I've found this in my interviews on Mixergy. If I ask a founder to tell me why he made it, he often exaggerates his abilities and his answers are more B&W. If I ask him to tell me the story of how he did it, the lessons are more nuanced.
The entrepreneur or athlete is so aware of all the hard work and long hours that they put in that they often down play the other factors that play a part in their success.
This often leads them to be defensive when these external factors are brought up as being part of their success.
So instead he teases out what their motivation is (personal expression or making money by broadcasting or something else) and what's keeping them from achieving it (lack of clear stats, or difficulty publishing, etc). That helps him figure out what to build.