PREPARED FOR JIM DONNELLY, JAKE THIEDE & THE HUMANAUT HEALTH TEAM
TURNING HUMANAUT’S EXPERTISE INTO SUSTAINED ORGANIC ATTENTION.
A turnkey system to turn Humanaut’s expertise, people, and network into consistent long-form and short-form media, without adding day-to-day production work to the team.
Podcast Collective · Partnership proposal · September 2026
The context
Clinical expertise. Credible voices. Member stories. A deep health and wellness network. And real momentum from the growth of the business.
Humanaut already has the substance. The challenge is turning it into media that earns attention from people who are not yet following the brand, then giving them reasons to keep watching, sharing, and coming back.
That requires more than producing a podcast. It requires an editorial and distribution system built around long-form conversations, short-form discovery, guest reach, packaging, publishing, repurposing, and ongoing iteration.
THE GOAL IS NOT SIMPLY MORE CONTENT. IT IS MORE ORGANIC REACH, MORE RECOGNITION, AND A GROWING AUDIENCE THAT KNOWS AND TRUSTS HUMANAUT.
Proposed structure
Each long-form conversation is planned from the outset to generate platform-native short-form, audio, search, email, and guest-led distribution.
The media engine
Flagship conversation
Long-form authority
Short-form discovery
Search + email
Guest + earned
New audience
Audience + business signals
Trust · Clinics · Services · Franchise · Partners
A prepared but unscripted conversation led primarily by Jim, with other Humanaut leaders stepping in when the topic calls for their expertise. The format is designed around executive availability, not dependent on a single personality being available every week.
Amy Killen when relevant and available, Harry Adelson, Ernie Navarro, clinicians, members, athletes, and outside experts bring different dimensions of Humanaut’s expertise and approach to the program.
Every episode is built for long-form depth and short-form discovery, with search, email, guest sharing, and outside media amplification planned into the release.
Recommended launch cadence
Start with two high-quality long-form episodes each month, each supporting a two-week distribution cycle across short-form, search, email, and guest channels.
This creates a consistent weekly presence without forcing Humanaut’s leaders into a weekly long-form recording schedule from day one.
The long-form cadence can scale to weekly once the format, audience response, and recording rhythm support it.
Editorial approach
The editorial voice should be credible enough to withstand scrutiny, useful enough to earn trust, and engaging enough to reach people who do not already follow Humanaut.
Healthspan, performance, relationships, purpose, and the choices that compound.
Diagnostics, biomarkers, emerging science, and clear interpretation without borrowed certainty.
Real clinicians, protocols, decisions, and member journeys that make Humanaut’s approach tangible.
Builders, physicians, athletes, and thinkers shaping proactive health.
Topics stay grounded in available evidence and approved clinical language, while preserving the natural voices and personalities of Jim and the Humanaut team.
What Podcast Collective manages
Humanaut provides access, expertise, relationships, and final approval. Podcast Collective manages the editorial calendar, guest process, production, publishing, distribution, and follow-through.
Show premise, repeatable formats, a rolling 90-day calendar, and ongoing editorial decisions.
Research, outreach, scheduling, preparation, releases, and post-episode follow-up.
Two video-first long-form episodes each month, recorded in Austin or remotely and finished to a consistent editorial standard.
Each episode becomes purpose-built short-form, written, email, and search content designed for the channel where it will live.
Titles, thumbnails, show notes, chapters, channel publishing, guest toolkits, and release management.
Audience response, retention, referral sources, guest reach, and content performance feed directly into the next editorial cycle.
Responsibilities
Humanaut retains ownership of its channels, recordings, and finished content, with final authority over brand, clinical claims, and commercial partners. Podcast Collective manages the workflow from planning through publishing and performance review.
Relevant experience
Podcast Collective works across the full media cycle: building owned and branded content for health and fitness companies, while using established podcast relationships to expand distribution beyond the brand’s existing audience.
9 years / 550+ episodes
Eric’s firsthand experience building and hosting Future of Fitness, with a practical understanding of what makes long-form media durable over time.
Selected owned media work
Podcast and long-form media work for Rook’s This Feature Will Save Us and Dr. Jeremy Koenig’s The DNA of Things, including strategy, format development, production, guest programming, and distribution across the two programs.
Branded content programs
Long-form and authority content for health and fitness brands including Centr and StemRegen, created for use across the brands’ own channels.
Earned distribution network
Podcast Collective’s strategic placement work and relationships across health, fitness, and wellness create another growth channel through outside appearances, cross-promotion, and guest networks.
The launch sequence
Four phases, sequenced intentionally. The launch calendar is confirmed at kickoff once recording access, approvals, production requirements, and guest availability are clear. We would rather commit to a date we can keep than invent one before those dependencies are known.
The initial format is a starting hypothesis, not a fixed creative formula. Audience response in the first publishing cycles will determine what we double down on, change, or retire.
Audience promise, show thesis, name, format, identity, host preparation, production standard, and measurement plan.
Channel architecture, editorial bank, guest pipeline, templates, recording workflow, Austin production setup, pilot, and first episode bank.
Launch the show and activate social, guest, email, search, and partner distribution around it.
Read retention and response, refine formats, strengthen packaging, and build the next editorial cycle.
Measurement
Non-follower reach, watch time, retention, saves, shares, returning viewers, and audience growth.
Search and AI visibility, earned appearances, guest quality, branded search, and response to Humanaut’s expertise and perspective.
Episode-level landing pages, tagged links, booking-source capture, qualified clinic and service inquiries, franchise interest, and downstream conversion signals.
Sponsor interest, partner conversations, vendor participation, and opportunities directly connected to the media program.
Reporting will combine episode-specific links, landing pages, tagged calls to action, booking-source capture, and feedback from clinic and growth teams. We will separate direct response from assisted influence rather than assigning unsupported credit to the show.
Recommended scope
We recommend keeping editorial strategy, guest development, production, publishing, distribution, and performance in one workflow, with one team accountable for keeping it moving.
Recommended partnership
$22,000
per month
The intent is to extend Humanaut’s existing marketing operation, not create another workflow the internal team has to manage.
Launch foundation
Show identity, channel architecture, production workflow, Austin recording specification, pilot, initial episode bank, and initial sponsor inventory and founding-partner framework.
$26,500 one time
Optional scope
These modules can begin at launch or be added after the core production schedule is established.
Management and optimization: 3–4 thumbnail variants per episode with A/B testing, title testing, chapters, description keywords, cards, end screens, pinned comments, playlist and channel architecture, retention-curve analysis feeding edit decisions, and comment moderation on a medical channel.
Ongoing content for Jim’s own channels, plus a dedicated earned-appearance strategy and executive visibility program beyond promotion of the flagship show.
A separate strategy and content system under Amy’s own brand, designed around her voice, expertise, and existing audience.
Expands the flagship to four long-form episodes monthly, with the additional production and distribution capacity defined around the selected content volume.
$15,500 / mo
Editorial strategy, episodes, platform-native content, publishing, episode-page copy, and coordination of Humanaut-sourced guests.
$22,000 / mo
Recommended. Adds proactive guest sourcing, research, pitching, booking, preparation, follow-up, and referral development.
From $31,000 / mo
Organic Media Engine + Advanced YouTube Growth + Jim & Executive Visibility. Amy’s creator engine remains separate.
Sponsorships
Humanaut retains 100% of revenue from sponsors it originates, including existing vendor and partner relationships.
A 20% commission applies only when Podcast Collective originates, pitches, and closes the partner.
$6,500 one time, when needed. Expanded media kit, rate architecture, sales materials, onboarding workflow, and sponsor reporting for an active external sponsorship program.
Working assumptions
The program plugs into Humanaut’s established team, channels, digital presence, and production capability rather than creating a competing lane.
Humanaut designates one consolidated approver for brand, clinical, and legal review, with a target turnaround of three business days.
The working assumption is quarterly Austin batch-production sessions, supplemented by remote recordings where useful. Podcast Collective’s production management and post-production are included in the scope above. Third-party costs such as on-site crew, studio, equipment rental, travel, and specialist production support are scoped at kickoff and billed at cost with Humanaut approval.
Billed at cost with prior Humanaut approval when required.
Media spend remains separate and is paid directly by Humanaut. Any paid-media management by Podcast Collective is scoped separately.
Podcast Collective is accountable for the agreed cadence and content volume, assuming timely access, recording availability, and approvals from Humanaut.
Pricing assumes a 12-month initial partnership, with a strategic review at month six. Final scope and working details will be confirmed together once the recommended direction is approved.
Next step
If the proposed direction is right, one working session with Jim, Jake, and the relevant team will confirm the selected scope, host structure, approval path, Austin recording setup, channel access, and first editorial priorities.
Any incorrect assumptions can be resolved in that session and reflected in the final scope and launch plan.