Guests
Going on a podcast is an act of trust.
You're handing someone your unguarded thinking and ideas, and trusting them not to twist it, clip it, or wait for you to say the wrong thing. So before I tell you anything about this show, let me tell you what I'll never do to you.
This isn't a gotcha show. I'm not hunting for the sentence that makes you look bad, and I'm not manufacturing a fight for clicks. I think you know something worth exploring, and I want to follow it somewhere interesting. It starts with what you want to talk about.
Four promises. In writing.
Every one of these is in the guest agreement you'll sign. They're not vibes. They're the terms.
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You pick what we talk about. No surprise agendas.
We start with the conversation you came to have. There will be hard questions. There won't be a trap door, or an agenda you never agreed to.
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Nothing goes out without your yes.
You hear the final edit before a single other person does. If it isn't right, it doesn't publish. No guessing, no hoping it comes out okay. You'll know exactly what the world will hear before the world hears it.
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Cut anything. For any reason. Up to two weeks out.
A sentence. A story. A whole section. The entire episode. For any reason, or none at all.
Until the agreed review window closes, nothing you said is locked in. “I changed my mind” is a complete sentence, and it's the only one you'll ever need to give me.
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I'd rather lose the episode than lose your trust.
If it ever comes down to a great episode or your comfort, your comfort wins. I've killed episodes before, and I'll do it again without resentment. There's no honest conversation with someone who feels cornered.
So you should know how far that goes, because it's the point. I hold the final call on whether an episode runs, and I use it in one direction only: yours. I will never publish something you asked me to cut. If your cuts run so deep that what's left would misrepresent what we actually said, I won't dress up a distorted version as your words. I'll shelve the episode instead. The only thing my “final say” can do to you is protect you.
Two more things, so nothing surprises you.
Pulling an episode never costs you the honorarium. If one was offered, it's yours whether the episode airs or not. You gave me your time and your thinking, and that already happened. Deciding the conversation shouldn't go out doesn't undo the hours you spent in the room.
You'll always have room to pull before I ever promote it. Your review window closes with plenty of daylight before I begin marketing an episode. I won't be teasing, clipping, or announcing a conversation you're still deciding about. By the time I say a word about it in public, you've already had your chance to say no.
How the room works
Everything above is me having your back. This next part is the same care, pointed outward, at everyone we talk about.
Come at the ideas as hard as you want. Mine first; I hope you take a real shot at them. Push on what people claim, choose, and do. That's the whole show. And bring the humor: a good laugh and a hard point belong in the same conversation, and the first person I'll make fun of is me, my own takes and my own face included. This room isn't too precious for jokes.
We aim at what people do and say, never at what they can't help. The body someone's in, say, instead of the argument they're making. That's the courtesy I promise you, and it points the same way at everyone we discuss, whether they're in the room or not.
The best guests already work this way. If that sounds like you, we're going to get along. They also come in warmed up: they've chased the thread a little on their own, so we can start where it gets interesting instead of spending the first twenty minutes getting to the starting line.
The rest of how I approach a conversation, including the parts that apply to me first, lives in the covenant.
About clips
Every episode gets edited into short clips for places like YouTube Shorts, Instagram, TikTok, X, and Facebook. Not every clip belongs everywhere. General conversation about work, ideas, science, philosophy, or everyday life may be shared broadly. If an episode wanders into more mature or sensitive territory, those clips stay on platforms where that audience expects to find them.
You also get a say in where clips from your episode appear. If there are platforms you'd rather avoid, we'll respect that.
Honorariums
Some guests are offered an honorarium for their time. The full policy, including how they work and why they're offered, lives in the Guest Agreement.
You don't have to be “somebody.”
Curiosity is a better qualification than a credential, and I mean that literally. It's how I actually choose.
No book. No blue check. No giant following. None of it is the price of admission. If you've built something, studied something, lived through something, or simply see a thing more clearly than most people do, that's the whole résumé. The best guests aren't the most famous. They're the ones genuinely interested in where a conversation might go. If that's you, you're exactly who I'm looking for.
Tell me what you'd talk about.
If part of you is thinking I might have something worth saying here, you probably do. That instinct is usually right.
You're not committing to anything by reaching out. This isn't a booking. It's the start of a conversation about whether there's a conversation worth having. If it's not a fit, I'll tell you kindly, and that's the end of it.
I record a limited number of these, and I book them in the order people reach out.
Use the form below to tell me three things: what you'd want to talk about, what draws you to it, and why you think it'd make a good conversation. I read (and respond to) every one myself.
No pitch decks required. Just tell me what's on your mind.