How to Interview an Entrepreneur
Conducting an interview might appear to be an easy task, but it’s not that easy as it looks like. An interview requires an interviewer to muster out the required information from the interviewee regarding a specific topic. In case of entrepreneurs, this tends to get a bit more difficult as they are more likely to hide some information while expressing other. To conduct a successful interview with an entrepreneur you need to feel prepared by doing your homework regarding his personality and his company.
Instructions
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1
Who, What, Where & When?
Whenever you intend to take an interview of an entrepreneur you need to do your homework first. Entrepreneurs value their time, and like things to be organized. Therefore, do not make the mistake of walking-in without having yourself prepared as to who you are going to visit, what you are going to ask, where you are going to conduct the interview and when you would be doing it. -
2
Schedule an appointment
Describe the purpose for the interviewing while calling to schedule an appointment with him or her. Explain your task and the information that you're seeking to acquire from that interview. -
3
Don't feel shy to initiate
Don't wait for the entrepreneur to start the conversation you'll need to initiate it yourself. Start-off with formal greetings, and tend to make a comfortable communicative environment for your interviewee, so that they don't feel any hindrance while expressing themselves. -
4
Explain what you're here for
Briefly describe that what type of article you are writing so that the entrepreneur gets an idea of what information you are interested in seeking, and can answer your questions accordingly. -
5
Ask the right question
To get the right answer, you need to ask the right question. The entrepreneur has loads of information to provide. However, he doesn't have an idea what particular information you are seeking. And for that need you need to come up with the right questions so that you can get the answers you seek. -
6
Let the Entrepreneur do the talking
Don't try to take charge of the conversation, let your interviewee do the talking. The more they talk, the more information you'll be able to get, and hence, you can have all that necessary information required to answer all of your questions. Encourage him to talk about the stress and pressures that they face, help them in letting it all out. -
7
Do not ask sensitive questions directly
A few entrepreneurs are very careful in answering questions such as how much tax do they pay, how much profit they're currently earning or other pieces of information like trade secrets. Let them take their time, as they'll eventually come down to that part. And in case they don't, as the question in a manner that it neither looks rude nor too straight-forward. Entrepreneurs don't like probing, and that's the last thing you want to do if you want to conduct successful interview.
