thesethings's posterous

thesethings's posterous

thesethings (andy)  //  @thesethings
portland, oregon
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Feb 21 / 11:30am

Besides Mixergy, where else can you get long-form interviews with entrepreneurs?

Mixergy is an amazing site full of long-form interviews with upstart entrepreneurs famous, and not so famous. Even when you've never heard of the subject, he/she has a lot to share and teach (For example: I learned an amazing amount from a newsletter entrepreneur, something I never expected.). The site is run by Andrew Warner who is a very talented interviewer.  He's friendly, but persistent, and extracts exactly what you're dying to know.  Not salacious, just helpful.

Though no official statement has been made, visitors to Mixergy are now seeing a paywall when trying to reach older content.  Andrew Warner jumped in to the Hacker News thread where everybody's clucking about the change, and said that some stuff will be pay-only, but only older stuff. The system is not firmly in place yet.

Everybody has differing opinions on whether the interviews should be paid content at all, and if so, what the price point should be.  But now's a good time to talk about where you can get longform interviews with entrepreneurs.  Hopefully this format will get even more popular.  Down to earth, low-edit, forthcoming interviews of substance.

  • Mixergy.com  We've covered this above. Get the interviews while they're hot, folks.  Because as they age, you might have to pay.
  • This Week In Startups.  Hosted by charismatic Jason Calacanis.  He has a guest of note every week, though honestly. that person is peppered with questions for only about 20% of the entire (often 2 hour + ) show. Still, this doesn't mean the rest of the show isn't educational.  Jason discusses industry news, how things work within in his own business, how deals are structured, and lots of accidental gossip that ends up teaching you how things work if you're otherwise sheltered or in another sector. Though the show has its own site, I like to watch it on the YouTube page.
  • Entrepreneur's Journey with Yaro Starack (podcast.)  This site is more than just a podcast, so if you're only interested in interviews, you'll want to stick with just the podcast section.  You'll notice right away this site is geared towards Internet Marketing, NOT geek start-ups.  But stick around.  The more you listen, the more you'll pick up on common challenges and tactics for both works.  Also, he does get a bit of overlap in subjects.  (He's even had Mixergy's Andrew Warner on.)  It doesn't hurt that Yaro is very down to earth and mellow, defying some Internet Marketing stereotypes :D  This podcast has been going for a while, but it looks like older episodes were done in audio only.
Feb 15 / 1:52am

Video: This Week in Startups #41 with Jason Calacanis, James Segil, and ... Joel Spolsky?!?

[update: video embed fixed. They switched it after a few hours.]

(The episode where Jason wins poker money off of Ted special-dinner elites.)

Come for the business advice, stay for the comedy.

Nahbut... seriously.

There really is good, helpful business and  info in every TWIST interview/episode.

But that's not why I love this show on the weekends.

Jason is surprisingly hilarious and charismatic for somebody who's not a "performer" professionally (Reminder: He's a CEO). He has great comic timing and monologue flow.  (I want less Mahalo links, and more screentime for this guy.)

Also: He likes Kanye and Jay-Z. (I like Kanye and Jay-Z!)

Surprise guest: Joel Spolsky!

(Advice: Episodes are long: Best to listen on weekends.)

Filed under  //  business   comedy   edgecast   entertainment   entrepreneurship   james segil   jason calacanis   joel spolsky   poker   startups   ted   twist   video