This document spells out the interview process and is sent to those who enter the interview stage. I'm surprised at how many companies don't do this. We've had a positive reaction from candidates because they can see you've put some thought into this and they’re not about to enter some never-ending interview process that strings out for multiple months. That is a common mistake that can make quality candidates reluctant to enter your interview process.

First and foremost, I am a strong believer that 80% to 90% of the interview process should be based on the person's work. That either means their historical work as a portfolio review, or showing work through an interview exercise. I think that is the only way to get an accurate view of how this person might actually operate because I have never found conversation-based interviews or situational judgment questions effective whatsoever. There are candidates I have hired that seemed terrible on paper and only okay on screen, but you know what? They freaking knocked it out of the park on the exercises showing that they could do the actual work. I've also encountered the flip side.

We tell candidates that we're going to give them problems, situations, and projects that they actually might face in the role. This not only gives us a deeper sense of their fit for the role, but it gives the candidate a deeper sense of what they might be doing in the role so that they can make a decision of whether it's something that they're going to be excited about. We give candidates all of the questions and exercises that we're going to ask ahead of time so that they have time to think about those questions, because that's how the real world and job works. Those on-the-spot questions really bias interviews towards people who are just really good at thinking on their feet or riffing in a live room. Not everybody's like that, including myself. I like to take something and have a little bit of time to simmer on it, and then I can come back with something really deep and really structured. This interview process really helps find those people who can actually do the deep thought and the work.

Additionally, we call out that in these exercises, even though these are real problems and projects, we are not looking at the answers, we are looking at how they think through the problem, how they approach the problem and how they might go about solving it.

I tell them who they're going to be interviewing with so that they can come in without any surprises. They can also research the person and prepare intelligent questions for that person based on their role and background.

This is essentially a market expansion question. This is a problem that doesn't fit cleanly into any function, so would commonly fall to me and therefore possibly the Chief of Staff. 

I’m looking to see if they think strategically. In a common answer, somebody will size each of these functions in terms of their total addressable market, and they'll create a ranked list based on size, and suggest we go after the biggest addressable market. But we're looking for someone who actually takes into account other factors and really answers the question “why us?” Why should Reforge be the ones to take that on? A great answer looks very structured and thoughtful and takes into account considerations beyond the obvious.

Scenario 2 is really testing how they think about their quantitative skills at the company level. I'm looking to see if they can go from strategy and map that to metrics and be able to communicate those metrics in a simple, clear, and organized way.

In Round Two they get into exercises with other executives in the organization. The Chief of Staff is present in a lot of the exec-level conversations so you want to see whether somebody can take a strategic problem and interact with another executive with thoughtful conversations.

Once again, this is a real problem that doesn't neatly fit into any part of the organization, so it's going to fall on my plate. We're not looking for an answer of what our rev share should be, we're asking questions like, what are the ingredients they would gather to make this decision? What is additional data that might be helpful in coming up with options? What are a few models that come to mind? And what are the pros and cons? Then last but not least, once we come to a decision, how would we facilitate the decision and communicate it within the organization?

This exercise asks, can this person really take a lot of qualitative data versus quantitative data and have a thoughtful, strategic conversation across the organization? Based on provided raw feedback, what are two to three considerations that they might come up with AND what are two to three things they would specifically call out for us to avoid. What's off the table shows just as much about how they think strategically and what they think is important along the way.

This is a more arduous interview process than a typical interview for an equivalent Senior IC role in the organization. We do that because this role plays at the executive level and is often investor facing so it ends up being a higher bar to meet on this front. However, the attractiveness of the role to the right candidates is clear. We had zero issues attracting a lot of candidates and getting them through this interview process.

Brian Balfour

I gave this exercise to each person interviewing for Chief of Staff. To get the best insights on each candidate, I create exercises that match challenges they will encounter on the job and send them in advance so they can prepare. 

Reforge Chief of Staff Interview Exercises

We are excited to continue the conversation! For all Reforge roles, we give you the majority of interview questions ahead of time. Some of these questions are based off problems/situations/projects that you might face in the role to help give you a deeper sense of the role and company.

This gives you the opportunity to more accurately display how you think/work when you have time to think through something vs “on the spot” questions.

We are most interested in your process and approach to the scenarios.

 If you have notes or other assets that you would like to share, please send them before our call.

The scenarios for this role cover a wide range of topics. They are designed to understand where you "spike." We do not expect you to be an expert in everything. If you have questions about any of the scenarios, do not hesitate to email us.

We work to your schedule, however, we run a rolling hiring process. Once we find someone that we think is a fit, we'll make an offer. We'll keep you updated on any major changes to where we are at with other candidates.

If you have logistical questions or needs at any time, please email [Redacted].

 is the Founder and CEO of Reforge. Prior to Reforge he was VP Growth at HubSpot. In your role as Chief of Staff you would report directly to Brian.

 90 minutes total. 30 minutes on Scenario 1, 30 minutes on scenario 2, and 30 minutes your time for questions.

 We will discuss how we set compensation at Reforge and align around expectations.

Currently our programs are primarily designed for the Product Management function. We want to expand to other functions (i.e. Engineering, Marketing, Design, etc). We are trying to figure out how to decide which function to go into next.

 What would be your step by step approach to building a decision framework? What factors do you think we should consider in the decision? How would you approach researching and evaluating those factors? How would you facilitate a decision amongst the company?

Historically we have been a transactional product and business model where someone buys a single 6 week program. In 2021 we are transitioning to recurring revenue and usage product and business model. As part of this we need to choose new metrics to align the business around.

 Your goal is to "design" a new metrics dashboard for us to operate the business. You can either list the metrics with explanations of each and/or sketch the charts/dashboard as you envision it. You do 

 need to make a visually appeasing design. We are most interested in discussing the following:

Which metrics would be most important different people in the org.

How we should integrate the metrics into our regular operations (i.e. reviewing, communicating, educating, etc).

What your process be to build this if you were full time in the organization.

Here is our investor deck/presentation which has some context about where we are going, the business model, how we acquire users

The Reforge experience combines both Cohorts (6 week programs where members go through them together) and an ongoing self-serve experience outside of the cohort.

We plan on keeping our application process for the foreseeable future.

email us if you have other questions that would be helpful

 Fareed is the VP Programs at Reforge. He leads our program creation, program operations, and network teams. Prior to joining Reforge, Fareed was Dir of Product Growth at Slack. Fun story, he use to work at Pixar. Ask him about it :).

 Recently we discovered that a Reforge alum started [redacted] a growth academy in [redacted]. The marketing site was taken from the Reforge marketing site, we've found exact copies of portions of our material in their teaching material, and we have reason to believe, but no proof, that larger portions of their course curriculum are also a copy of Reforge material. We expect the quantity of this and similar situations to increase as we become more successful. How would you build a "defense strategy" to deal with this and future situations? What do you think are the major areas of that strategy?

 60 Minutes. 40 minutes on the above questions. 20 minutes your time.

 is the CTO of Reforge. Prior to Reforge, Matt was VP Engineering at Credit Karma. Matt leads our product, eng, and design teams. In your role as CoS you would interact with him on all things that involve the exec team (Matt, Fareed, Brian).

 Reforge shares on average X% of revenue with its program partners (people who create programs with us). Historically in the transactional model we attributed the revenue share based on the revenue of each individual program. For example, if a program did $XK in revenue in a cohort, we'd share $XK with the program partners for that individual program.

In our new recurring revenue and always on business model, we need to change how we attribute revenue share for partners. Some assumptions:

Some members participate in multiple cohorts.

A key part of the experience is members engaging outside of cohorts.

 Your goal is create a proposal for a new attribution model for revenue share. Be prepared to discuss the following:

What are the key questions we need to answer?

What additional data would be helpful in coming to a decision?

What are possible models we should consider and what are the pros/cons of each?

What is the most important thing that we should optimize for and why?

If we predicted that the revenue share would have a significant negative change for some of our historical partners, how would you roll the change out?

How would you facilitate a decision in the organization?

 60 minutes total. 30 minutes on the above questions. 30 minutes your time.

 Helen is the Head of Product at Reforge. Prior to Reforge she was a Product Lead at Airbnb and a Dir of Product at Zynga. She leads our team of product managers. In your role as CoS you would collaborate with Helen on initiatives that impact our product experience.

 Here is the raw feedback for 3 programs from the Fall 2020 NPS feedback survey (link redacted). Please review the data and be prepared to talk about:

What are 2-3 strategic changes or areas of investment that feel above the line and 2-3 strategic changes below the line but worth watching for the future?

Why did you choose those things? What was your approach to processing the feedback?

How would you facilitate processing of this feedback across the team?

If you have questions about the data/format of the cohort, please email [redacted].

We want to highlight that there is both quantitative and qualitative data in this set.

Chief of Staff Interview Exercises at Reforge

Reforge Chief of Staff Interview Exercises

Overview

Round One

Brian Balfour - CEO

About

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