This morning was fun. I was interviewed by John Cook of the Seattle P-I, who tracks the Seattle VC and startup scene. He wanted to dig in and learn a little more about blist now that we are starting to share more detail about what we’re doing. You can read his write-up here.

Sooner or later reporters will want to interview you in order to learn more about your startup and share their insight with their readers. I thought it might be helpful to share some tips for conducting yourself when being interviewed by reporters:

1) Be honest. I wish it didn’t need to be said.

2) Recognize that the reporter is a professional interviewer and you are an amateur interviewee. His job is to get you to answer questions he thinks his readers will want to know.

3) Prepare for an interview like you would for any other important meeting in which you are representing your startup. We’re not yet represented by an outside PR firm, but if you are, by all means rely on them to help prepare you. Think about the 2 or 3 key points you want to convey. Prepare to answer the 2 or 3 hard questions you think he’s going to ask.

4) Realize that anything you tell the reporter is fair game to be printed or posted. You might sometimes be granted an exception, in advance, by asking to answer a question off the record. If you think that’s what you want to do, just answer the question with “We aren’t ready to divulge that yet.” My point is that answering off the record doesn’t give the reporter anything, so you might as well not answer.

5) Don’t immediately answer any question. We’re programmed to believe that answering questions faster makes us look smarter. Have you ever seen an article in which the reporter disclosed how long it took someone to answer a question? Me neither. Being fast just means you might not answer as thoughtfully as you’d like.

You’re also competing against a lot of background noise to have your message heard. Work with the media - old and new - to help get the word out.