7 Tips for Startup Interviews

If you're ready to take on a high-velocity growth opportunity at a startup, here's what you need to know... PLUS: here’s how NOT to interview...

Before you even accept an interview at a startup - before you even apply! - there’s one hard truth that you should know. The truth is, if your goal is simply to get rich, the easiest path in the tech industry is joining a big company and staying for the next decade to rest and vest. That’s it. No secret. Startups aren’t the easiest path.

However, startups have a comparative advantage if you optimize for growth and learning. It’s not that one won’t grow or learn in big tech; the velocity of personal growth in startups is 10x faster.

The choice is up to you, but personally, I’d take the high-velocity route, with the learning and development it brings, any day of the week. In my career choices, I’ve bet on personal growth and found that startups have the edge. That’s a bet I’ve made not just once but again and again in my career.

Interviewing with a startup? Here’s my advice

Before you hop on an interview with me to work at one of super{set}’s early-stage startups, here are a few pieces of advice for you to consider:

1.Come prepared with questions. Think about the impact you want to have.

I always make it a point to leave time in interviews for the candidates to ask me questions.  I always appreciate it when candidates ask me about the hard problems that are still to be solved at the company they are interviewing for.  Ask me about what makes these problems hard, what solutions have been explored, and most importantly, what role you can (or will) play in solving these problems!

2.There is no right path. Have an idea about your ideal.

Not just an idea about your preference for big tech versus startups, but other vectors: location, the problem being solved, the size of the team, B2B vs. B2C, etc. You won’t be able to learn and grow if the role is missing something important to you. Don’t over-idealize the supposed glamor of the entrepreneur because that hype doesn’t match the reality - be honest about what’s important and what’s not to guide your path. 

3.People and culture are deal breakers. Bet on the people before betting on the product.

If a role checks all your boxes, but you don’t like the people or the context in which you’re working, you won’t be successful. That’s why we spend much time at super{set} thinking about our performance culture. It’s that simple, but you’d be amazed how many people lose sight of this.

4.Startups are built to solve a market need. Think problems, not product.

Sometimes, I notice people enamored with a particular sector - yesterday, it was Crypto, today it is Generative AI. But the fact is, we build startups in response to markets and customers. As a builder, what should excite you is the nature of the problem facing the end customer and how you can solve it through technology. I saw this first-hand at Rapt - if I had over-idealized supply chain tech, I wouldn’t have made it through our crazy pivot to ad tech that we had to make to address a more urgent market need.

5.There’s no place to hide in a startup. Everyone earns their keep.

In startups, you’re either doing the thing or aren’t. You can’t skate by and wait until the following performance review. A high velocity of personal growth is only achieved through a high velocity of output: things don’t just happen to you: You make them so.

6.Ask ‘So what?’. Horizontally scale yourself.

I love this metaphor of “horizontally scaling yourself,” which means taking the engineering concept of horizontal vs. vertical scaling and applying the same thought process to one’s career. Meaning, think about adjacent areas to your role - like marketing, product management, and even putting yourself in your customer's shoes. Ask the profound why, what, and so what behind the work. In Big Tech, you’ll never get to spread your wings and peek over on someone else’s patch. In a startup, the pace and limited resources demand that you horizontally scale and grow accordingly.

7.Experience can trump cash. Accept a fair deal.

Finally, the point that made me write this piece in the first place: the cash compensation that a startup offers you will be less than you can earn in big tech. Don’t let this leave a bad taste in your mouth after you receive an offer - nobody is pulling the wool over your eyes, at least in a company with a fair and transparent culture. On a risk-adjusted basis considering equity, the startup deal is probably comparable to a big tech company because markets are efficient. But think of how you value the other variables—namely, growth and learning—and ensure they factor into your comparison.

Join Us in Early Stage Company Building

Working at a startup can be the best investment you will ever make.  While big tech is cutting compensation in this downturn, there is a great luxury of being focused on building at a startup, where the leverage from being in the early stage, ready to ride the next wave of investment and growth, supercharges our collective prospects as entrepreneurs. 

While there is no one-size-fits-all “right path,” if you sleep on my advice and wake up tomorrow morning still eager to build in the early stage, come and join us at a super{set} company.

Readers, what is your interview advice? What pitfalls and traps should you avoid, and what other best practices should you adopt? Let me know in the comments below!

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🔗 Links Worth A Read

• OpenAI should be copying journalists’ principles, not just their content - The Ethical Tech Project’s Chair Jennie Baird (Chief Product Officer at BBC) makes a compelling case in Fortune for what tech can learn from journalism when it comes to ethical approaches to AI.

• Knowing When To Quit: Winners sometimes quit and quitters sometimes win - My co-founder Tom Chavez has 3 succinct pieces of advice for when a startup should burn the boats and continue on, and when a founder should shut it down.

• May Habib via LinkedIn: "PSA — the trough of disillusionment for generative AI is finally here!" - Where do you think we are at in the AI Hype Cycle?

• The State of AI Infrastructure at Scale 2024 - good reading for a better understanding of the backbone of AI's evolution - infra.

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PS: here’s how NOT to interview 😉

“How would I describe myself? Three words: hardworking, alpha male, jackhammer."