send the question bank, not the script

sunday night i went through every prep doc for the week ahead. there's one per guest and they all share the same shape.

twenty one questions. the strong ones get a star. at the top there's a line that says the questions are a bank, not a script. skip anything. say next and we move on, no reason needed. and at the bottom, ten possible episode titles.... pick one or write your own.

every guest gets edit access. a lot of them use it.

they cross out questions and add the story they've been dying to tell, and sometimes the title comes back rewritten in their own words. by the time they show up to tape, they walk in like they're hosting.

most founders do the opposite. they walk into a sales call or an investor meeting with a script. forty slides, a fixed order, a pitch they've rehearsed until it sounds like a hostage video.

the other side sits there like a passenger.

think about the difference between a set menu and a kitchen where you get to pick. the food can be identical and it still feels like a different dinner, because people are loyal to the meal they chose.

so try this before your next call. send a short doc two days ahead. five questions you think matter to them, not to you. a line that says cross out anything, add what's missing. then let them steer.

for a buyer, that doc becomes the agenda they wrote. for an investor it becomes the diligence list they already started.... in your format, with your framing.

the second thing i looked at tonight is who runs the first call. we're handing it to a producer. they run the short pre-interview and land the title. i walk into the taping already knowing the story.

founders try to do every step themselves and then wonder why they're the bottleneck. the person who opens the door doesn't have to be the person who runs the room. split them and both get better.

long term this is what scales a relationship business. a format people can edit, run by people who aren't you, that still sounds like you.

you can see what the format turns into on the show page... every episode there started as a doc somebody else got to edit.

so who's holding the pen on your next important meeting... you or them?