It all started over dinner. Ellen Hyslop was waxing poetic about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ improbable run into the NHL playoffs despite having a young, rebuilding team. Her friends Roslyn McLarty and Jacie deHoop weren’t big sports fans, but they found themselves mesmerized by Hyslop’s story. Her storytelling had a millennial voice and felt like a breath of fresh air compared to today’s typical (meaning, primarily male) sports culture.

Founder Molly Beck has a plan to make podcasting easy for everyone by making it as uncomplicated as launching a blog. Her startup Messy.fm is an all-in-one podcast production platform that makes it possible for even the most novice podcasters to record, edit, publish, publicize, and monetize podcasts without ever leaving the Messy.fm site — and without buying fancy equipment.