Series A through Series C companies
What they test:
- Breadth over depth (you'll wear many hats)
- Modern stack familiarity (dbt, Snowflake, Airflow)
- Ability to move fast with limited resources
- Pragmatic decision-making
Interview loop:
- Often shorter than big companies
- Practical coding or take-home
- Architecture discussion for their specific problems
- Strong culture fit emphasis
Preparation focus:
Show adaptability. Demonstrate you can build from scratch. Know when to buy vs build. Be comfortable with ambiguity. Startups value speed and iteration.