Welcome back to In the Viewfinder, where I share behind-the-scenes activity and how my stories and podcasts take shape.
This week felt like I was buried under an avalanche of pitches.
My inbox filled up with potential podcast guests — founders, investors, authors, futurists, thought leaders, you name it — all hoping to get on The Venture Variety Show.
And that doesn’t include the constant flow from my PodMatch profile.
It’s a good problem to have. But when the activity gets this noisy, it forces me to refocus the lens. Because the truth is, very few of these pitches hit home.
Some are too broad, trying to cram dozens of talking points into one paragraph. Others don’t seem to know what the show is about. A few even call it the wrong name.
It’s like misspelling my name. If you can’t take 10 extra seconds to double-check your work, what are you even doing in this business?
Back to the pitches. What I’m looking for isn’t just relevance. I want a clear narrative, a reason to care beyond the company bio and resume.
Maybe it’s the same issue I wrote about last month: how booking the perfect guest is probably unattainable. But the challenge remains: to be on any podcast, your story arc needs to be more than what you do. It’s about why it matters.
When a guest pitch does land, it usually hits three marks:
🔶 Clarity. The guest knows what insight they want to share.
🔶 Authenticity. They sound like a person, not a ChatGPT-generated press release.
🔶 Curiosity. They’re not just promoting something, they’re ready to explore ideas.
That’s when I know the mic will record something real. Even amid the noise, there’s plenty worth focusing on.
