I’m prepping for PM interviews at both startups and FAANGs. Heard they want completely different mindsets - startups care about hustle and pivoting, while big tech focuses on scaling and process. But how do you actually show that difference in your answers? For those who’ve interviewed at both: what specific answer elements made the biggest impact in each environment?
lol @ ‘different mindsets.’ reality check: startups want you to work 80hrs for 0.1% equity while pretending it’s ‘impact.’ FAANGs want you to say you love processes that’d make a DMV clerk quit. protip: replace ‘pivot’ with ‘scale’ in your answers and watch recruiters nod like bobbleheads
anyone have examples of how to tweak same story for both? like maybe emphase speed for startups and planning for faang? not sure how to change wording tbh
Key difference: startup interviews prioritize concrete ‘what I built’ stories with immediate metrics, while FAANG wants frameworks showing systemic thinking. Example: When discussing product launches, startups care about your scrappy MVP approach; FAANG expects clear articulation of long-term roadmap tradeoffs. Always tailor your success metrics - DAU growth vs annualized revenue projections.