Broadcast news doesn't give a spokesperson long to make an impression. In 15 years producing television news, I could tell before a guest finished their first answer whether they were camera-ready. Their readiness had almost nothing to do with intelligence: truly, some of the smartest guests struggled the most. The skillset that makes someone magnetic in a boardroom is not always the one that makes them credible on camera.
That gap—between on-camera brilliance and being media-ready—has never been more expensive. One kind of company is now producing spokespeople faster than at any point in business history: the AI startup. Almost 90 startups crossed billion-dollar valuations in the first half of 2026—putting this year on pace for roughly 50% more than 2025. Hypergrowth is thrilling, uncharted, and everything is on fire at once. (No pressure, founders and comms teams!)
Now the same founder who was writing code 18 months ago is suddenly the public face of a company that reporters, regulators, and competitors are all closely watching. Call it the readiness gap: the distance between how fast a company grows and how prepared its leaders are to speak for it.
And that gap has a price. One weak answer can become the clip a competitor screenshots or the sentence a regulator reads back at a hearing.
If you’re a PR professional responsible for that founder, you know the risks and benefits of press. But closing that readiness gap can be a real challenge, so here are four ways to make it easier.
- Start with purpose. Before accepting any interview, ask the leader: what is the business objective of this opportunity? If neither of you has a crisp answer, that's a signal to consider declining. High-profile is not the same as high-value. From the booking side, guests who were invited back clearly knew why they were there and had a POV to share.
- Pick two to four focus areas (and use the airtime accordingly). Whatever the questions, the leader's job is to land a few points repeatedly. In the control room, leaders who return to their talking points sound confident and in command.
- Practice the softballs—and the question they dread. Every leader has topics they want to avoid, whether that’s layoffs, a competitor’s milestones or another hot-button issue. Practice nailing not just the tough questions, but also the simple, straightforward ones including: “What does your company do?” If that answer runs longer than 10 seconds, try again. Interviews get cut short all the time when spokespeople can’t land the plane.
- Teach them not to repeat the question. Broadcast producers love when spokespeople repeat the question because it makes cutting clean soundbites easy, but a leader who falls into this habit can quickly get into trouble. For instance, if the company isn't planning layoffs and a reporter asks about them: the leader shouldn't use the word "layoffs" at all—not even to deny it. A denial still puts the word in the clip. When a question contains negative language or a competitor’s name, you want to safely “bridge” to another focus area. As you teach the tried-and-true bridging technique, make sure the leader acknowledges the question and doesn’t completely dodge what is being asked.
One last truth from the control room: a producer juggling ten interviews in one morning won't remember every detail a leader said, but they will remember who made their job easier by being concise, conversational and flexible. Still, the job of a spokesperson isn’t to appease the producer: it's to nail the talking points, tailored to the audience they want to reach.
The best time to build a media-ready leader is before the growth curve goes vertical. The second-best time is before Thursday's interview.
Katie Suiters is Lead Media Trainer at Brighton Media. She spent 15-plus years as an Emmy-winning broadcast producer covering the White House and Congress before helping leaders maximize public-facing opportunities.