I went through a whole series of interviews at Upstart. The original role was removed so I then went through the process to hire for another role. All of this went well and everyone I talked to during this stage seemed lovely and very smart. I had multiple conversations with the hiring manager and we seemed to be in the same page. The final interview with leadership is where I had most of my problems. He was clearly not paying attention to our 30 minute chat. As in, he was clearly typing and laughing at the responses while I was answering his (very basic) questions. After this experience I was told he didn’t think I had the capability to solve complex problems and they wouldn’t be making an offer. Not to assume I definitely would have gotten an offer, but this was a HUGE RED FLAG for anyone considering a product role at this organization. I would not want to work with someone who shows such blatant disrespect to a potential job candidate, especially one in the final round for a Senior PM role on their rapidly growing team. Paired with what seemed to be somewhat erratic changes in their hiring plan - I would beware.

I went through a total 7 interviews with folks from a variety of disciplines, including two touch points with the recruiter. I was willing to meeting with so many people because of recommendations from former colleagues and friends who currently work there. Scheduling this was onerous, but Upstart was able to make it work and get me time with each person. The process included a 2-4 hour "take-home" assignment to create a pitch/document for some outlined criteria in the Auto Retail space. Despite completing this, it was never reviewed or discussed. I asked in interviews for feedback, and was told it had not yet been looked at. As of the time a decision was made, I heard it was still not reviewed at all - showing a disrespect for my time interviewing with Upstart. Some of the interviews covered content that was already covered by the take-home assignment, so I had to rehash things I'd already written/created. One of the folks I met with told me they did not like working in the space/sector that they were the lead for. They were the active hiring manager. When asking questions about what the first few months would look like for a successful candidate, I received a lot of ambiguous answers, which I pressed more into and some interviewers became somewhat defensive. Interviews with the technical leads and design went exceptionally well - those groups seem to be operating and executing well. I received a comment that I was "overly casual" despite Upstart providing interview materials that recommended being casual and open. This was very confusing and seemed to run counter to what I was told to expect at the start of the process. Overall, candidates seem to being sold a potential future org state, rather than a currently well-operating product team.