Hannah Hammond plays the final gatekeeper in startup interviews, asking candidates about their friends, money, and health to see if they can handle what entrepreneurship actually costs. She warns that starting a company can wreck your relationships, finances, and health. Most people shouldn't do it.
Questions this video answers
$150,000 per year
Chapters
For most people who ask me, hey, I'm an aspiring entrepreneur. I want to start a company. My typical advice is, don't do it like it's a bad idea. And I would actually do this. When I interviewed people that wanted to join the company, they'd go through a series of interviews, and then they'd get to me and I'd be like, the final gatekeeper. And they'd come in and they'd be all excited. Privately is amazing, and the culture. And I've heard so many good things about you and the team. And by the time they got to me, my role was to convince them not to join the company. It would go something like this. Hannah, you want to join the company? Yeah. Great. Love your enthusiasm. You have friends today? Yeah. Why? Do you, like, spend time with them? Yeah, I love it. Like, what are you doing here? I'm like, okay, what do you do on the weekends? What do you do on Saturday and Sunday for fun? Be like, oh, I love to go to the lake, and I love to exercise, and I love to. They'd name their list of things, say goodbye, mother. And I'd be like, okay, cool. How's your financial situation? Like, are you pretty good right now? Like, you have money coming in every month. Is it good? Yeah, yeah, it's good. I make 150 grand a year. Okay, great. Do you have quite a bit of freedom financially right now? What about your physical health? Seem to take care of yourself. Do you like to exercise, go to the gym? Do you eat well? What time do you get off work every day? Oh, like 4 or 5pm so I'd ask them all these questions about their life, and then I'd be like, are you prepared for your marriage or relationship to potentially go to. You're prepared to never see your friends and not have a life. You prepare for your physical and mental health to be, like, in shambles. And I'd sort of go through the list of, like, what it's really like doing a startup, and if there was any body language telling me, oh, that one hurt, you know, then I'd be like, you probably shouldn't do this.
