Upstart Product Manager Interview Questions
& Process

The recruiter was great and made the three weeks of back and forth scheduling worth it. I was even more excited about the opportunity than when I first applied. The hiring manager was the complete opposite. They joined 10 minutes late wearing a wrinkled undershirt, appeared as if they had just rolled out of bed, and spent much of the call rubbing their eyes and checking their breath. Midway through, they admitted they thought the interview was for a different role and had to read the posting out loud on the spot before asking me to “tell them something not on my resume.” I was genuinely excited about the chance to interview at Upstart, but I felt so disrespected that I ended the call and declined to continue. It was disappointing to see a leader at the company act with such unprofessionalism.

So the interview process started with a recruiter and then the hiring manager. After that, I had four more rounds. These rounds were focused on different areas like my impact and execution, company values, how I work with stakeholders, and my strategy and vision. Honestly, PM interviews can be pretty subjective, and this one was no different. But it was cool because the team actually reached out to me, which felt really genuine and boosted my confidence. The questions were pretty standard stuff.

Terrible, terrible process. Recruiter was 20 mins late to the phone screen. I had no idea what sort of questions I was going to be asked in the next interview. Was told that I would have another interview on Friday but didn’t get a confirmation until FRIDAY morning. I sent two emails asking if I even had an interview on Thursday and Friday morning. The google hangout link the recruiter sent me didn’t work. The interviewer had to send a separate one. Had an interview with the cofounder. He seemed nice, but I was generally caught unprepared due to not even knowing I had an interview until the morning of. Would not recommend again.