Re: ASK a CEO- Interview questions

Anastasia Magnitskaia

Hi everyone!

I am coming up on a third and final round of interviews for a Customer Success/Support position with a CEO of a fairly new startup. They launched 2 years ago, just got their seed funding and are expecting to double in their head count in the next 6 months. What are some of the questions you would ask and why?

Thank you in advance.

Andrey Tirel

Anastasia,

I found definitely ask questions similar to the below:

1. What is your vision for the CS team and why is CS important?
2. What is the founder's story?
3. Ask a question about market conditions or their competition/differentiators. 

Heather Rosefsky

That's great good luck! I agree with Andrey that the vision is pretty important.
Also, you might want to (although may have already!)...
1. Learn more about how they are being impacted by Covid and what systems they have in place to prevent financial downfall.
2. How they envision employee/client engagement being impacted (also Covid related)

Alaina Franklin

What outcomes does he expect CS to deliver over what period? Against what baseline. 

What data do they capture today? What do they know about why customers churn or contact.

The headcount will double in 6 months, where does Success fit in that?

Nick Mehta

Great question! I think candidates should always ask these questions upfront.

Some I'd consider:
* How do you define the goals of Customer Success in two ways - (1) internal metrics (eg retention) and (2) customer outcomes [if they can't answer both sides, that's a bit of a red flag]
* What does success look like in this job in 90 days and in 1 year?
* Do you see Customer Success as more of a cost of doing business or a growth function?
* How should Product and CS work together?

Good luck!

Yanira "Janita" Sesniak

Good luck with your interview @Anastasia Magnitskaia!

My question is similar to @Nick Mehta's "What does success look like in this job in 90 days and in 1 year?"

I like to ask, "In one year what will I have done to exceeded your expectations for this role?"  ?

Anastasia Magnitskaia

Thank you! All great questions!

James Conant

Excellent questions!