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Comment on How to get a job after your startup failsparent

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I remember one particular job I interviewed for after leaving a start-up, and got asked various questions like "why did you fail?" and "working for that little money? That's stupid!"

I always think of them as the perfect example of "the interview is for you to learn about the company and the company to learn about you."

So, if someone calls you stupid to your face in an interview, that's probably not a good place to work - so I'm guessing that was slightly a hyperbolic recollection.

That said, both questions can be turned around to your advantage: The first, show that you have learned from your mistakes and that's you're cool and focused in the face of adversity. The second, that you're not just a day labourer, but you're focused on and motivated by the long haul: "yes, it was a long shot, but if we'd succeeded, we'd change the way the world thinks about X".

No, they really said "stupid." I must have blanched -- I've worked with difficult people and can tolerate a lot -- because he immediately tried to back away from it.

But, yeah, bad place to work. They went bankrupt and got delisted from the exchange about 2 years later. I will admit to feeling some schadenfreude at that.

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