1 Phone Screen by Recruiter, 1 Phone Round by mid-level PM, 1 Phone Round with Founder/CEO, 1 Homework Challenge. Pretty straightforward process with some basic background probing up front and minimal product-oriented skills questions. The session with the Founder was more fit and understanding of motivations for the job search. He has a unique personality so he seems very fit-oriented even though the entire company is 100% remote which should be more oriented towards results over fit. Nevertheless, the company has a long heritage of just focusing on printed photo products (in a crowded space with others like Minted) so they're looking for people who can help optimize CAC and conversion in the site without perturbing the core UX and addressing bigger problems of how they try to differentiate their service. They are very focused on data-driven incremental pushes on the UX, so don't go in with big ideas as the culture doesn't seem aligned to risk-taking. If the company were to actually embrace a physical workspace then they'd have to answer to real margins and building a differentiated product with healthy margins.

Based on my experience interviewing for the VP Product position, I’m not sure that this company knows what exactly they’re looking for. Are they even really trying to fill this role? They’ve been hiring for this role since September 2019 (perhaps even earlier!). Collage is a 100% remote company so they have access to a talent pool from literally everywhere, so it’s interesting to me that they’re having so much “trouble” filling it. That should have been a big red flag for me. The process itself was pretty standard. The people I spoke with were pleasant! Then there was a somewhat time-consuming take-home assignment where candidates are asked to submit a response, thinking about solving a very real problem for Collage. Take-homes in the process are of course fair, but what’s not fair is it seems that Collage may have a pattern of accepting these very applicable take-home responses, and then not proceeding with the interview process. I got template-type of note saying ‘we’re going with another candidate’ — though this all happened a bit of time ago, and the job listing is still live on their site. So who knows. I very rarely write reviews, but felt compelled to here. Throughout my career I’ve not gotten tons of jobs I’ve interviewed for :), but something just didn’t sit right here. Fellow Product Manager candidates: proceed with caution!