Ultimately, the process was very long. I interviewed with 4 people individually at increasingly high levels in the organization. Between all that, I was required to complete a VERY LONG case study. Truthfully, it felt like they didn't have their processes down, and it felt like they use the case studies they receive as free consultation regarding sourcing and recruiting, and that's not cool. But against my better judgement, I completed it over that first weekend. It literally took me hours and hours to do. I was moved on to the next round of interviewing, then the next. Each interview went very smoothly, and because I was excited about the prospect of working in a new role, I allowed myself to ignore red flags along the way. First, when I asked about what training and support is provided to new people as they were learning and growing, the response was something like, "well, it's just easier and faster if you dive in and learn on your own. You could search for an answer faster than anyone could help you." Um... okay. Another red flag, when I asked "what do you offer for growth and development opportunities" and I got a fairly generic, "you work hard, you get rewarded for it" or something like that. But no examples of how or when this was true. Also, none of the three earlier interviewers even mentioned the case study I had spent so much time on. So fast forward to my fourth interview with the COO after several pretty good interviews to that point. When he came on, he notified me that, to avoid bias, they didn't look at the notes from the other interviewers prior to the interview. He said this as if it was a good thing, but failed to see how much of a waste of time 4 separate interviews AND a crazy long case study was for the candidate, especially if they weren't interested in them. This is where everything went off the rails. During our interview, he did not give me an opportunity to ask any questions. He interrupted me most of the times that I spoke, to basically tell me I wasn't answering the questions as concisely as he liked. During much of my interview, he leaned back in his chair with his head behind him, maybe staring at the ceiling? I truly almost asked him if I was boring him. Even when I would finish talking, sometimes he would stay like that for up to 20 seconds afterwards, silently. I know because I counted. It was beyond uncomfortable. After some of my answers, he would condescendingly ask, "Is that what you think?" or "Is that the best answer?" After this carried on for a few minutes, I mentioned that his mannerisms and the way he asked questions were extremely off-putting and ensured that I wasn't able to answer questions optimally. He said he was "sorry I felt that way". He wasn't. Ultimately, I just basically gave whatever answers I had to, to get myself out of the virtual meeting. I was completed offended and embarrassed, and have never felt so angry after an interview before--EVER. I never lied about my skills and experience along the way, and I made it clear to all interviewers that, while I had lots of skills related to this role, I had never done this particular job before. But when I was answering his questions, I clearly wasn't giving him the answers he was seeking, and I feel like he behaved badly. That's fine, but that's not an excuse to be rude to me! I've never had a worse interview experience, honestly. This instance was so specific, that I'm sure he'll completely recognize me if he reads this, and I'm totally okay with that. When I got out of the interview, I decided that if, by some miracle, I got an offer of employment, there would be NO WAY that I would accept. But an offer after that was very unlikely. And as I thought, afterwards, I received a personalized (to their credit), "thanks, but no thanks" email from the COO. I decided to respond to him, letting him know how offended I was by the process. I basically said that, while he may have felt that I was not the best candidate for this role (probably true, honestly!), that he didn't have to treat me the way that he did. This was also something I've never done before, and I hesitated before sending the email, but I felt strongly that I needed to say something. I couldn't believe I had been treated that way by the COO of the company. The position is still available on the website at this point, and that was a little over 3 weeks ago I just don't believe, with him acting this way, that they'll find a good candidate for this position. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so. I really wanted to work for a startup--it seemed exciting and cool. But as I've interviewed with a couple of other startups since this experience, I see that they aren't all as chaotic and just plain awful. My advice: steer clear of this company. Toxicity starts at the top.