the hardest episode in underway is the first one. episode zero is where you say what you are building, who it is for, where it honestly stands and what you are setting out to do. it is the start of your series and the context for every interview after it. and until today it asked you to do it in one go, first time, with no idea how a conversation with an ai co-host would feel.
that was too much to ask. founders reached the episode zero card, typed their name and their one line, pressed start, and then stopped before saying anything. so episode zero is now a practice run, and the app says so before you start.
one question on the card, and nothing records
the episode zero card on today still asks for your first name and one line about what you are documenting. under them there is one more question, about you rather than a setting: how do you see yourself making this? on camera, mostly my voice, like a podcast, or a bit of both.
it is just so we know where you are heading. answering it does not touch your camera or your microphone, nothing records, and you can change your mind any time. it decides which way the next screen starts, and it is the first default of the camera row on your setup screen until you change it there. it never forces anything, and the interviewer never reads it.
a moment before the call
press start episode zero and you land on a short screen of its own. it says what this is, plainly: completely private, it goes nowhere and nobody sees it. you get a three-minute practice with your voice and one on camera, then your real episode zero whenever you are ready.
how this one is made, on camera or just my voice, is already chosen from your answer, and switches in one tap. then two buttons, side by side: practise first (3 minutes) and start the real one. nobody has to practise. the browser asks for your microphone, and your camera if you chose it, only when you press one of them.
what a practice is
a practice is a try-out, three minutes at most. your co-host says up front that it is a short practice, asks what you are building the way it will in the real one, and wraps up before the time is up. when it ends it is deleted. nothing is kept, nothing is sent anywhere, and it never teaches underway anything about you.
afterwards the same screen offers the other way, try it on camera or try it with just your voice, if that practice is still unused, and start the real one. it tells you honestly what is left: you have one practice on camera left. one practice each way per account, counted on our side, so it is the same on the web and the phone.
the real one, and what happens after it
the real one is up to ten minutes. your co-host aims to cover the ground well inside that and wraps up before the end, so it never stops mid-sentence. when it is saved, its page offers three things: keep this as episode zero, have another go, or delete it.
have another go records a new episode zero beside the old one. the old one stays exactly as it is until you keep the new one, and then the old one is deleted, from your device and from your account, the same way a retake replaces an answer. delete it deletes it outright and takes you back to the episode zero card. leave it as it is and it is your episode zero.
what underway remembers from episode zero, the standing context every interview reads, always comes from the one you kept. a replaced or deleted go teaches it nothing.
redo it later, from the vault
a business moves on, and the beginning you filmed in your first week might not be the beginning you would film now. episode zero's page in the vault has redo episode zero. it is the same flow: on camera or with just your voice, the one you have stays until you keep the new one, and your numbered episodes are never touched.
what it costs
nothing. episode zero, both practices and every go at the real one are free on every plan. they never count against your five free episodes and never use co-host minutes, on a free account or a paid one.
the reason is simple. episode zero is the one episode that cannot be filmed later: where it stands right now is only true right now. if a founder stops at the first screen because it felt like a test they could fail, the series never starts. a practice run they can redo is the honest answer to that.
faqs
does anyone see my practice?
no. a practice is deleted when it ends, and it is never stored or sent anywhere. the real one stays private in your vault until you choose to publish it.
do i have to practise?
no. practise first and start the real one sit side by side, and you can go straight to the real one.
can i do episode zero on camera now?
yes. choose on camera or just my voice on the screen before the call, in one tap. the card's question only sets which one starts chosen.
what happens to my old episode zero if i have another go?
it stays exactly as it is until you keep the new one. then it is deleted, from your device and your account, and the new one becomes your episode zero.
does a redo count as one of my free episodes?
no. episode zero and every go at it are free, and they never use co-host minutes.
is it the same on the phone?
yes. the card asks the same question, the conversation opens the same way, and keep this as episode zero, have another go and delete it are on the episode's screen.
start your series with episode zero, free, no card. start free.