I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Pivotal Future
Interview
I applied for an Account Executive role that could grow into Head of Commercial. The process started strong. Fast, clear, respectful.
The COO led the process and she was excellent. Smart, energising, very grounded in early-stage commercial work. I’ve done scale-up and the messy early phase, so her approach felt right. Honestly, I left those first rounds thinking, yes, I could work with her.
Then came the panel simulation. The two founders and Co-CEOs joined. I presented a customer deck and took questions. Immediate bad vibes.
One founder spent the session scanning elsewhere, her eyes darting around the whole time. No eye contact, distracted, then a quick “thank you” at the end. The other tried to sound impressive but it felt pompous, a bit theatre. I pushed through because the COO was running it, and she was the only one giving me confidence.
I got the offer and was initially excited. During comp talks, that uneasy feeling came back, so I did deeper research into the founders. What I found didn’t reassure me. Limited operating track record, with companies founded with friends and family. One company that was dissolved. The female founder only has a couple of years of consulting experience. The male founder especially set off alarms. I didn’t feel at ease in the room. I work with men all the time. This felt different. Off. I later also found out the founders were in a romantic relationship.
I declined. It’s been awhile since I interviewed and I was doing some industry research and decided to look back into Pivotal. I’ve seen the COO has recently left. It’s a big loss for them because she was the best part of the experience and what made the company credible but I also feel like I dodged a bullet as I may have been left to deal with the founders alone.
I actually feel bad writing this review because I would definitely work with the COO again, just want to warn people about the founders - they are inexperienced, unprofessional and rude towards candidates and honestly just a little creepy - I would never want to work for them.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions about how I work with clients to get feedback, decide price points for new categories and products, how I work with Product team. What questions I used for client or problem discovery. How to create urgency. Strong questions for most of the interview. The panel interview was a panel simulation I was given 2 days to prepare for, had to use their templates and walk a new potential customer through a discovery call.
Intro call with the founder. Didn't seem like there was much thought going into the interview process. Essentially wanted the interviewee to monologue about their experience (which is generally advised against for candidates) and then asked if I had any questions repeatedly.
The company didn't have the courtesy to contact me regarding outcome even after I reached out for confirmation. Generally a lot of red flags for a start up founder to be hiring in this way.
I applied online. I interviewed at Pivotal Future (London, England) in Jun 2023
Interview
I found Pivotal Future to be very disrespectful towards candidates. It may be a start-up, but much of this is just common courtesy and basic human decency. I was interviewed twice by one of the co-founders. In the first interview, he just asked me what questions I had and this was how we spent 30 minutes. Strange, I thought, but maybe this was an interview technique in itself. I was invited back for a second interview but they said they couldn't find any availability with the proposed second interviewer so I was re-interviewed by the same co-founder. At this point, I had already realised that this was unlikely to go anywhere for me, but I still prepared as requested: 30 mins case study, 20 mins on questions about my experience, 10 mins for me to ask questions. We did the case study and then again I was asked what questions did I have. We spent the next 30 mins like this. It is hugely disrespectful and time-wasting to ask candidates to prepare in a certain way and then do something entirely different. Then they took two weeks to respond with a generic rejection email, despite me sending a polite email after a week of not hearing anything. Upon the not-unexpected rejection, I asked for feedback. You won't be surprised to learn that it's been a week now without even acknowledgement of my email. All in all, this was a hugely disappointing experience which left a sour taste. I would advise them to look at their recruitment processes as they will need to get on top of this as they grow, especially if going forward they are going to rely on B2B relationships for revenue. I would also be wary of working for any company that treats prospective employees with such disregard.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What questions do you have for me? (I was asked this in both interviews, in lieu of any other questions to explore my experience and fit for the role)