Editorial standards
How a story is sourced, edited, checked and corrected, including exactly where software is used and where it is not.
Who writes the stories
The CEO does. Every story is first-person, answered against eight fixed questions, and published under the teller's own name with their role and company. We edit for clarity and specificity. We do not write in anyone's voice or invent quotes.
How AI is used, and how it is not
When a story is captured on a call, the recording is transcribed with automated tooling. A human edits the transcript into the final piece. No story is drafted by a language model, and every story carries the line “As told to ceo.cafe. Transcribed with AI; edited by a human.” If that ever stops being true, this page changes first.
Fact-checking and third parties
Numbers are self-reported by the CEO and labelled as such on every story; we do not audit them, and we do not publish a story without them. Where a story describes a named or identifiable third party (a co-founder, an investor, a former employee), we ask the teller directly whether it is something they would say to that person's face, and we anonymise to role where it is not. We offer the teller a pre-publication accuracy check. We do not give third parties quote approval as a condition of publishing.
Corrections
Write to [email protected]. Factual corrections are made on the page with the date changed and a line saying what was corrected. A teller may withdraw their own story at any time, for any reason, without explaining it.
Money
No story has ever been paid for, in either direction. There is no sponsored placement, no pay-to-apply list and no affiliate link inside a story. When the digest takes sponsorship, sponsors will be named, will never see the Back Room, and will never influence which story runs.
Specimens
Before the first real story, this site shipped labelled specimens to demonstrate the format. A specimen is invented, says so at the top of the page, carries noindex, and is excluded from the feeds, the sitemap and every counter. They are deleted as real stories replace them.
Sensitive material
Stories touch burnout, illness and, sometimes, worse. We do not give clinical advice and we do not sensationalise. Where a story deals with a CEO's health we say so at the top and we carry a line pointing to real support.