| Why Most Founder Interviews Collapse
When early-stage founders interview engineers, the conversation usually falls into one of three patterns:
a scattered list of “tell me about a time…” questions
a technical deep-dive that goes nowhere
a casual chat that reveals nothing
None of these helps you evaluate whether the engineer can deliver your 90-Day Mission.
👉 [Check out post #2 for more on this]
Senior candidates feel this instantly.
If your interview feels unstructured, unclear, or random, they assume the role will be the same.
Interviews don’t fail because founders are inexperienced.
They fail because founders don’t use a simple, predictable loop.
| The 3-Step Founder Interview Loop
This is the simplest and most effective interview system I’ve seen founders use.
It takes 45–60 minutes.
And I’ve seen it work across multiple markets worldwide.
1️⃣ Mission → Signal
Test whether the candidate understands and can pressure-test your 90-Day Mission.
Ask them:
What stands out to you about this mission?
What risks do you see in the first 90 days?
What information would you need before starting?
You’ll learn instantly whether they think clearly and whether they “get” what matters.
2️⃣ Depth → Thinking
Choose one real problem from your 90-day mission and go deep.
You’re evaluating:
how they break problems apart
how they choose trade-offs
how they simplify complexity
how they explain decisions
This is not leetcode.
This is “how you think” work.
3️⃣ Alignment → Fit
This is the part most founders skip, but it determines whether the hire works.
Discuss:
why now
how they like to work
how they make decisions
what they expect from a founder
how they handle ambiguity
what great collaboration looks like
You’re not evaluating culture.
You’re evaluating compatibility and expectations.
🔗 Download the 3-Step Interview Loop (Google Doc)
If you want a clean, reusable version of this for every engineering hire, I created a simple Google Doc that you can copy and use immediately:
| What Happens When You Use This Loop
Everything becomes sharper:
conversations stay focused
evaluations become consistent
you stop guessing
senior engineers take you more seriously
bad hires become less likely
offer decisions become easier
your entire hiring funnel stabilises
Founders don’t need a complex hiring process.
They need a clear one.
This is part 3 of the 4-part “Clarity-First Hiring Series”
Next week: “Why your offers are fail (and how to fix in one sentence)”
Cheers
Neil