Hi guys I am looking to interview with some startups. Instead of taking a leap of faith and blindly drinking the kool aid, I would like to know how some of you evaluate a startup’s financial health and its product. More specifically, what are some non-technical questions you should be asking to gage their future success?
Are they VC or bootstrapped, whats total revenue, YoY or QoQ growth, churn rate, & understand the problem the company is solving and the market size, if you see the product roadmap does it align to solving the problem.
Can you ask such financial details during interview?
You can ask anything you want to, if they choose to answer is another story. It may depend on the role your interviewing for, and engineer asking about the roadmap would make sense but they may be more guarded with finance KPIs.
You can’t. Not unless you know people on the inside and even then only if they have insight into the financials or the leadership team. Honestly this is true of any company or team. You have no idea what you’re getting into unless someone can speak to the people you’ll be reporting to or working with. Risk of bad culture is bigger with startups. One toxic asshole middle manager can do a lot more damage in a company of 150 than in a company of 10s of thousands. Should say I speak from experience. I’ve worked at multiple unicorns. One was a fantastic experience but I’m skeptical they’re worth a billion USD. The other is an utter train wreck stumbling from one clusterfuck to the next.
I completely agree. A bad manager can screw you more than the benefits provided by a new learning opportunity.
If they are offering equity (assume they will): 1. Total number of shares outstanding. What % of the company are they giving you? 2. Current valuation 3. Monthly burn rate 4. Any current revenue?. Target revenue going forward They should give you info about 1 and 2. 3 and 4 iffy - depends on what position you are interviewing for.
Good Early stage (<= 50 pax) startup CEOs will give you the same data they give their board, as an early employee, if things are going great. You should have a good idea whether they’re in good shape or not.
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^ this
Curious, how is that an indicator of health?