My son, the vibe coder

If you watch this episode of Stewart Squared, you will see what we recorded using Riverside, the most popular application for recording podcasts professionally. Watch Special Edition of Stewart Squared, and you’ll see what we recorded in my son’s newly vibe-coded podcast recording app. (It’s “only” 18 minutes long, not our usual hour.)

You will have a hard time telling the difference in video or audio recording quality. In the Special Edition, you will hear how and why he decided to create his own app, using Claude Code and related tools. Remarkably, he created an app that creates recordings that look and feel just like a Riverside recording. But he did solo it in a few weeks; Riverside has been around for years, has raised $80M in venture capital, and has nearly 200 employees.

Here is a review of Riverside written by a professional video editor, not “just” a podcaster. Don’t Waste Your Money - Riverside HONEST Review 2025 (7 minutes) TLDR: The reviewer says its a great app for podcasting and well supported, but doesn’t mesh well with his use of FinalCut Pro, which is a desktop app for professional video editing. Hence, the comment about not wasting your money.

I’m not here to trash Riverside, for sure. The company is clearly aware of the issue and now sub-titles itself as “the AI-powered platform that lets you record, edit, repurpose,and distribute studio-quality content as easily as if you had a crew behind you.”

There are big gaps in Stewart’s app, particularly if he was going to try to sell it commercially. How secure is it? Does it work on other browsers (it is programmed for Chrome)? What is the road map for future developments? How will it be maintained going forward?

If I was an investor in Riverside, I would want to understand what this means. I’m not an investor in the company, and I don’t make any money from our podcast so I don’t have a personal stake. But I am a professional venture capitalist, and this is a conversation we are having in every one of the software companies in our portfolio. I empathize completely with the investors who did invest in Riverside before Claude Code and OpenClaw came along and started to redefine engineering software.

But, speaking as a father, congratulations to Stewart III on keeping on the front edge of technology!