Interview Q Compilation

This is a compilation episode hosted by Lenny Rachitsky, featuring short clips from 17 product leaders sharing their favorite interview questions and what they look for in strong answers. Guests include executives and PMs from companies such as Figma, Stripe, Slack, Ramp, Coda, and Intercom. The episode is useful for both interviewers designing questions and candidates preparing for interviews.

01Key learnings

• Ask 'To what do you attribute your success?' and watch for self-awareness and curiosity rather than an answer like 'luck' (Eeke De Miliano).
• Ask 'What's the hardest thing you've ever done?' to learn how a candidate defines difficulty, how they overcame it, and how much agency they had (Geoff Charles).
• Use the teleportation-device 'Eigenquestion' exercise: candidates may ask only two questions, then must plan, revealing how they simplify ambiguity (Shishir Mehrotra).
• Probe controversial decisions and listen for whether candidates can represent both sides fairly and tell a compelling story about why a problem matters (Yuhki Yamashita).
• Ask about work the candidate is most proud of to uncover their taste, judgment, values, and what good outcomes mean to them (Katie Dill, Karri Saarinen, Camille Hearst).
• Look for candidates who bring structure and a path forward through ambiguity, while seeking input and defining milestones to check whether the approach is working (Jiaona Zhang).
• Ask 'What's something everyone takes for granted that you think is inaccurate?' to break rehearsed interview answers and test whether a candidate is genuinely opinionated (Nikhyl Singhal).
• For reference calls, ask referees what feedback the candidate will get in their first performance review; it is hard to dodge and reveals a lot (Paul Adams).

02Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.