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.
