, I like it. And Gary is obviously someone who made a lot of impact, so happy to hear that. Mateo, we unfortunately didn't have much time to discuss LinkedIn, which actually is not that bad thing because it was great conversation. But can you please summarize where people can find you, follow and promote any of your services?

Yeah, thank you so much for asking. So anything related to Stepsero is where you'll find me. I am mostly on, I spend a lot of time, way too much time on LinkedIn. I am not a big time creator. I don't have as big of a community as you have, but I spend a lot of time on the platform. So you'll likely find me there, Matteo Cassini. I also have a small page about the podcast, Stepsero, and my podcast can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts,

and I also have a YouTube channel under the same name. YouTube, I think the handle is a Step Serro podcast, but if you type Stepsero, you'll pretty much find me anywhere. I will, as always, add any links to the show notes. And I asked you before about your plans with the podcast, but outside of podcast, Do you have like any other plans, goals or anything you want to achieve in upcoming weeks or months and you are willing to share so that audience can be excited?

So right now my full thoughts go to, you know, work and the podcast, right? Like I do want to pursue a career in tech. I work in partnerships and sales and business development. So that's always in the back of my head. And I'm always on the lookout for interesting companies and people. to join and work with. And the rest of my time is entirely dedicated to podcasting, especially building this network and meeting interesting people

who are experts in the field of modern work and the future of work, whatever that may be, right? It doesn't have to be mental well-being. It can be something completely unrelated. Outside of that, I am taking an interest in drawing, and I was thinking lately maybe joining a drawing class or an art class, would be something for me. It gives me a lot of energy to be offline sometimes and just be focused on drawing and nothing else. I think it's very therapeutic. It's very good for my soul. But I'm not

necessarily a good drawer, so I want to get better at it. And there's a few art schools in Berlin or several drawing classes online that I might consider. So that's something that I'm looking at. And by the way, let's not forget, you have been a big source of inspiration for me when it comes to BJJ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have never tried, but I'm very curious about it. And there's a few interesting schools in Berlin. I may follow your example and start at some point. Let's see. I think I'm first, I'm happy to hear about your plans, of course, excited. I can rely that having some kind of creative activity outside or just something to switch office. It's very helpful. And secondly, I said that before, I'm biased, but I hope you try Jiu-Jitsu. I hope you follow enough

with that and you just go for it because that's that's the passion journey of life and if not even any other martial art but if I can say something in the jiu-jitsu at least don't get punches into the face so so it's right yes and please please please keep posting that kind of content because I think it's actually quite interesting I think you're doing a really great job you're posting a lot of content I see also on YouTube you're everywhere but I appreciated the snippet about jiu jiu jiu-s So it gives behind the scenes inside. And like I said, it was a bit of a, it clicked with me because it was, it made me think,

or maybe it could be interesting to go for it. Thank you. And I also appreciate it because as I said before, sometimes you don't know if it's, I don't know, worth sharing if people are interested, if it's maybe appropriate. I don't know. And hearing something like this, it really helps you. And you know, we have all these doubts. So hearing positive feedback and some encouraging words, it's helped.

so thank you for that. 100% you're welcome. Mateo, very last question, is there anything I should have asked you and did not or any final message or anything to leave the audience with? Anything you should have asked? No, I think you're,

you've been a phenomenal host. No, and I'm saying it as a host. Like, it is uncommon for me to be on this side of the recording. No, you asked a lot of great questions. You gave me the chance to introduce myself and talk about my future plans, which I very much appreciate. And, you know, I suspect that you and I could talk for a good 10, 15 hours about podcasting.

So, no, I think you've covered enough ground. And I am very, very thankful for being on this podcast. I thank you because I really enjoyed it. It was first thing great to meet you, at least over the screen. And as you said, I could be, of course, discussing the podcast for me for four ages because it's a topic that we are both passionate about, but also I know that regarding your podcast, what you do, I like the mission.

I think that what you're sharing, what you're talking about, those topics are important. And that's something that is there, and it's probably going to be there. But if it helps to improve, it's only a better thing. So I highly encourage people to check it out, to follow to subscribe. And another thing is that we know what it takes to grow a podcast.

So please support to Matteo, leave positive comments and some feedback. And we'll be happy to catch up anytime in the future again. You've been very and kind to me. I genuinely enjoyed it. And I will be wishing you all the best. So thank you so much, Mattel. Thank you, Thomas.

It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for the shout-out. And please keep it up. Keep posting. Keep producing. Your content is great. And I'm sure it's helping a lot, a lot, a lot of people out there. So thank you again for having me.

It's been a pleasure. Thanks for listening to Produce Bye with Tom. Check the show notes for all the links and don't forget to subscribe, like and share your feedback. Speak soon.