Dan Buettner

And then at night we would upload our findings and we would count on the online audience to make sense of them and add to solving the problem.

And it actually worked.

We did 15 of those interactive expeditions called quests.

Maya quest was the most popular.

Is that your term, skill stack?

I love that.

I've never heard it before.

Oh, it's a great term, and that's exactly what we did.

So the quest, we did 15 of them, and we solved mysteries, everything from Denmark to China to the origins of the human species to the origins of Western civilization.

And this required, A, the ability to read academic papers, which is almost like learning a foreign language, and number two, getting good at networking your way to the very top scientists.

So instead of screwing around with looking at popular interpreters of science, I went right to the source.

And I got very good at it and developed somewhat of a reputation.

I also got really good at courting the media.

I found that the media loves a great story.

They love footage.

And they love solving a mystery.

So I could go to Good Morning America or the Today Show and say, I will send you live footage, professionally shot footage, and I will also deliver a great mystery for your audience.

And we often collaborated with media to fuel our audiences.

And that was a very cost-effective way of garnering attention.

First, I'd like to start with the philosophy.