I watch some of the interviews. I would say what is best about Mixergy is that Andrew Warner works hard on the site and does an excellent job at having a steady stream of high quality guests. On the other hand, I don't particularly enjoy his interview style because I find the questions to be too high-level and "fluffy" most of the time. I'd enjoy the interviews a lot more if the questions were more about specific operational issues that startups deal with. But, that's just my opinion and the interview style is really a matter of personal taste.
It seems to me that the charges of fluffiness come not necessarily from "softball" questions, but from the impression that the questions are strictly softball.
Seeing you interview, it's very obvious that you're a genuinely nice guy. You couldn't hide that without changing yourself for the worse. But you don't have to, because it's an asset.
Part of this interview focused on the question of how do you make interviewees comfortable? Comfortable enough to do the interview in the first place, and comfortable enough to answer the questions openly, without fearing that the interviewer is about to spring some trap on them.
I've also noticed you tend to apologize when asking someone a question you think is tough, but it's interesting to see the reaction, almost a "No, no, I'll answer it."
For questions that are particularly salient but awkward to ask, you should continue to use that same technique to push just a bit further, both to stretch your comfort zone, and to get a feel for the real boundaries of what people are willing or even glad to answer.
I enjoy most Mixergy interviews. Andrew does a very good job at cutting through the boilerplate biography. The long form doesn't bother me at all. Its great for the car.
With that said, I am also looking for content that addresses more tactical operational issues, but I don't know if Mixergy is the podcast for this. There are valuable insights provided in Mixergy's format of walking through the entrepreneur's story. Going too deep (low level) on specific tactical issues might muddy the waters and dilute the value that Mixergy already provides. I do think that Andrew's Fenwick episode did venture into this area though, so maybe there is room for it.
If anybody has recommendations of podcasts that do go into detailed operational issues, please share.
He has a very unique style, it can be off-putting at times. But, it seems to work. Often, when I think he's going one question too far, the guest will come back with a really interesting reply, something you probably wouldn't get in another interview.
Do you dislike long form video in general, or Mixergy specifically?
I don't like watching long videos, so I usually read Andrew's transcription instead. I've found some really great advice in there, its worth another look.
No. I'm kind of ambivalent about it at this point though. I've tried to listen to the interviews, but a lot of it seems like voyeurism. Not that that's bad. It's just more entertaining than it is useful in my opinion. I await your downvotes.
Some episodes I don't like but I've found that's because of the guest, so I think that speaks well of andrew. If you hear 'This Week in Startups' you know it's all about Jason Calacanis, but in Mixergy it's really about the guest ad their stories.
Speaking of the stories, I like that a lot. I was really tired of hearing Jason Fried and DHH tell the exact same pitch on every podcast (yes, I'm suscribed to too many) but I quite enjoyed Jason F on Mixergy. That's because of the story.
I don't like video, though, and the audio feed only work sometimes. I know I could pay for a reliable audio feed :)
