Job Search Retro: Ops & People Lead

Katherine landed an Ops & People role at a growth stage startup.

Hedgy Member Background

• Previously worked at a well known venture firm in a platform role (focus was helping portfolio companies grow and scale their teams).
• Was exploring both startups and late stage companies in a variety of Ops roles that also included customer facing responsibilities.
• Completed final round interviews with two companies through Hedgy and received an offer from one.

Key Insights

Interview the interviewers to understand culture

• Katherine intentionally asked the same questions to every person she interviewed with to identify consistencies or inconsistencies in how the company operates and what it said about their culture.
• She also paid attention to how they ran their interview processes. At one company, the founders were often on calls together, signaling tight collaboration and the willingness to invest time into the interview process.
• At another company, four different people asked her identical questions, which made her wonder whether it was intentional or a sign they didn’t have an organized process.

Question 1: "How do you think about coordinating the team and managing people?"

• This revealed far more about the day-to-day reality than asking "what's your day-to-day?". That question tends to get generic answers like "sometimes emails, sometimes meetings” or it depends on the day.
• By focusing on interactions, she could unpack how each function actually worked with each other. This revealed things like who she may be spending the most time with, what meetings were actually important, and how they navigated a hybrid work setup.

Question 2: "What do you see as the growth trajectory over the next year?"

• This single question revealed multiple dimensions: Would the small team scale dramatically? Would her role evolve to include managing people? Were they planning a funding round? Would they add more customers?
• If interviewers didn't address a specific facet (like funding or team growth), she'd follow up to get the full picture.
• This helped her assess whether the company's direction aligned with her own career goals and how significantly the scope of the role she was being hired for may change in the short term.

This post is part of our job search retro series where Hedgy members who have recently started a new job share learnings from their search. If we can be helpful as you navigate your search, email us at founders@hedgy.works