Four rules we don't break.
A project is nothing without boundaries. We follow these as a book of law. These boundaries hold us to high standards, high privacy, and better connection.
Two to three hours of research per letter.
A good question does not come from nothing. It comes through hours of reading. We spend at least two to three hours on each letter before a single sentence gets drafted, because that is what it takes to land on a question worth answering.
A question worth answering.
We are not writing the easy ones. Nothing like "what is one thing you would say to the younger generation." Those need no thinking, and they get an answer of no worth, repeated thousands of times along the lines of "follow your dreams" or "prepare for failure before success." Our questions take thought to answer, and they are different for every person we write to. We want to go past the average podcast or the average social media account, and actually understand how a founder's mind works.
By post, or by email.
How a letter arrives says something before it gets opened. Some go in an envelope, written by hand, sealed and stamped. Others go by email, but only after we have spent the same amount of care on the sentences. Both are slow. Both are deliberate. Nobody writes letters anymore, and that is half the reason the ones who get them write back.
Nothing is published without permission.
Every letter will include explicit language about how a response may be used. Anyone may decline publication, restrict it to certain contexts, or choose not to answer at all. We honour every word on matters of privacy, because that is what often matters most.