128 Andrew Warner: How to Win Friends (& Build a 7-Fig Business) With High Impact Conversations

“Are you doing at least a million dollars in sales?”

I've always admired bold interviewers. One particular one is Andrew Warner.

Andrew is the founder of Mixergy, a place where he interviews founders for their hard-earned lessons and tactics. Andrew has interviewed over 2000 entrepreneurs in the last ten years.

He has interviewed the founders of Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Groupon, Pixar, and Sun Microsystems.

And Andrew asks the tough questions people want to know but are too timid to ask, including revenues, rumors, personal relationships, public failures, etc...

I've always wondered how Andrew cultivates trust so that he gets the answers he wants (without the founders hating him afterward)

Now, at last, Andrew has put all the interview mechanics into his new book Stop Asking Questions: How to Lead High-Impact Interviews and Learn Anything from Anyone in episode 128, I flipped the script on Andrew and asked him the questions most would never ask him:

(23:13) The atomic unit skills he uses to master in order to go from a white belt to a black belt as an interviewer (and build a good multi-million dollar podcasting business)
(12:44) How 2000 deep conversations impact him, his network, his career, and his lifestyle
(5:09) How podcasting as a lifestyle allowed him to do 7 marathons in all 7 continents in 1 year (while (while growing his podcast business))
(60:50) What new tech stack and show format he would use starting today?
(11:54) The inside-out approach Andrew recommends beginner podcast use?
(16:16)The framework he uses to flush out the questions he finds valuable for himself while maintaining what's valuable for the audience?
(20:48) How Chris Rock gave Andrew Warner an idea that is at the heart of his craft as an interviewer?
(23:30)How double-barrel questions enable him to ask edgier questions while giving guests a graceful out
(39:43)Why being interviewed is a vulnerable experience for anyone and we offer 3 different styles of hosts can use encourage guests
(43:34)How Andrew maintained his intrinsic motivation so every new guest is brand new and never gets repetitive
(31:27)Which thread to follow: shoved facts or story arc?
(45:35)Which strategy to follow: start new micro podcasts or stay within your brand?
(49:04)How he stays connected with guests after the recording is over?
(56:35)(bonus) A ninja technique Andrew uses to connect with all the VIPs at any conference
(44:46)Why he started another podcast in the crypto space?

If you want to have high-impact conversations with anyone (especially your heroes), this episode is the episode you'd want to tune in.

Quotable Quotes

"When they try to create a podcast with all the infrastructure, I'll be honest, probably fail. But when they try to do themselves their own approach, they'll probably succeed."

"Forget the fricking audience for a moment. In fact, for more than a moment and start with the basics: Who is it that I want to learn from? Who do I admire?"

"Use the technology that exists today. Don't try to duplicate what was invented years ago, and life will be so much easier."

"The heart of interviewing is: Do I get the right guests on for my audience? Do I ask questions that matter? Do I get information that actually has an impact on someone's life? "

"When you help someone else out, you make you feel stronger. You feel like you're more in control than you realized of the world."

"Instead of focusing on problems I have no control of, I'm gonna focus on what I could do, which is I could ask questions that are so good that despite my problems, people will have to listen. What is the thing that's so, so important. And so I just kept pushing myself to ask those questions."

"The art of a good conversation is not being afraid to talk about the topics that matter, not afraid to really bond with the person and go to what matters without ruining the relationship."

"Going personal matters. And the way to go personal is you ask double-barrel questions."

"When you get good at something, I think you really enjoy it."

"When you're interviewing someone to then say, who else should I be interviewing is killer good."

"I see the smartest people in the world are putting their attention into it. And when the smartest people in there in the world put their attention to something it's going to do, it's going to do gangbusters."

"The best reason to get a computer is to learn about computers. Get to know it because it it's important to get to know it. And we'll see where it goes. I think crypto is in that world right now."