How to Prepare for a Media Interview When You Have Never Done One

A first media interview goes wrong for one of two reasons: no message, or too much message. Founders either walk in with nothing memorable to say, or they try to say everything they know about the business in four minutes and the strongest line gets buried under the other nine. Neither problem is solved by winging it, and neither is solved by memorising a script word for word. It is solved by a short, specific process, and as a Senior Freelance PR Consultant working with founders across the UK, US, Canada and ANZ, this is the one I run through with a client before every first serious interview.

What should I confirm before I prepare a single word?

Get the practical detail right before you touch your messaging, because it changes how you prepare.

• Confirm the format: live or recorded, print or broadcast, and how long you actually have. A 90-second broadcast slot and a 40-minute print conversation need different preparation entirely.
• Ask what angle the journalist is working towards, so you are not guessing what the piece is actually about.
• Find out who else, if anyone, is being interviewed for the same piece, since that changes what you need to establish early and what you can leave for them to cover.
• Read four or five of the journalist's recent pieces so you understand their tone, their usual angle and the kind of quote they tend to use. Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health lists this as a core step in its own media interview workbook, and it is the single best predictor of whether your answers will actually fit the piece being written.
• Ask whether anything discussed is under embargo, and until when, so you do not accidentally break a story that is not yours to break.

How do I build key messages that hold up when I am put on the spot?

Three messages, no more. A founder who prepares ten talking points remembers none of them cleanly once the adrenaline hits, and a journalist working from a recording or a notepad can usually only use one or two well-formed lines regardless of how many you give them. For each message, write down three things on paper before the interview: the claim itself, the specific evidence that backs it up (a number, a named outcome, a concrete example, not an adjective), and one sentence explaining why a reader who has never heard of your business should care. A message with no evidence sounds like marketing copy. A message with no reader relevance sounds like an internal status update. You need both attached to every point before you walk in, not invented on the spot under pressure.

As a worked example, not tied to any specific client: a founder announcing a product update might map their first message as "we have cut onboarding time significantly" (claim), "average setup time dropped from three weeks to four days over the last two quarters" (evidence), and "that matters because the biggest reason small businesses abandon this category of tool is a slow, confusing setup" (reader relevance). A second example, this time for a purpose-led founder: "our model works because it is community-led" (claim), "70% of the delivery team are drawn from the communities the programme serves" (evidence), "that matters because most programmes in this space are designed by people who have never experienced the problem first-hand, and that gap shows up in results" (reader relevance). Three sentences, memorised as a unit, survive an interview far better than a paragraph of context memorised loosely.

What difficult questions should I actually expect, and how do I answer them without dodging?

Five categories cover most of what comes up in a first interview.

• The numbers question: revenue, valuation, user count, growth rate. Decide in advance exactly what you will and will not share, and say so plainly rather than deflecting. "I'm not going to share the exact figure, but I can tell you [X]" is a complete, professional answer.
• The comparison question: how you differ from a named competitor. Acknowledge the comparison briefly and specifically, then move to what is actually different, rather than pretending the competitor does not exist.
• The failure or gap question: what has not worked, what you got wrong, what is still missing. An honest, specific answer here is usually quoted more generously than a defensive one, because it is the line a journalist has not heard from every other founder that week.
• The hostile framing question: a version of the question designed to provoke a reaction rather than draw out an answer. Answer the underlying fact calmly, then bridge to your message, rather than reacting to the framing itself.
• The curveball: something genuinely unrelated to your business, a live news event, a personal question, an opinion on a competitor's controversy. It is entirely fine to say plainly that it sits outside what you are there to discuss, then return to your message.

The technique that makes all five manageable is called bridging: acknowledge the question directly, answer the part you can answer honestly and briefly, then move back to one of your three prepared messages. It only works if you genuinely answer first. For example, if asked "isn't this just [rival product] with better marketing?", a weak response gets defensive and lists every feature difference. A bridge response sounds more like: "There's real competition in this space, and that's a sign the market is genuine. What's different about our approach is [specific, evidence-backed point], which is why [reader-relevant outcome]." Bridging straight past a question a journalist can visibly see you have dodged reads worse on the page than answering it plainly ever would.

What does a realistic rehearsal actually look like?

Say your three messages out loud, in full sentences, to another person, more than once. Rehearsing silently in your head hides how a sentence actually sounds and how long it actually takes to say, which is exactly the information you need before the interview, not during it. Use someone who is not an expert in your field to rehearse with, since a friendly non-expert will tell you honestly when a sentence does not land or makes no sense out of context, where a co-founder often will not. Forbes' own reporting on interview preparation points to the same technique independently of Harvard's guidance. Time yourself. Run the worst question you can think of, out loud, at least twice, so the first time you hear it is not live on the record.

What do I do if my mind goes blank, or I am misquoted afterwards?

A short pause is not a disaster, and it reads far better live than it feels in the moment. If you lose your thread, it is entirely acceptable to say "let me come back to that" or to briefly restate the question in your own words while you gather the actual answer, both of which buy you a few genuine seconds without looking evasive. What you should avoid is filling the silence with hedging language, "I suppose, sort of, in a way", which tends to weaken an otherwise strong point more than the pause itself would have. If you are misquoted or a fact is wrong after publication, contact the journalist or editor directly and plainly, citing the specific line and the correct fact, rather than posting publicly about it first. Most outlets will correct a factual error quickly when it is raised professionally and with the right detail attached; very few will respond well to being called out before being given the chance.

What turns a strong interview into a weak one?

Talking for too long is the most common cause. A strong answer is usually shorter than it feels while you are giving it, and a founder who keeps going past the point often hands the journalist a second, weaker line to use instead of the first, stronger one they already had. Refusing to say "I don't know" is the second: guessing at a figure or a fact you are not certain of is far more damaging if it turns out to be wrong than plainly admitting the limit of what you can share on the spot. Jargon is the third: language that makes complete sense inside your business does not automatically make sense to a general reader, and a journalist will either cut the line entirely or ask you to explain it again, using up time you do not have.

A pre-interview checklist, for the morning of:

• Confirm time, location or dial-in, and expected length one more time.
• Reread your three messages and their evidence out loud once.
• Reread your one prepared answer to the hardest question you expect.
• Decide what you will not discuss, and have a plain, non-defensive line ready for it.
• Bring one specific, human example or number for each message, not just the message itself.
• Arrive, or dial in, five minutes early rather than exactly on time.

What should I do after the interview?

Send a short, genuine thank-you note the same day, and offer to send any figures, spellings or background material the journalist mentioned needing but did not have on hand. This is a practical step, not a courtesy one: it is the easiest way to catch a factual error before it goes to print rather than after. If the piece runs well, share it properly rather than a single generic repost, tag the journalist and the outlet, and add one genuine sentence about why the conversation mattered to you, since that is what actually builds the relationship for the next story, not the interview itself.

A first media interview does not need to be flawless to work. It needs three clear messages, one honest answer to the question you have been dreading, and the discipline to stop talking once you have made your point. Everything else is detail.

If you have a media interview coming up and want a second pair of eyes on your messages before you walk in, talk to Fireflies Management.