IRIS Interviews · Free · Now booking the first interviews
One signal. One founder. Five questions.
Every IRIS interview starts with something you can verify: a new SEC filing or a launch builders are talking about. Then the founder tells us what the data can’t.
How it works.
Built for busy founders: no prep call, no PR department.
It starts with a fact
A fresh Form D in Rounds, a launch on Launch Radar, or your application. We link the source at the top of every interview.
Fifteen minutes, async
Answer in writing whenever it suits you, or take a 20-minute call. Your words, lightly edited for length.
Then we publish
You review every quote within 48 hours. It runs on the web, in the daily email and in the IRIS API, so agents can find you too.
The questions
The same five for everyone, so readers can compare founders side by side.
What are you building?
One sentence a smart outsider would understand, then the longer version.
What did you believe early that most people didn’t?
The bet behind the company, and what convinced you.
What’s the hardest thing you’ve solved so far?
A real problem, how you solved it, and what you’d do differently.
What will be true in your market in three years that isn’t today?
Your prediction, published as your view with the date, so readers can check it later.
What do you need right now?
Hires, customers, design partners or beta users. Not investors while a round is open.
If an AI agent were your user, what should it know?
Optional. How an agent should find, evaluate or use what you build.
Our standards.
- Free, always.We never charge for an interview and sponsors never choose who we interview.
- Quote check, not copy approval.Before we publish, you see every quote to fix factual errors. The headline and framing are ours.
- Sourced.Any number we state links to its source. Claims you make are labeled as yours.
- Product, not the round.Most startup rounds rely on Rule 506(b), which restricts general solicitation. If your round is open, we talk about the product, never the terms, and we never invite readers to invest. Ask your counsel if unsure.
- Consent first.Written consent before we publish. We record a call only if everyone on it agrees (California requires all-party consent).
- Adults only.Founders 18 and older. Younger builders join through organizers, never directly.
- You can withdraw.Change your mind before publication and the interview doesn’t run.
- Disclosed.If IRIS has any relationship with your company, we say so at the top.
Not legal advice. Building with IRIS? IRIS for Builders →
Apply, or nominate a founder
Tell us what you’re building and the signal: a filing, a launch or a URL. We reply to every application.