WEBVTT

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Perhaps you've heard this story from the 1980s.

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It's about Van Halen. While on tour, the rock

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band Van Halen included an interesting line item

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in their rider. Now, if you don't know, a rider

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is basically a contract for a stage performance

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and it includes everything from where the band

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wants to stay, accommodations and things like

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that. to how they want the stage set up and designed

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to what they want in their green room or dressing

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room. And so this was a line item for something

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they wanted in their dressing room. M &M's warning,

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absolutely no brown ones. And this was in all

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caps. So again, M &M's warning, absolutely no

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brown ones. It's not that they hated brown M

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&Ms. After all, all M &Ms taste the same, right?

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The color of the M &M doesn't affect the flavor.

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Or that they were divas. They weren't divas.

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As David Lee Roth explained in his autobiography,

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Crazy from the Heat, they had a lot of important

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safety clauses in the rider as well. Van Halen's

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show was one of the first highly technical shows

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in the industry and a lot could go wrong. The

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M &M's clause made sure a venue read the entire

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writer. So here is an excerpt from David Lee

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Roth's book, and I'm just going to read it verbatim.

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So when I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown

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M &M in that bowl, well, line check the entire

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production. Guaranteed you're going to arrive

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at a technical error. They didn't read the contract.

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Guaranteed you'd run into a problem. Sometimes

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it would threaten to just destroy the whole show.

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Something like literally life -threatening. This

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is a pretty great test. After all, like they

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had pyrotechnics and rope work and the flyer

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thing that I forget the name of and harnesses

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and stuff. And if a venue couldn't even do something

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as secure M &Ms minus the brown ones, what gave

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them confidence that they did the pyrotechnics

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the right way? So anyway, I think this is a really

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great test and I've decided to implement it for

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my podcast guest pitches. As you know from a

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previous episode or any of the million times

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I've written about it, podcast pitches are getting

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worse. AI is making them so much worse. Shockingly,

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despite my best efforts, this hasn't gotten through

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to the biggest offenders, guest pitching agencies.

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In the intervening time since I wrote my article

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about AI making podcast guest pitches work, again,

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this was like June 2024, And now when I'm recording

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this in July 2025, they have seemed to degrade

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even more following this all too common format.

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Hey, Joe, I loved your recent episode about and

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then completely AI generated summary. It reminded

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me of client name who something that may or may

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not be related to episode. So if you can't tell

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what the fill in the blanks were, I'll link the

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article. And then just more AI slop. And I've

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attached their one sheet. When can we get them

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on the show? Looking forward to hearing from

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you. And if you're wondering if this is just

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like an overgeneralization of the pitches I'm

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getting, here is a real... I'll read it verbatim.

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I will... I'll censor the client information

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because it's not their fault. I mean, I guess

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it's their fault they've hired a crappy agency,

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but they... Probably don't know this. This is

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a real one I've gotten twice from the same person.

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Hi Joe, I just listened to your episode Automate

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to Build Relationships and couldn't agree more

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with your message about using automation thoughtfully.

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Your point about not automating away humanity

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really resonated with me, especially when you

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emphasized that relationship building isn't a

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numbers game. I'm reaching out because I have

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a guest who I believe would be perfect for your

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show. especially given your recent discussion

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about the right way to approach automation. Known

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as the is the founder of and has made it his

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mission to help entrepreneurs automate with purpose,

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not just for the sake of automation. I'm going

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to tell you again, I got this pitch twice, two

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different times because I have two different

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shows. and I'm sharing it because it's so blatantly

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obvious that they didn't listen to the episode

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which was, by the way, less than three minutes

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long. That's right, it was a voice note. Now,

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I've offered a ton of advice on how to improve

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guest pitches, but what if you're the podcaster

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that's getting pitched? How can you separate

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the wheat from the chaff? I personally have a

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forum that goes to Notion where I can quickly

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evaluate guests. Naturally, you can join my mailing

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list over at Casabona .org slash join to get

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a copy of that automation. But I also have a

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specific question I'm looking for, and I should

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I should jump ahead here, not jump ahead. I should

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I should backtrack maybe and say that I do read

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every guest pitch. I read every one of those

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crappy emails. Because I have gotten good guests

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from them. My friend Jackie Schiff. And my friend

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Elizabeth Howell. And my friend Brittany Lynn.

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Brittany Lynn. That makes it sound like I forgot

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her name. But my friend Brittany Lynn. They were

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not my friends at first. They just had really

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good pitches. And then we formed actual good

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relationships. Where they understood like who

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I was looking for in a guest, right? And so I

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do get good pitches and I've had amazing guests

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from those pitches. So I do read every one, which

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makes my Brown M &M test even more important.

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So how I am checking this, I have one specific

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question I'm looking for an answer to. And there's

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something you should know I get a lot of I get

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like four to eight pitches per day on average

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because there's actually two places where I'm

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accepting guest pitches on my application form

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over at streamline .fm slash apply. And on pod

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match from my friend Alex and Alex and Filippo.

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And like I said it's important to me that I read

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every pitch because for all the bad ones I've

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gotten I've gotten some fantastic guests coming

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through cold pitching. My brown M &M's clause.

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It used to be what episode made you want to reach

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out? Obviously AI has ruined that question. So

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now it's a practical experience question. Guests

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must propose a specific time -saving process

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system or automation when pitching. This makes

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it really easy for me to scan through a pitch

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to know if they took the time to read the directions.

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and learn about the show. If they don't include

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a specific time -saving process system or automation,

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it's a really easy rejection. So, and like I

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said, it's much better than my previous screener

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of what episode made you want to reach out. I

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also say I'm not interested in founder stories,

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but that still requires parsing the pitch to

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see if they are pitching their story or if they're

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just really including biographical information.

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So once I apply this quick test, if they are

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pitching a specific time saving process, the

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evaluation becomes much easier. And I'll let

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you in on a secret here. If the pitch is good,

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even if they don't strictly give me this, right?

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If they try or they say, hey, I don't really

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have a specific one, but you know, here's what

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I'm thinking about. It shows me that the real

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reason for this is it shows me they've read the

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instructions. If Van Halen saw Brown M &M's in

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their green room, they knew their next step was

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to do a full walkthrough of the tech again to

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make sure there were no issues. If a guest fails

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my test, I just reject them. But if they pass,

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it's time for the actual work. So that's when

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I start researching them and I've tried deep

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research through chat GPT. It's fine. I don't

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fully trust it though, so I need to go actually

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check things. One prompt I do have in guest research,

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I can do a whole episode on this actually, but

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I do say like be skeptical, verify that they

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can speak to the topic they're speaking or they're

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pitching. And that's been pretty good. I'll include

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one more addendum here. And that is that when

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I do get you know, sometimes I will get Pitches

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via email where people are asking me What how

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do you like to get pitches and so I will say

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this I'm currently looking for case studies,

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solopreneurs who've saved time by implementing

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a process, system, or automation. The criteria

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are clear and inflexible. The guest must be a

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solopreneur, no employees, only contractors.

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The guest must have built a system that saves

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them time, and they must be able to speak intelligently

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about it. They must also be able to talk about

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how the system has had a positive impact on their

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business. I am not interested in founder stories

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or general tips in some area of expertise. Bonus

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points if they are a parent. If the above criteria

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is met, you can fill out the form here. That's

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usually enough to get the pitching agencies off

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my back. I respond once and now they know exactly

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how they'd be wasting their time. So now my question

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for you is what's your Brown M &Ms? That guest

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pitch screening process saves me hours each week

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and reduces the friction in evaluating cold pitches.

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As you think about your podcast process or really

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any screening process, I encourage you to think

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about what your Brown M &M's test is. And if

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you already have it, let me know. Head over to

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streamlinedfeedback .com and tell me about it.

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I'd love to hear it. I'll read a few on the show

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if I get a bunch. But that's it for this episode

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of The Streamlined Podcaster. I hope you enjoyed

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it. And until next time, I hope you find some

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space in your week.