
Ask HN: How would you respond during an interview to a founder who says - laurenstill
“What space we are in does not matter.  We would be the same tech company if we were in the restaurant business.”<p>Coming from a healthcare start-up. Personally, this lack of passion for their domain floored me, but during the interview I chickened out, nodded and smiled.<p>How would you respond?  Is this a common belief, that you are a tech company first, that just happens to be in whatever space or is true, honest genuine drive for market disruption still a real thing?
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7Figures2Commas
> ...I chickened out, nodded and smiled...

Nodding and smiling isn't chickening out, and short of keeping a poker face,
it's actually the most appropriate reaction.

A job interview (which is what I'm assuming you are referring to) is an
opportunity for you to evaluate a prospective employer just as much as it is
an opportunity for a prospective employer to evaluate you. Generally-speaking,
it should remain free of conflict regardless of what is said. After all, once
the interview ends, neither party is under the obligation to continue the
process so you have nothing to gain by injecting conflict.

There are a ton of startups out there today. Some are great and have real
potential, but a lot of them are run by inexperienced folks with little to no
real passion and even less domain expertise. Many of these startups will
disappear in the next few years and in a funding environment less frothy, most
of them wouldn't exist in the first place.

You are lucky that you were able to speak to the founder and that he was
candid enough to reveal things that helped you make a decision. Not every
candidate gets this opportunity and unlike you, many candidates don't take
enough interest in evaluating the knowledge, experience and perspectives of
the people who their employment would be dependent on.

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laurenstill
>an opportunity for you to evaluate a prospective employer just as much as it
is an opportunity for a prospective employer to evaluate you.

This was the first time it's been such a grey area. Usually, if I don't see
myself at a company, it's a "hell no" type of response. This was the first
time it was kinda in that middle ground, really trying to critically evaluate
how happy I would be in that environment, and if that mentality is a deal
breaker for me going on.

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prateekj
It can actually be interpreted in two ways. I feel that passion for a
particular domain is very important. May be what he meant was that their
culture and mentality would be the same regardless of the product. This shows
strong commitment towards building something!

On the other hand, if he genuinely meant that they will just build stuff for
the heck of it, regardless of the domain they are in, then it's a bit
impassive for a person in the startup world. From a businessman's perspective,
it's all about whether or not you build some product. From a techie's
perspective, it's all about whether or not you build the right product. So in
retrospect, may be he shouldn't have said that to an interviewee during an
interview.

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laurenstill
I'm thinking it was more of the latter. No one, founders included, really
seemed to know/understand what's going on in the space currently.

I can't imagine working at Adidas, and not being interested in what Nike is
doing. Especially if tons of Nike users are leaving.

Thanks. I need to keep this in mind when I'm on the other side of the desk.

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pedalpete
There are some people who love business for the sake of business, and to them
it doesn't matter what the business they are doing is. I know of some
developers with a similar ethic, as long as they are getting paid to code,
which is what they see their job as, then they are happy.

Personally, I can't imagine doing it, and I think it is probably rare in the
start-up space.

I would have responded with "I'm the type of person who likes to be engaged in
the work I'm doing, able to put myself in the shoes of our customers and
figure out how to build the best product for them, so for me, the domain is
important because if I want to be in work environment where I feel strongly
about the product we're creating and customers we're serving."

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jagawhowho
Spreadsheets work regardless of the domain. Email too. Crud and cms will need
requirements but not heavy domain knowledge.

You could be mistaking a factually correct statement for lack of passion.

