I was contacted directly by a recruiter via LinkedIn for the Director of Talent Acquisition role. While there was some initial scheduling back-and-forth, we eventually connected and had a great screening conversation. The recruiter was thoughtful, engaging, and clearly invested in the role. I left that conversation excited about the opportunity and was moved forward to interview with the COO. The interview with the COO was my second and final round and was quite brief. The conversation felt disengaged, and early in the interview I was asked whether I had worked in a startup environment. While my background is not in startups, this was already clear from my resume and had been discussed with the recruiter who initially reached out to me. After that question, the tone of the conversation shifted, and it felt as though there was little interest in continuing the discussion. I received feedback shortly after that I was declined due to a lack of startup experience. While I appreciate timely follow-up, it was surprising given that I had been proactively sourced for the role. The experience left me concerned about alignment between recruiting and leadership on candidate requirements. Overall, Modern Animal has a compelling mission, but the interview process felt misaligned and did not reflect the level of clarity or engagement I would expect for a senior leadership role.