Do You Know These Entrepreneurs? Could You Help Me Interview Them?
About this request
I put together a list of entrepreneurs who I’d like to interview about how they founded and grew their companies.
Since my best interviews come from introductions from readers like you, could you please take a look at this list and see if you can help me meet any of them? If you know someone on the list, please introduce me. If you don’t know anyone, I have suggestions for how you can help me reach these inspiring entrepreneurs.
How to introduce me:
– If you know someone on the list, send an email to the entrepreneur and CC me. (My email is mail(at)awarner.com)
– You can show a sample of my work by linking to my interviews with Gregg Spiridellis (JibJab), Leo Laporte (TWiT.tv) or others.
– If you believe in the work I’m doing here, let them know it.
Please help me meet these entrepreneurs
Scott Heiferman, founder of MeetUp.com
Why would he be a great interview?
His business has global impact through the grass-roots political groups that are formed on Meetup.com, but it also impacts individuals through small meetups like the mommy group that my friend joined when she first became a mother.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
He’s on Twitter. Here’s a sample tweet you can send him.
Lisa Sugar, founder of Sugar, Inc
Why would she be a great interview?
While everyone else is creating another gadget/tech/etc site for men, she’s building a growing empire aimed at women. (Plus Olivia, my wife, loves her sites and seeing me interview Lisa would make her even more confident that’s she married the right guy last month.)
What can you do if you don’t know her?
She’s on Twitter. Here’s a sample tweet you can send her.
Reed Hastings, Jr., founder of Netflix
Why would he be a great interview?
His business took on established players in hollywood and succeeded. He’s changing the way we consume entertainment. Many of my friends have quit cable because of Netflix’s mail and on-demand service. Netflix is also why I don’t miss having a TV.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
I don’t have any contact info for him. If have any suggestions, add them to the comments.
Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn
Why would he be a great interview?
Everyone reading this site has a LinkedIn profile. (If you don’t, go get one already.) Beyond creating one of the most successful online social networks, he’s on the board of top net companies like Six Apart, Kiva.org, and Mozilla Corporation. There’s a lot we can learn from a serious interview about his business experience.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
You can send him a note on LinkedIn. He’s on Twitter too. Here’s a sample tweet you can send him.
Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator
Why would he be a great interview?
Y Combinator funds startups, but it’s also a startup itself. I want to ask him how the company launched and evolved over the past four years. Like most Mixergy readers, I’ve read his essays on starting startups. I’m curious about how the ideas in those essays apply to an investment startup like his.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
You can suggest it on Hacker News, his company’s user-generated news site.
Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
Why would she be a great interview?
Newspapers are scared of her site at the same time that they’re growing more reliant on links from it. Her representative recently told me she’d be willing to do an interview with me, but only by email. I’m asking you to help me land a video interview because an email interview isn’t really an interview — it’s a form. It lacks depth because each question can’t build on previous answers. Besides, video is so much more interesting than text, which might have something to do with why her site is growing its video content.
What can you do if you don’t know her?
She’s on Twitter. Here’s a sample tweet you can send her.
Markus Frind, founder of Plenty of Fish
Why would he be a great interview?
He bootstrapped a profitable dating site that’s driving the established players crazy. I dig his scrappiness and I think he’s someone whose story will motivate other entrepreneurs.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
He posts his email address on his blog, but I’m not sure if he checks it. If you have a public way to reach him, could add it to the comments?
Fred Wilson, founder of Union Square Ventures
Why would he be a great interview?
I want to get his biography. If you look over my shoulder during the interviews I did in my Santa Monica office, you’ll see that I have lots of biographies of entrepreneurs. The people who fund the businesses in those books usually get a few mentions in the first few pages and an occasional thanks in the acknowledgement section. When you read those scraps, don’t you always want to know more?
I plan to do more interviews with entrepreneurial investors. I want to start with guys like Fred Wilson because there’s enough public information about him for me to do a meaningful interview.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
He’s on Twitter — hell, he invested in Twitter. Here’s a sample Tweet you can send him. He’s also an active blogger and he’s responded to several of the comments I posted on his site. If you read one of his posts and want to learn more about what he wrote, maybe you can suggest an interview with me in his comments.
Matt Rutledge, founder of Woot
Why would he be a great interview?
Seth Godin would love Matt’s remarkable business idea. When I first saw it, I couldn’t help but tell my brother about Woot.com because I was amazed that they only sold 1 item per day. I need to find out how this company went from idea to hit online business.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
His Twitter account isn’t very active. If you know how he likes to be reached, could you add it to the comments?
Mark Cuban, entrepreneur, investor and Star on Dancing With the Stars
Why would he be a great interview?
Am I missing something? How can a billionaire who makes so many headlines and writes such insightful blog posts not have a biography written about him yet? I want to do a biographical interview here.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
I’ve heard from a few of my interviewees that he responds to email, but his contact page is down. If you know how he likes to be reached, tell me in the comments.
In the meantime, he has a Twitter account. Here’s a sample tweet you can send.
Kevin Rose, founder of Digg
Why would he be a great interview?
Ever since I did an interview with Kevin’s first developer I’ve been curious about the early days of Digg. Kevin seems to have a charmed entrepreneurial life, but I know there’s more to the story. I want to fill in the gaps. I want to find out about the ideas that failed before Digg became a hit. I want to find out how his side projects impact his work at Digg. I want to do the kind of interview that Charlie Rose would be proud of.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
I’m not sure he’ll respond on Twitter, since so many people tweet at him. If you know a better way to reach him, could you add it to the comments?
In the meantime, maybe this sample tweet will help.
Leah Culver, co-founder of Pownce
Why would she be a great interview?
How did Pownce lose out to Twitter? I’m dying to learn from her experience in that race. When they competed, Twitter was still young and kept crashing. Meanwhile, Pownce had more stability, more features, more star power (with Kevin Rose’s support) and even had a business model. There’s too much knowledge in Leah’s experience for me not to ask you to help me interview her. I bet we can learn more from a 45-minute interview with her than a whole year at college.
What can you do if you don’t know her?
She’s on Twitter. Here’s a sample tweet you can send her.
Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter
Why would he be a great interview?
The press is going to start mythologizing Twitter’s early years. Once that happens, our ability to really learn from its success will be corrupted. Before the PR myth takes hold, I’d like to ask Jack to tell me the story of the early days at Twitter. And, as you know from my past interviews, I’ll ask questions that will deepen our understanding of how the idea grew and make it useful to other entrepreneurs.
What can you do if you don’t know him?
Naturally, he’s on Twitter, but does anyone know another way to reach him? As you can imagine, he gets more tweets directed at him that most people cold keep up with. If you know another way to reach him, tell me in the comments.
Who else should I interview?
This is NOT a complete list of entrepreneurs I should interview. Now that you have a sense of who’s a good fit for a Mixergy interview, if there’s anyone else you recommend, please tell me in the comments or by email.
Also, there are a few people who I haven’t included on this list because Mixergy readers have offered to introduce me. If they fall through, I’ll make another list include them.