Montreal Marketeers Episode 42 - Oliver Wellington: Founder at Headliner

Discover how serial entrepreneur Oliver Wellington turned years of experience in content recommendation into Headliner, a focused tool that helps creators turn audio into engaging, shareable video. In this episode of the Montreal Marketeers Podcast, Oliver walks through his path from early startup roles to building a product designed specifically to help podcasts and audio shows stand out on social media.

After completing his MBA, Oliver played a pivotal role in creating nRelate, a content recommendation platform that grew to over 6 billion page views per month before being acquired by Ask.com. That journey gave him a front‑row seat to how people consume content at scale and what it takes to build technology that quietly powers billions of interactions behind the scenes.

Oliver left nRelate in 2015 and co‑founded SpareMin with some of his former business partners. Today, the team’s main focus is Headliner, a web‑based video editing app built around a simple goal: helping audio creators quickly produce eye‑catching videos they can share across social platforms.

What stands out in Oliver’s story is how deliberately he applies his background in content tech to solve a very specific problem for creators. Instead of building a generalist tool, Headliner is optimized for turning audio into visual stories, making it easier for podcasts, radio shows, and other audio‑first brands to reach new audiences where they actually scroll.

By using Headliner as his latest proving ground, Oliver continues to refine his approach to product, growth, and creator‑centric design. The episode offers a candid look at what it takes to spot emerging needs in the content ecosystem, build tools around them, and keep evolving alongside the creators you serve.

Show Highlights and Topics

• Duration: 44 minutes

• Early entrepreneurial drive and the decision to build nRelate after completing his MBA

• Growing a content recommendation platform to billions of monthly page views and navigating an acquisition by Ask.com

• Leaving nRelate to start SpareMin and why the team shifted focus to Headliner

• Designing Headliner specifically to help audio creators turn episodes and clips into social‑ready video content

• Lessons on building niche tools for creators, spotting gaps in the content landscape, and iterating with user feedback