How a Teenager Managed to Interview the World's Most Successful People

Alex Banayan was an 18-year-old kid at USC when he had a crazy idea: Track down and interview the world's most successful people to learn the strategies and techniques that changed their lives. And he did it. 

Jane Goodall?

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Larry King

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And that's only scratching the surface. But before Banayan could sit down with his heroes, he had to address the elephant in the room: He was a teenager with no connections or funds and an insanely ambitious goal.

Calling up Lady Gaga or Warren Buffet was out of the question (I can relate to the struggle), so Banayan decided to embrace a concept called The Third Door — a way to bypass traditional processes to achieve your goals.

He started off raising funds for his book by trying his hand on the Price is Right — where he'd win $30K worth of prizes.

The Third Door is explained using the analogy of the various ways to get into a crowded nightclub.

• Door #1: The traditional way.

Waiting on line with everyone else, attempting to convince the bouncer to let you in the front door.

• Door #2: The shortcut 

VIP status only. This is how celebs cut the line and bypass the velvet rope. Effective, but requires a high barrier of entry (namely: fame or money)

Most people would stop at these two options. Either you get special treatment or you wait your turn like everyone else. Banayan offers another option.

•  Door #3: Finding your own path

Here are the five most actionable lessons I took away from the book:

Take Risks and be Willing to Try Unconventional Paths 

Banayan decided to attend Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting, which Buffet attends every year.

He was able to get a ticket to the meeting, but he had to find a way to get Buffet's attention. He decided to use the meeting's legendary Q & A sessions to shoot his shot.

But they don't call the event "Woodstock for Capitalists" for no reason. Everyone and their mother had dreams of asking Buffet a question. Banayan learned from a volunteer that only ~30 people out of the 30K audience would actually be given a chance to ask a question.

Then, he found his Third Door: Certain stations (where attendees submitted questions) were far less busy than others. If he could utilize this insider tip, his odds would sky rocket. 

And low and behold, Banayan's question was randomly selected.

Network and Build Connections

This may sound trivial — it's basically the stock answer given out by every VC to anyone searching for advice. But in Banayan's case, his Third Door tactics stepped things up a notch.

He reached out to successful individuals directly, but more importantly, he also made an effort to connect with people who were connected to the successful people he wanted to meet.

In his quest to interview Bill Gates, Banayan wrote him letter asking for his advice on how to succeed, and Gates responded by inviting him to visit him at his office. There Banayan would meet with Marissa Mayer, one of Google's early employees, and formed a rapport with her. That relationship eventually resulted in Mayer introducing Banayan to a contact at Microsoft, who was able to help facilitate the interview with Gates.

 Perseverance and Persistence

As one would imagine, Banayan's lofty goals made things anything but smooth sailing and forced him to deal with an endless amount of setbacks, rejections, and skepticism. It took him a full seven years to interview all of the subjects in his book (which would eventually make him the youngest bestselling business author in American history)... that's pure grit.

His story of connecting with Tim Ferriss is one of the most insane in the entire book.

After cold e-mailing Ferriss a dozen times, hiding in a bathroom during a conference in order to 'casually' run into the best-selling artist, and refusing to take no for an answer, Banayan told Ferriss that he would happen to be in San Francisco the following week (Banayan was in New York with no plans to visit SF). It worked. Ferriss agreed to a meeting — and Banayan immediately bought a plane ticket. 

Be curious and continue learning 

Throughout the book, Banayan emphasizes the importance of being curious and continuously learning. He learned valuable lessons from the successful people he interviewed and incorporated those lessons into his own journey, often using them to land interviews with other people down the line.

Not to be overly meta, but the entire conceit of the book is a testament to Banayan's curious spirit. The idea of picking the brains of these highly successful people for tidbits to improve his own life is the epitome of Banayan's inquisitive nature

Believe in yourself and your abilities

Let's be honest, a college kid had no business believing he could even get close to breathing the same air as Gates, Ferriss, Lady Gaga, etc. But he cultivated an extraordinary belief in himself that lasted years, fueling him to power through the times when failure seemed inevitable.

Self-confidence is a prerequisite when everyone in the world would tell you your idea is impossible. And it's indispensable when projecting the appropriate attitude toward the types of A-listers he targeted for his book.