We had an idea that we were kicking around for the better part of the last year. We wanted to create a podcast that was truly unique and memorable, something that gave guests more than just a conversation. After months of planning and development, Driving Performance was born. So, what makes this podcast so special?
It's All About The Format
From the start, we knew there would be one major element that would make Driving Performance stand out - the glass truck. Beyond being aesthetically pleasing, the glass truck served as a vehicle to entice guests to come on the podcast. Recording a podcast inside a glass truck that’s cruising down the streets of Manhattan is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that’s hard to pass up. It made getting incredibly busy founders to say yes to pod quite easy.
The guest format was the next element we wanted to play around with. Typically, a podcast has one interviewer and one guest. We wanted to change that. We did one interviewer and two guests; however, we strategically placed guests together based on industry expertise and preexisting relationships (i.e., did they already know each other?) By playing around with these two factors, we were able to create an environment where conversation flowed, there were opportunities to go off-script, and guests could ask each other questions. It also transformed the scheduling of each episode into an entire operation, but it was well worth it! In 4 days, we shot 12 episodes with 24 founders and operators. This meant shooting 3 episodes per day and speaking to 6 founders & operators per day. Whether it was the first interview of the day or the last, Tom (our cofounder and the sole interviewer) brought the same energy and enthusiasm to each one - this turned out to be just as important as securing the glass truck!
Figuring out the interview format was the final piece of the puzzle. In preparation for Driving Performance - and by being alive in this century - we’ve listened to hundreds of hours of audio from other podcasts. We all had things we liked about the interview and question format of other podcasts, but the thing we kept coming back to wasn’t a podcast at all - it was the YouTube series “Hot Ones.” We loved how the interviewer puts guests on the hot seat as they eat increasingly hotter hot sauce. How could we recreate some of that intensity and unpredictability in our podcast? As a nod to Hot Ones - and the fact we were in a glass truck - we decided to end the podcast with rapid-fire questions in a segment called “The Hot Box.”
Are you ready to tune into Driving Performance? You can find Driving Performance where ever you listen to podcasts and at drivingperformance.transistor.fm
