A Fan Asks “How Do You Decide Who To Interview?”

Here’s an email with a question that I’ve been asked a lot lately, so I’ll answer publicly:

Andrew,
The interviews are fantastic and we use products/services from many of the companies.

There are 235 interviews listed at the moment. What’s the criteria for selecting them?

Cheers,
Chris

MobileIQ | Route Planning for Small Business

So what do I look for in an interviewee? I can sum it up in this single sentence:

People who’ve done something dramatically big in business and are willing to openly teach what they learned from the experience.

Here are 4 specific categories to clarify that answer.

#1 Entrepreneurs with big hits

This is the main focus of my work. I want entrepreneurs who built impressive businesses to teach how they did it.

How to do this well.

Reveal something – Noah Everett, founder of Twitpic, didn’t just come on Mixergy and say his company was successful. He gave specific numbers about how well it was doing — numbers that he never revealed before. That’s why the audience loved him and was able to really learn from him. It’s also why dozens of other bloggers picked up on his story and hundreds of tweets went out about him.

Be open – Matt Mickiewicz, of 99designs, didn’t just say his young company was a hit. He came on and gave numbers. Guy Kawasaki of AllTop, didn’t pretend he was the greatest investor of all time. He owned his strengths, but also admitted his weaknesses.

Be open. You can’t get into an interview and be a man of mystery. If you’re going to do it, open up. And you can’t go into an interview pretending you’re Superman. My audience and I are businesspeople like you. We’re full of flaws. We don’t look down on your mistakes when you admit them — we relate to you when you reveal them.

Teach us – Before our interview, Noah Kagan, founder of Gambit, sent me a list of useful lessons that he learned as he built his business. He put some work into it. So when he did his interview, the success he talked was exciting AND what he taught gave the audience something useful to do with their enthusiasm.

#2 Entrepreneurs with big setbacks

This is what really sets my work apart. Other sites fling failed entrepreneurs into a “dead pool.” I exalt their effort and learn from their openness.

How to do this well.

Stand proud – Almost every single successful entrepreneur on Mixergy talked about his/her failures. I make a point of asking about failures because I know it’s part of the process. The only people who haven’t experienced setbacks are the ones who email me and tell me that they’d like to start a business, but they’re too afraid. Andrew Thompson of beModel is one of my most popular guests because he owned his experiences proudly.

Evaluate what went wrong – One of my site’s hidden gems is my interview with Luke Bergis, @lukearthurb on Twitter. It’s one of the conversations that I think about a lot. In the interview, I asked him to talk through what went wrong as he built Fit Fuel. If you listen to what he said, I bet you’ll identify with some of the missteps. And if you take his sotry to heart, I know he’ll help you be a sharper businessperson.

#3 Experts who teach what they do

This is the most useful part of my work, but guests that fall into this category are the hardest for me to have on. That’s because everyone thinks they’re an expert.

How to do this well.

Be a doer – I don’t want to interview people who are professional talkers about a subject. I want people who do the work. One of my earliest interviewees, Chris Winfield of 10e20, doesn’t make his living teaching online marketing and selling ebooks about social media marketing. He gets up every day and markets for his clients. He’s one of the most recognizable doers in the business.

Be real – People love Neil Patel, of Quick Sprout, because he’s not afraid to let his devil show. Before I even hit record on the interview, he started telling the live Mixergy audience about the trick he used to get people auto-follow him on Twitter. Immediately, we all knew he wasn’t going to snow us with the PR story of how his business worked.

It’s also important for me to say that when there were subjects he considered private, like his new company KISSmetrics, he didn’t feel obligated to tell us anything. I’m not trying to get my guests to reveal trade secrets. I just want to make sure these programs are honest, inspiring and useful.

#4 People I find interesting

This is the most unfair part of my work. Frankly, I’m not sure if I’m living up to the focus that you have a right to expect from me when I veer off and interview people just because I find them interesting.

I do it because I grew up loving that middle column of the Wall Street Journal’s front page, the one that had a random story which might be interesting to businesspeople, but wasn’t necessarily a business story.

I also do it because sometimes the best ideas come from random places.

I should say that these kinds of interviews are rare, and that they’re not based on solicitations from people who email me and say, “You’ll find my life interesting.”

Your turn

– What do you think of the criteria I use?

– Do you know anyone who fits any of these categories? (Email me in private about them.)

Image via Tim Morgan.