Inverting the interview process

Interviews can be daunting, filled with uncertainty, pressure, and unknowns. I’ve always disliked traditional interviews and found a way to hack the process. This approach worked for me when I interviewed at early-stage startups like Hall, Shyp, Opendoor, and Meter.

Here's what I did: Before formal interviews, I wrote a comprehensive memo about the company. This memo included the company's strengths and weaknesses, major opportunities I saw for the current product, what I would do in my first 30 and 60 days, big hairy audacious goals, and the assumptions that informed my strategy. By sending this memo ahead of my onsite interview, sometimes even before initial chats, I turned the interview process around. Instead of answering unpredictable questions, the focus shifted entirely to discussing my memo. This also showed my initiative and thorough understanding of the space.

Here’s how to do it:

• Research thoroughly to understand the company’s market, competitors, and challenges.

• Identify opportunities where the company can grow or improve.

• Develop a plan outlining what you would do in your first 30 and 60 days.

• Set two or three audacious goals that demonstrate your vision and ambition.

• Present your ideas in a clear, concise memo. Keep the memo ideally two to three pages long.

This approach is not a guaranteed way to get the role, but it significantly improves your chances. By focusing the interview on your insights and plans, you transform the process into a dialogue about your potential contributions.

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Footnotes:

• 10 years ago, I shared this (embarrassing) presentation with Hall. Unfortunately, I deleted large attachments from Gmail, so I lost the presentations from Shyp and Opendoor. The Meter presentation is still relevant, and I’ll share it in the future.

• Jamie Quint wrote this for Reddit before he interviewed there

• Jai Relan has a similar post with a different framework worth reading