Max Cutler

Max Cutler is an American entrepreneur, creator, author and businessman best known for founding the podcast studio Parcast in 2016.

Spotify acquired Parcast in 2019. Max Cutler has been featured on Fortune 40 Under 40, The 40(ish) Most Powerful People in Podcasting, Forbes 30 Under 30, In 2023, Cutler stepped down from Spotify.

Early life

Cutler was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He attended Viewpoint School, a nondenominational school in Calabasas, California. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance and entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona in 2013.

Cutler's father, Ron Cutler, is a veteran radio broadcaster who went by the name Ron Diamond. Ron started Cutler Productions, a radio syndication company in the 1980s. Max has cited his father as having a huge influence on his career and life. without outside investment. While he has cited podcast Serial by Sarah Koenig as an inspiration, his vision was to consistently produce high-quality content across various genres. In the latter half of 2021, Parcast ventured into limited-run investigative series, including podcasts Imposters and Revelations (with Blumhouse Productions). At its peak, Parcast achieved over 1 billion downloads, employed a team of over 120 staff and produced more than 140 shows weekly in eight different languages. Cutler is known for creating and producing podcasts like Conspiracy Theories, Supernatural, Horoscope Today and International Infamy.

On April 1, 2019, Spotify acquired Parcast for $56 million.

Under Cutler's guidance, Spotify attracted notable podcast creators including Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie), Ash and Alaina (Morbid), Alex Cooper (Call Her Daddy), Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) and the Fantasy Footballers. Cutler also greenlit a number of nontraditional podcasters such as Kim Kardashian, Brené Brown, and Addison Rae. In addition, Cutler was tasked with leading Kids Content and Audiobook Originals as well as developing content for Spotify’s push into live audio.

Cutler is also the author of Cults: Inside the World's Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People Who Joined Them, based on the podcast Cults. Cutler left Spotify in 2023 to launch a new venture. In April 2024 Pave Studios launched, describing itself as a production company "at the intersection of audio, video, books, and entertainment."