The podcast industry reminds us of the Web 1.0 world of 20 years ago. Its like the wild west as a completely new industry gets off the ground. New companies sprout up every day. Some solve problems facing the industry, while others try to ride the hype wave and cash in.

As you might expect, there are plenty of crazy stories out there, but this latest one from The Verge is fascinating and hilarious. It’s titled “The Podcasting Hype House from Hell” and features the podcasting company Himalaya and details “how China’s biggest audio platform funded one man’s frat boy dreams.”

Basically, they had a production studio in a mansion in LA, and then things spun out of control. It’s a great read . . . check it out.